The Light of America

Like a beautiful jewel on a pedestal,
Like a city set high upon a hill,
Like a Lighthouse shining out from a mountain;
Her very name brings us a thrill!

She's the hope for all hopeless people,
Champion of the world in human rights,
A gleam of light for any suppressed nation;
A flood light in the black of night!

Shine on, America. God loves you!
Hold to all you were created for!
Let the hearts of our patriots still carry
Your liberty and hope to distant shores!

You've passed out food to many starving nations,
Sent money, aid, to many foreign lands;
A tremendous task for America,
For everywhere we turn there's outstretched hands!

Still, America hates oppression.
So, she gives until her own lights must turn low.
Send to the world a message true and firm,
For the whole wide world needs to know.

If the lights go out in America,
You won't believe how dark the world would be.
And, the lights that now shine bright and brilliant
Are tended by the likes of you and me!

So, take heart, brother, sister, in America.
Fly our banner high and keep its stripes unfurled.
For, if the lights go out in America, brave heart,
They will go out ... for all the world.

© 2002 by Joan Clifton Costner