INDEPENDENCE DAY

  

I could break my spine,

Looking up at the sky--

But to what avail?

No more Heaven is there,

Than when I look down

At this world on the ground.

 

Not everyone knows

This truth, I suppose:

My countrymen drain

Their fossils, and strain

To evolve as a race

That commands outer space.

 

Would they but explore

“In the deep heart‘s core,”

They could see the whole earth

They give such slight worth

Revealed in bright rays

Each Independence Day.

 

For down would be up,

And bottom be top--

All things being due

To one’s own point of view,

That sees low or high

From where its thought lies.

 

The shock might be such

To tax overmuch

Their self esteem, though,

And cause them to glow

With colors more true

Than red, white and blue.