A Promise that Never Was

by Lia Zheng, Canyon Crest Academy, graduating in '23 December 1, 2021

photo by Jon Cherry, Getty Images

I. 1812 the havoc of war rained down on our lands. bloodshed in hopes of resisting impressment, defended liberty and happiness through the perilous fight, endless night, humiliated miles away from the capitol burning down, doomed from the start our whole versus their fifths, a battle between a giant and her child. rocket’s glaring, bombs bursting a storm of chaos lasting twenty-five hours of dreadful silence thereafter, dawn’s light arrived. bringing the clear sky, smoke dissolved into yesterday. broad stripes, bright stars undulating, in full glory, the courage of our soldiers unrelenting, resilience securing freedom II. 1816​ later, it appeared our hypocrisy, exposed contradicted the moral binds that held our universe together— until they snapped apart into two. North and South, Abolition and Institution: one rejected, the other preached. Incompatible sides of a coin, gold plating gave away to dark rust and blood, ornament hid the untold truth. How this glorious anniversary painted freedom on her chest, yet stretched, revealing the immeasurable distance between— battles born from scorching irony, chaining ourselves to a doctrine of lies, a map laid, encrusting conflict over our stars and stripes of Promise and Prosperity. Where was her creator? for what to the Slave is the Fourth of July? III. 2021​ the cracks upon which our country was built never healed, only crumbled into dust. empty whispers hoped for peace, reconciliation, unity, “once again.” so up we stormed, with guns and thorns in our hands to the rebirth of our superior forms, an echo of sound, domes and sublime columns supporting our Security and Democracy. so why not drown our shouts with tears? but then— a breach in the impenetrable barriers of our Strength, followed by five bangs and five thumps. History flashes by, climax comes crashing down. in her catharsis, we can only dream for a world without the bombs.

Note: Italics from Francis Scott Key’s “The Star Spangled Banner” and Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”