Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Independence Day!


O beautiful for spacious skies, 
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!

O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

 ~ Katherine Lee Bates

The gorgeous map above was created byAllie Mounce of Little Owl Designs.

12 comments:

Marilyn Miller said...

Wonderful words. Love this map, how clever.

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Happy 4th of July to our Beloved Nation!!!

Roban said...

Very cool map! Happy 4th to you, too!

Debby said...

Love the map. Happy Fourth.

HKatz said...

I hope you're having a Happy Fourth! (Fireworks set to begin soon here...)

And I love that map :)

Sandy K. said...

How on earth did you do, or where did you find, this map? I totally need one in my office!

Happy Independence Day!

GraceGal said...

Precious song for our country. Warms my heart to see these words.

Kirsten Steen said...

Happy day to you, Relyn! Hope it's been a perfect day and you're enjoying your summer. The weather never gets nice here until just after the 4th of July. Awaiting the fireworks now. Big hugs, Kirsten

Lubna said...

Happy independence day to all my American friends. I am reminding them all about the need to smile more. Look up point 10 in Russell Baker's speech more than a decade ago, it is still relevant.
http://www.humanity.org/voices/commencements/russell-baker-connecticut-college-speech-1995

Tracy said...

This was lovely, Relyn! Living abroad now, I almost have to remind myself of certain holiday, like the 4th...LOL... But I'm glad to be American. :o) Happy Day ((HUGS))

Jennifer Richardson said...

what an amazing bit of art!
love to you
and this beautiful land
of ours:)
-Jennifer
(look! it's working!)

Amy said...

Happy {belated} 4th of July to you! I love that print, by the way. From the looks of things, everything truly is bigger in Texas! :)

Oldies, but Goodies