The new nation hung in the ice of <br />Starvation and hunger <br />Makeshift shacks barely standing against <br />the wind <br />Shoes without sole <br />Breeches shredded without promise <br />of mending. <br /> <br />A handful of men <br />Conceived in liberty <br />Refusing to die <br />Or surrender a dream <br />Dedicated to the proposition <br />Those self-evident, inalienable rights. <br /> <br />Theirs was the courage <br />The fire lit, in a bleak <br />Frozen world <br />Never to be extinguished <br />The blood of generations <br />Flowing from their wounds <br />Forever indebted <br />To the very rags <br />That held them <br />Together. <br /> <br /> <br />(Previously published in Poetfest Anthology, Summer 2000; Honor and Remembrance, Indelible Mark Publishing,2007)<br /><br />Laurence Overmire<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/valley-forge/
