Where Have You Gone America Newly Revised

This a revised and updated edition of a poem I recently wrote and posted. I'm interested in your comments, especially if your read the previous version. Thank you for reading and providing your honest opinion(s). Where have you gone America, where have you been? Where are the places I used to roam Long ago with family and friends? Where are your steeples and spires pointing Upward, skyward bound? Are they still there Where I last left them Back in my home town? God fearing people And places, filled with traces of Humanities hopes and dreams; Sky scrapers, chance takers, Sweet Land of Liberty. And I hope you haven’t lost the grandeur Of the Rocky Mountain Range; The Blue Ridge, Black Hills, Sierra Nevada, And Northern Cascades. Are your wonderfully winding rivers still running And forest trees growing tall Like the pioneer days Before the Pilgrims came to call? Do your hearts still yearn For what might be earned Through the sweat of the brow and tears? Do people still sing and dance by the moon Because freedom’s still free so I here? Some fear You may be falling From the crow’s nest where you’ve been While the waves are growing stronger And you’re losing too many old friends. While I still wave “Old Glory” In these hurricane like gales, ‘Cause I’ve seen other places And many sad faces Where everybody fails. Where life is pathetic, miserable, vile; Without freedom of expressing Barely a thought worthwhile. Not that you don’t have a few Stones in need of shining; You’ve made some mistakes But it’s still not too late; Changing course is a matter of timing. I believe In you America, you’re The cradle, bosom and grave Of all that I am and will ever be In you, my heart still craves. Though some may vehemently disagree The right to do so sets them free Paid for by the last full measure Of friends and lovers, sons and daughters, Fathers, Brothers in Arms, Souls unraveled from earthly travels, America You’re a long, long way from gone. From my view and this direction This reflection from the glass; Half full instead of empty, Troubles always pass. Sooner or later Come what may the pendulum always shifts; Left and right, day and night, America, You’re still the world’s greatest gift.