On the Fourth of July

... in 1982, I had the great good fortune to have the day off for
the Augusta, Montana rodeo. Providence got me there and providence
got me out from that infamous, venerable event!
When we odd thousand stood, I thought we were going to sing the
National Anthem. Instead, over the loudspeaker I heard someone I
knew, an old friend who boomed across the stock pens, freezing
clamorous motion and deafening sound, like EF Hutton with a hot
tip.
I realized that day that the Archangel looks after young men and
women far away from home, after God's own fashion and His Almighty
purpose and unimpeachable design. Loud and gentle as thunder from
that Big Sky came The Voice. I stood lanky and dumbfounded,
a 'dude' (in the truest sense) with my hat on my heart. Catching you
off-kilter,the Lord grants His deepest peace in the least likely
places. All you can do is stand tall, stick out your chest, and be
weepy and thankful. The words are by John Mitchum, but The Voice
across the plains was pure, clear John Wayne.

You Ask Me Why I Love Her?
"America, America,
God shed his grace on thee..."
You ask me Why I Love Her?
Well, give me time and I'll explain.
Have you seen a Kansas sunset
or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou
down Louisiana way?
Have you watched a cold fog drifting
over San Francisco Bay?

Have you heard a bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines,
Or heard the bellow of a diesel at the Appalachia mines?
Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at her Massachusetts shore,
Where men who braved a hard new world first stepped on Plymouth's
rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a New York City dock?

Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies, way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea,
Or bow your head at Gettysburg at our struggle to be free?

Have you seen the mighty Tetons?
Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you seen the Mississippi roll along Missouri's shore?
Have you felt a chill at Michigan when on a winter's day
Her waters rage along the shore in thunderous display?
Does the word "Aloha" make you warm?
Do you stare in disbelief
When you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea Reef?

From Alaska's cold to the Everglades, from the Rio Grande to Maine,
My heart cries out, my pulse runs fast at the might of her domain.
You ask me Why I Love Her?
I've a million reasons why:
My beautiful America, beneath God's wide, wide sky.
"And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea."

Cut-and-paste to hear it, loud and clear:
http://jdwayne.tripod.com/iloveher.html