New era warrants new US anthem
With the upcoming construction of the much-touted border wall, the United States has entered a dark new era requiring a new national anthem.
US President Donald Trump has described the wall as a steel-slat barrier, with the slats ending in spear tips at the tops to deter people from trying to climb over.
Hence, I append the following ode to the wall, to be sung to the tune of the now-obsolete “Star-spangled Banner.”
Fonning Toaddy
Celtic bard (retired)
The Steel-slatted Barrier
(Tune: The Star-spangled Banner; with apologies to Francis Scott Key)
O, say, can you see
By the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose strong slats and spiked tips,
Meant to champion what’s right,
At the border we watched
Gave our values new meaning?
And the immigrants massed there,
Children wailing in despair,
Gave proof through the night
That our wall was still there.
O, say, does that steel-slatted barrier still stand
As a shame and a disgrace
To our once-noble land?
