POEM IN PRAISE OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

A Fourth of July Hymn

Phyllis McGinley

 

Solo 1:       Thank you, Mr. Jefferson,

                             For bearding the British brass.

                   And thank you, Mr. Adams,

                             Of Braintree (Quincy), Mass.

                   Carroll and Clark and Clymer,

                             Harrison, Hancock, Hart,

                   Printer Franklin and Planter Hall,

                   I thank you one and I thank you all

                   For rising up at your country’s call

                             And giving the Fourth a start.

All:             Thanks with gratitude more than cursory

                   For handling July an anniversary.

 

Solo 1:       What is so rare in these sovereign states

                   As festive weather on festive dates?

All:             Sneezes hamper the Yuletide kiss.

                   Autumn glooms on the Armistice.

                   Easter’s certain to be contrary.

                   Washington picked out February.

Solo 1:       But east and west and south and north

                   There’s strawberry shortcake on the Fourth.

 

All:             So hip and hip and a loud hooray

                   For glorious Independence Day,

                   Day auspicious for every comer

                   Because it falls on the Fourth of summer,

                   When winds are soft and air’s a prism

                   And climate’s conducive to patriotism.

Solo 1:       Fathers, I’m grateful when I remember

                   You might have fixed on the Fourth of November.

 

All:             You might have chosen August,

                             When lawns begin to parch,

                   Defended Man in the middle of Jan.

                             Or the horrible first of March

                   But you thought of parades and picnics,

                             Of a blue American sky,

                   Of driving fast in a brand-new car,

                   Of rowing boats and of breaking par,

                   And you set it down on your calendar

                             That you’d choose the Fourth of July.

 

Solo 1:       So thank you, Button Gwinnett,

                             For a celebration blithe,

                   And thank you, Roger Sherman,

                             And thank you, Mr. Wythe.

                   Hopkinson, Hooper, Heyward,

                             Livingston, Lewis, Lee,

                   Merchant Morris, of Morrisania,

                   Morton, the jurist from Pennsylvania,

                   I’m happy you surged with that freedomania.

                             Thanks for the Land of the Free,

All:             For giving us liberty’s deathless chime

                   And a holiday in the summertime.