I had an article all ready to send in for today when I realized that if they stayed with the current schedule, it would be printed on Election Day. Therefore I thought I should write something about America.

Katherine Bates was inspired atop Pikes Peak to write the song “America the Beautiful.” My wife and I were fortunate on a trip across the country many years ago, to take the trolley that carried tourists to the top of Pikes Peak to view America from a great advantage. At the peak we found the air to be quite thin, as one had to stop walking so fast and stop to get one’s breath quite a bit, but the view was quite inspiring. It seemed like one could look almost completely across America.

The excursion was quite inspiring. I wrote a short free verse poem about America later. Shortly after that our chorus started singing “America the Beautiful” as one of the songs we would use as a regular song in our repertory. One of the directors of our chorus who knew I wrote verses, asked me if I could write a verse about America that we could recite between verses as we sang this song. I told him I had already written something. We timed it out, but my verse was too long for the short time it took to sing one stanza of the song, so I shortened it to fit.

That was about 20 or some years ago, and our chorus and my quartet, has been singing that song with the recitation ever since. Our quartet has sung it twice a month for several years at the indoctrination of new American citizens at the federal courthouse in Buffalo. The recitation goes as follows.

America the Beautiful (recitation.)

Yes. America is beautiful,

But its beauty goes beyond

the amber waves of grain,

or purple mountain majesties;

It is in the beauty of the

spirit of mankind,

As perceived and protected

by our founding fathers.

They were determined to establish

a land where people could be free,

to express their faith in the Almighty,

And to pursue their lives

and fortunes, without fear.

America is beautiful, because it

has sown the seed, worldwide,

That freedom and liberty are

the true destiny of mankind.

We have grown from that

tiny acorn of just 13 states

To become a beacon of liberty

throughout the entire world.

We are proud to sing for you,

the praises of America …

The Beautiful.

It seemed that election day would be a good day to air this verse just to remind us all of the uniqueness, and leadership that America has given this world. We have grown from that tiny acorn of just thirteen states to become a beacon of liberty throughout the entire world … for good reason. That being, to open the eyes of the people of the world that freedom and liberty are truly our destiny. We have become a world leader, not by the dictates of any ruler, but by the accomplishments of a free people. May God bless America.

Richard Westlund is a Collins resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com