Requiem

"Liter and half-liter, that's all we serve"
The English pint, a rare preserve.

A toast to history, our struggle and steely nerve
One final comeuppance to our patriotic verve
To King and country, a final cheer
Raise your bloody quaffs I say, and with a hearty hear, hear!
Where then this "message from a hundred years 
If we could but read it right?"
From the very beginning, at dawns early light!

The foundations of freedom forged long ago
Those smiths, they labored day and night
On pages that burned with wisdom learned
The pages they turned, those hoary pages right
By fingers worn through sheer delight.

The thoughts they grasped gave pause, yet strength
To fight the mighty monster deep
Yet the time has come again once more
For men to rise to settle the score

Who then will stand among the graves
Of freedoms' fallen, hero's all
To stem the tide of tyranny's call?

As liberty chants the hour is late
The drumbeats roll, heralding fate

As confusion mounts upon "the hill"
The flag unfurls, but not until
The stalwart storm down below
Casting doubt upon the status quo

The weak beyond caring
The timid beyond daring

But this ancient dame
Has neither a place for the halt, nor the lame
In this land of the free
And home of the brave
No place for the darling, the damsel, the knave
Who profit for nothing, awaiting the grave

What price then freedom, the warriors resolve
Except strength of conviction, virtue and will
The cast of our conscience, cunning and skill

With courage beyond caring
For liberty's call
We rise to Old Glory
That banner yet waves

For fame's bright fortune
Made brighter still, by the flame of our burning
But not until

The God of our fathers
For one, and for all

Quill (c)(2020)