INDEPENDENCE DAY Dawn ... REVEILLE! Cacophonies of supersonic noise: Apache gunship rotors whipping clouds, Demothballed Flying Fortress props alive In oiled pursuits of memories' targets; all Dumbed down by stealthy batwing fighter jets Attacking ear drum barriers to sound. Noon ... PARENT PRIDE PARADES! Bold braggart basses booming BOOM BOOM BOOMS While chattering snares twitter RAT-TA-TATS To set a bugle beat for STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER trumpeting past puckered lips Of teenage scouts and tubas belting out Sour HUMPA notes from off-key high school bands. Words ... TRUTHS HALF TOLD Orations, prayers, the patriotic pap Of politicians, pompous pageants set To sixty-second-sound bits burnished for Deprived attention spans seduced by ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL's spin to blur Exceptions: heirs of 3/5-person slaves, Gaunt hungers trapped in ghettos, the sly Deceit of battle cries "LET FREEDOM RING" By brotherhoods of war and kindred greeds Whose propaganda promises the Job reward For faith accepting contradictions made When heaven's silence metered life with time. Night ... LIGHT'S PULLED-DOWN SHADE! Black cyclorama settings for a dream To challenge stars with pyrotechnic fire More brilliant in its comet moments than Aloof displays of gaudy galaxies; More moving in its man-made motion than Unnumbered diamonds fixed in cosmic ice Because we shaped the meaning to proclaim The power of our wonder and our worth To ask: "Without our song, who sings of God?" Thank you for reading your previous comments. A splendid 4th jo_dis