America is Beautiful

Chuck Klein © 1992

Published in The United Stated Congressional Record, Vol. 138, No. 104, 22 July 1992

OH BEAUTIFUL FOR SPACIOUS SKIES:

This canopy, so immense, it expands as high as the heavens and as broad as needed, not unlike a blanket of freedom, to cover Americans wherever they might be.

FOR AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN:

Gold nuggets of life sustaining sustenance on whose shoulders all of those who seek the protection of the spacious skies depend.

FOR PURPLE MOUNTAIN MAJESTIES:

Forging straight up from the great plains of gilded grain, like a church spire paying homage to the heavens, these rugged resplendent pinnacles symbolize the strength and tenacity of the spacious sky people.

ABOVE THE FRUITED PLAIN:

Scattered among the violet mountains and meadows of wheat are the bounteous production yards of the fruits of American ingenuity and manufacturing. In the history of the world these plains and majestic plateaus have yielded the highest standards of excellence and an excellent people.

AMERICA - AMERICA:

Saying it once isn't enough. To be an American is to be strong and fair, and honest and wise, and humanistic and realistic, and all the other virtuous attributes of those under the protection of the spacious skies.

GOD SHED HIS GRACE ON THEE:

The Lord truly has blessed us with his benevolence, a covenant with all Americans, to do right by thee and thou and you and me.

AND CROWN THY GOOD WITH BROTHERHOOD:

As we keep the compact with God so shall he continue to bestow the munificence that comes from loving and understanding, and helping our brothers and sisters.

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA:

Not just from Maine to Hawaii or Alaska to Florida, but to wherever those whose roots stem from the fruited plains, the fields of grain or the majestic mountains. For it is the duty of all Americans, an obligation that evolves from a pact with God, to stay the course and expand the spacious skies of brotherhood and freedom.

 Song lyrics by: Katharine Lee Bates

Text definitions Copyright 1992 Chuck Klein