The 51st State
“A republic, if you can keep it.” — Benjamin Franklin, attributed
answer after the Constitutional Convention, 1787
I sometimes wish—in England now—
We were the 51st State
Of America—and knew somehow
We’d failed the test, become third rate.
The Puritans who left these shores,
First from the Mayflower, and then
Following, those wanting deeper laws
Of God to concentrate their lens,
For freedom—found, enshrined in words
Of independence, liberty—
Those men who prized success, preferred
Merit to dumb equality.
They pushed their frontiers outwards, on
To ever greater forms and shapes.
From thirteen states to fifty’s soon done,
It seems—the world’s tectonic plates
Are shifted forever. This new child,
Like Thetis’s son, destined to out-
Do the old father (scrap-heap piled,
And lost in ruminating doubts).
Oh, for America, bold and young!
Could we too here in England keep
The flame like you? Like you be strong,
Burn freedom-wise, intensely, deep
And unashamed embrace the facts.
Life may be rough and truth all slant,
And “Nevermore” dire voices crack.
Yet hope’s the seed your being plants.
No looking back—the road not taken.
For you, what’s forward and what’s free.
Inspire us. Break us from what’s Woken.
Let England share your energy.
James Sale has had over 50 books published, most recently, “Mapping Motivation for Top Performing Teams” (Routledge, 2021). He has been nominated by The Hong Kong Review for the 2022 Pushcart Prize for poetry, has won first prize in The Society of Classical Poets 2017 annual competition, and performed in New York in 2019. He is a regular contributor to The Epoch Times. His most recent poetry collection is DoorWay. For more information about the author, and about his Dante project, visit https://englishcantos.home.blog. To subscribe to his brief, free and monthly poetry newsletter, contact him at [email protected].
I read this poem with great interest to hear an English perspective on America and its revolution. It is a poem that could only be written in an England that lost its empire and killed its own glorious traditions. What is it left with? Only in an England so stripped could it look to the youthful hope of America as a model and pine for statehood.
Your use of half rhyme and enjambment (even of words) gives the poem a flowing, conversational quality appropriate for its reflective subject.
Let’s keep it 50, but trade England for California…
I deeply feel the sentiments you enshrined in your thoughtful poem with the beautiful use of the image of the son of Thetis outdoing the father. We still share so much in common and both of us must beware of what could befall us. The future depends on skilled vested historically oriented erudite professionals like you to lead the way.