Anthem

It took a man to write a song,

But a nation to sing it,

The stars and stripes chained around our necks,

Choking us if we sing the wrong anthem,

Hum the wrong tune.

We walk with our heads high,

As we carry the weight of the flag on our backs,

Trying to keep it higher than others,

While we drag the dusty ball of the past on our ankles.

Falling stars of our flag,

We remove them from our sight,

Mark them as traitors,

And replace the stars with new ones.

The star of equality among the stars,

Ripped into two,

Half drags on the ball of the past,

Half floats upon the words we speak.

It took one man to write a song,

But a nation to sing it,

A president to want war and hostility,

But a nation to approve it.

One ignorant person to blurt out words of hatred,

But a nation to believe them as truth,

One person to stand up,

But a nation to follow after.

Tell us when that person stands,

That knows the truth and speaks it,

So we as a nation may rise with them,

And let not one anthem tame us silent,

And let not our chains grow tighter around our necks.

But we bring equality to our beliefs,

And do not fear the weight of one decision,

One choice on our hearts, but the ball of the past free itself,

From our ankles, and as a whole, rise together as leaders,

Together as strong believers, that equality among all flags,

Hang high in the winds of tolerance.