Flickr has broken my Flickr account.  Not sure what I will do for photographs now or if I’ll ever be able to retrieve them.  Meanwhile as I wait for their next response on the destruction they’ve done, I guess I’ll write poems putting “insert photo here” until I can actually insert my photos.

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To Live and Die American
by Michael Romani

For most of my life I have lived in the belief
That our minds make up our happiness and grief
More than that there is the belief in our journey
Is one that is mostly defined by you and by me

Circumstances do not make the woman or the man
It is that internal that feels like eternal can
It's been my experience that we are learn to walk
Those things that others merely act on and talk

Are the difference that needs to be felt and made
Defying the blazing sun while others hide in the shade
Shaking our fists at the injustices of this planet
And making the best of things, however, we planned it

We who are American live by a code that is American
Uniquely lived in between birth and death as we can
Then we who are American die by code that is American
Distinguished in character lived and earned by every man

Those of us who are not too blind to see realize 
All of the mistakes that happen before our eyes
We are not afraid to see things plainly for as they are
But, we do dare to dream and stake our claim to the stars

There are plenty of things in this world to correct
We don't have to search very far to know and detect
It is that willingness to fight another's man's fight
And to be unwilling to stand by when something isn't right

That makes us live and die, however we are, as American
To look back on our lives for the most part as we can
And know that in a world of kings we brought forward light
That illuminated freedom and sought Lady Justice's sight

The world at time despises us for many things
I can't say that sometimes it's what success brings
But, still while there is much left for the good to rearrange
I am proudly American and if we can let's keep this change

(c) May 1, 2019  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved

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