TUNES OF GLORY

The Twentieth Century
Was America’s.
The Twenty First
We can Presume
Belongs to Others.

America came of Age
In the Seventeenth
When its World 
Was New and
Freshly dressed in Blood.

In the Eighteenth
Dragooned from its Isolation
America was Swept
Into the Tide
Of Europe’s History. 

Riven
By Civil War
In the Nineteenth
America then Flexed Sinews
Of Iron and Steam.

The story written
In our Minds
Is of Progress
Through the Ages
Triumphant over All.

It’s Dénouement
Now demands
A Quietude Unbecoming
To Imaginations
Still inflamed by Glory.