American Woman

BY LINE WRITTEN BY LYNN PETRONELLA

They came before us on wagons and trains

Across mountains and praries on all kinds of terrain's

Through winter, fall, spring and summer days

With white men and Indians pioneering American ways

Seeking land and freedom from places before

Following where no one had gone....seeking more

They risked life and limb through the wind and the rain

Through good times and bad...they fought on just the same

Their names have been lost into history for now

But let me remind you of what they did and how

Hail Annie and Emma and Sarah and Jane

Emily , Susan and many others to name!

They came before us sometimes all alone

Some richer some poorer to make America their new home

They gave birth without medicine

Raised children in the wild

Had men who left them and never came back

Some barely a child

They gained strength and courage from their American quest

From New York to the City of Angels...they did their remarkable best.

Off into the wilderness, no road to follow or cross

They went off on pure faith THEIR freedom was boss

Native plants, animals and people too

Made their adventure a difficult one in search of something new

They looked for land, gold, fur skins and more

Never knew what was coming around that next bend, behind that other door

Sometimes it was bloody and deadly this game that they played

But their thirst for their freedom was something God gave.

To pursue with their courage and faith this new land

To tame it and love it...it was HIS holy plan

For God had given America His beauty from above

Had adorned her with mountains, animals and people with His love

So with guns by their side and horses to tame

They rode across the prairie with God's vision in their heads

To own land and till it to raise children free

To taste the fruits of their labors as God intended it to be

Away from a King who had taken his toll

They pushed on through the woods and night with guts and with soul

'

These pioneer women went on the attack

They stood by their men, they could never look back

Sometimes they were left all alone in the night

They learned how to use guns and even to fight

They learned that the freedom they sought had to be won

It did not come easily sometimes killing had to be done

They tried not to bend to the difficulties they saw

As they marched to their own beat on this foreign shore.

Come Irish, come English, Italian and Jew

The Germans and Swedish all in search of something new

The camaraderie of the journey forged bonds deep and strong

No longer their nationalities separate a new race was born.

Americans they called themselves not just Emily and Jane

The place of the free, the home of the brave

The sweat of their brow and cries of each birth

Bled new and vital energy into this consecrated earth.

New children born free in this land of the brave

With other journeys to follow, new lives to save

The women who fought through the brush and the night

Opened the day with a vision so bright

Freedom to think, speak and act in the manner they chose

For these rights these new Americans were willing their lives to lose

You say that sounds easy so simple for sure

But up until now other governments did these things abhor

So freedom rung through the blood of this new nation

A United States was now a creation

The sons of these women would fight for this land

And die for the victory to take freedoms stand

Then when all the war did subside

Americans rebuilt their nation, with new American pride

Bound by a cause that ran deeper than blood

Bound by the land their emotions did flood.

A flag with it's stars and stripes was now born

By Betsy our new country would now be adorned

A woman would make that red white and blue for all the world to see

Because without these American women...we would never be truly

free....

Copyright © 2002 Lynn Petronella

(TM)