The First July 4
I hear the thunder rolling, the fireworks booming
The sky is dark and Independence Day’s looming.
All across the country people are preparing, I know,
To celebrate a July 4 of two hundred and thirty-seven years ago.
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
What thoughts and passions lay in the hearts of men?
What fears and hopes did preside way back when?
What cares burdened the backs of that fateful generation,
That on July 4 in Independence Hall they signed their determination?
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
The precious pages of history do unfold America’s story,
Lading me with the treasures of the land of Old Glory,
Yet how can I ever know quite what it was to be alive that year,
Or share the hearts and souls of those who are no longer here?
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
The first Independence Day is closed to me, it’s true –
It belongs to those who shared it and knew –
But there is a thread that ties our generations together
Stretching through life and time like an invisible tether.
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
They fought for freedom, and they fought for the truth –
Man and woman, the aged and the youth,
Strove against evil, and stood for the good.
The Revolutionary War ended at Yorktown, but the real war never could.
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
Today is July 4, 2013, and Independence Day has come again;
A time to celebrate and commemorate the deed of way back when.
The thread of the common fight for good unites our generations still.
But how do we know it always will?
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
From 1776 to 2013 the torch is passed by those who’ve gone before,
The torch of America’s own battle in the midst of the ancient cosmic war.
So beneath the dark sky of this Independence Day’s first hours,
I look around and begin to believe that the first July 4 was…just like ours.
I hear the thunder rolling, the fireworks booming
The sky is dark and Independence Day’s looming.
All across the country people are preparing, I know,
To celebrate a July 4 of two hundred and thirty-seven years ago.
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
What thoughts and passions lay in the hearts of men?
What fears and hopes did preside way back when?
What cares burdened the backs of that fateful generation,
That on July 4 in Independence Hall they signed their determination?
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
The precious pages of history do unfold America’s story,
Lading me with the treasures of the land of Old Glory,
Yet how can I ever know quite what it was to be alive that year,
Or share the hearts and souls of those who are no longer here?
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
The first Independence Day is closed to me, it’s true –
It belongs to those who shared it and knew –
But there is a thread that ties our generations together
Stretching through life and time like an invisible tether.
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
They fought for freedom, and they fought for the truth –
Man and woman, the aged and the youth,
Strove against evil, and stood for the good.
The Revolutionary War ended at Yorktown, but the real war never could.
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
Today is July 4, 2013, and Independence Day has come again;
A time to celebrate and commemorate the deed of way back when.
The thread of the common fight for good unites our generations still.
But how do we know it always will?
I look outside and I wonder.
I look around and I ponder.
What was it like, that first July 4?
From 1776 to 2013 the torch is passed by those who’ve gone before,
The torch of America’s own battle in the midst of the ancient cosmic war.
So beneath the dark sky of this Independence Day’s first hours,
I look around and begin to believe that the first July 4 was…just like ours.
