by Lia Zheng, Canyon Crest Academy, graduating in '23
December 1, 2021

I. 1812

 

the havoc of war

rained down on our lands.

bloodshed in hopes of resisting

impressment, defended liberty and happiness

through the perilous fight, endless night,

humiliated miles away

from the capitol

 

burning down,

doomed from the start

our whole versus their fifths,

a battle between a giant and her child.

rocket’s glaring, bombs bursting

a storm of chaos lasting

twenty-five hours of

dreadful silence

 

thereafter,

dawn’s light arrived.

bringing the clear sky, 

smoke dissolved into yesterday.

broad stripes, bright stars undulating,

in full glory, the courage of

our soldiers unrelenting,

resilience securing

freedom

 

II. 1816​

 

later, it appeared

our hypocrisy, exposed

contradicted the moral binds

that held our universe together—

until they snapped apart

into two. North and 

South, Abolition

and Institution:

one rejected, 

 

the other 

preached. Incompatible

sides of a coin, gold plating

gave away to dark rust and blood,

ornament hid the untold truth.

How this glorious anniversary

painted freedom on her chest,

yet stretched, revealing

the immeasurable 

distance between—

 

battles born

from scorching irony,

chaining ourselves to a 

doctrine of lies, a map laid, 

encrusting conflict over our 

stars and stripes of Promise and 

Prosperity. Where was her creator? 

for what to the Slave is the

Fourth of July?

 

III. 2021​

 

the cracks upon which

our country was built never

healed, only crumbled into dust.

empty whispers hoped for peace,

reconciliation, unity, “once again.”

so up we stormed, with guns

and thorns in our hands

 

to the rebirth

of our superior forms,

an echo of sound, domes

and sublime columns supporting

our Security and Democracy.

so why not drown our 

shouts with tears?

but then—

 

a breach

in the impenetrable

barriers of our Strength,

followed by five bangs and

five thumps. History flashes by,

climax comes crashing down.

in her catharsis, we can only 

dream for a world without 

the bombs.