I didn't have a nature photo for today, but rather staged a photo to go with a poem I wrote on this day in celebration of April being National Poetry Month. Here it is!
In God We Trust
By Kareen King
In God we trust
Developed at the height of religious fervor during the Civil War
Made official at the height of the Cold War
Mandated by Congress
Inscribed on our coins
Used on paper money
Supplanted our defacto motto
E pluribus unum
Out of many, one
In God we trust
The legacy of founders
But not the founders of the Nation
Not John Adams who preferred the “Choice of Hercules”
Man’s individual choice
Vice versus virtue
Not Benjamin Franklin, a deist who believed
“Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God”
Not Thomas Jefferson who inspired separation from church and state
In God we trust
Who are “we”?
One from many?
Many from many?
Or a few “one’s” who want many “many’s” to
Think like them?
Follow them?
Invest in them?
Vote for them?
Divide families over them?
Sever friendships over them?
Go to prison for them?
Die for them?
Do mandates create authenticity?
And if our Congress “trusts in God”
Why is it so divided?
Why are there sides?
Why aren’t we one?
