Sunday Poetry: The Gift Outright, by Robert Frost

The Gift Outright

The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

-- Robert Frost
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At John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration, an 86 year-old Robert Frost stood up to read a poem he had written for the occasion. His eyesight failed, though, in the glare reflected off the snow-covered grounds on a bright, sunny day, and he discarded his longer poem and recited, from heart, the above, much shorter, gem.

The Gift Outright is a perfect inaugural poem, for 1961 and for 2009. It starts from the beginning of America (at least as we non-Native Americans look at it), and ends in the future. It speaks of the many deeds of war - the struggles that have formed America into the country it is. Looking back at the country as it stood on that bright day in 1961, did anyone imagine "such as she was, such as she would become" a country led by an African-American man who would be born later that year?

For those of us who welcome Obama's election, Tuesday night was a long time coming, and something most of us half-suspected would be ripped from us before it would happen. We withheld our optimism, no matter what the polls told us. In a grander sense, by limiting the presidency to white males, our country has been withholding full participation to those who did not fit the profile. "Something we were withholding made us weak . . .".

Standing at the occasion of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, Robert Frost was moved to recall these words in the bright sunshine. They were not a summation of American history, they were a redirection to the future. On the occasion of Barack Obama's election, it is difficult not to be like Robert Frost on that day, dazzled, marveling at America, "such as she was, such as she would become".

All This for a Chauffeur?

I'm embarrassed for our country. Truly embarrassed.

The time has come to put the cards on the table, and display for all to see the fine work we have done in counter-terrorism. The reason we have set up secret prisons, lied to the Red Cross, copied torture techniques from the Chinese, emulated Stalin's web of secret prisons, become the sort of people that true Americans - real, red-blooded Americans - loved to hate during the Cold War, indeed, even changed our self-reference from "America" to the vaguely teutonic "Homeland" - all our post-9/11 transformations may be looked at and weighed against the big evil terrorist we have brought to justice.

And he's a chauffeur.

We're demonstrating that we can put a driver on trial. The most damning piece of evidence? He may have overheard where the fourth plane was headed.

When in the course of history has such a great nation transformed itself for such a small fish? When did America, land of the free and home of the brave, crawl through Stalinist slime to nail a chauffeur?

If this is the new America, I want to see Ken Lay's admin dragged into court and prosecuted because he or she typed his memos and placed his calls. I want to see Tom Delay's maid prosecuted, because she was in his "inner circle". I want every taxi driver who overheard a conversation between John Sununu and his phonegate conspirators to do time.

On second thought, I don't really want those things. I want my country to recapture its dignity and sense of itself. I don't want to ever again see it stoop to putting on show trials for bit players. I want a new administration and a new direction. I want change. I want America back.

Top 5 Myths About America

I stumbled across this piece of writing, and I thought it worthy of drawing to your attention. While I would rephrase a few things, these are important points to be rescued from the Right Wing Noise Machine . . .

MYTH 1: The US was founded on Christian principles.
MYTH 2: US Conservatives tend to be patriotic, ethical Americans; liberals tend to hate America and are immoral.
MYTH 3. The US has a liberal media.
MYTH 4. The US doesn’t need improvement compared to other countries; it is the greatest country in the world.
MYTH 5: The US government loves to help other countries.