June 11, 2004
Dedicated to the memory of Ronald W. Reagan 40th President of The United States of America with great respect
America The Beautiful
Have you ever spent the later afternoon watching the purple shadows
deepen in the Arizona desert, or seen a herd of elk plow their way
through waist deep snow on a cold Colorado dawn?
Did you ever watch the sun go down in Hawaii or see the stormy waves
break over the rock bound coast of Maine, or have you ever seen an
eagle fly up out of the mists of Alaska or a big October moon hanging
full over the still Dakota badlands?
Have you ever tasted the gumbo in New Orleans, the barbecue in Carolina
or the chicken wings in Buffalo? Have you ever had Brunswick stew in
Macon or cornbread in Birmingham or brisket slow cooked over hill
country mesquite wood?
Did you ever drink water from a gurgling branch in Utah or stand on the
mountain above El Paso Del Norte and see the lights twinkling clear
over into Mexico?
Did you ever jingle horses in the predawn stillness of a perfect Texas
day and watch their shod hooves kicking up sparks on the volcanic rock
or tended a trot line on a foggy Carolina morning, or heard the distant
song of a lovesick whippoorwill in the pristine Tennessee late night?
Have you seen the faces on Mount Rushmore or stood at the Vietnam
monument? Have you ever crossed the mighty Mississippi or been to the
Daddy of ‘Em All in Cheyenne, Wyoming or seen the mighty Vols run out
on the football field on a chilly autumn afternoon?
Did you ever see the Chicago skyline from Lakeshore Drive at night or
the New England foliage in the fall or the summer beauty of the
Shenandoah valley or Indiana covered with new snow?
Did you ever see a herd of wild horses running free across the empty
spaces of Nevada or caught a walleyed pike out of a cold Wisconsin
stream, or marveled at the tall ships docked in the harbor at Baltimore?
Did you ever see the early morning dew sparkling on the bluegrass or
the wind stir the wheat fields on a hot Kansas afternoon or drove the
lonely stretches of old Route 66?
Have you ever heard the church bells peal their call to worship on a
early Sunday in some small town in the deep South, or passed through
the redwood forests as the sun was going down?
Have you ever been to Boise or Baxley or Beaufort or Billings? Have
you ever passed through Sanford or Suffolk or San Angelo? Have you
seen the falls at Niagara, the ice palace in St. Paul or the gateway to
the west?
This then is America, the land God blesses with everything and no
Eiffel Tower, no Taj Mahal, no Alps, nor Andes, no native hut, nor
royal palace can rival her awesome beauty, her diverse population, her
monolithic majesty. America the free, America the mighty, America the
beautiful.
God Bless America
Pray for out troops
Charlie Daniels
Copyright © 2004 Charlie Daniels
All rights under copyright reserved. Used by permission.