Independence Day Poem by Edgar Albert Guest

WHAT does it all mean anyway,
Noise of cannon and boom of gun,
Deafening, colorful fire display
Starting in with the rising sun?
Ah, it means that this land of ours,
Fringed with mountains and decked with flowers,
Warm with sunshine and wet with dew,
Is dear to the hearts of her people true.

Every whizzing rocket that seeks the sky
And bursts in beauty, the world above
Proclaims aloud, as it journeys high,
A nation's pride and a nation's love;
It seems to speak of her wonders here,
Her mines so rich and her skies so clear,
Her harvests grand and her waving pines,
Her fields of green and her creeping vines.

Oh, a glorious day is this day we keep!
For under the noise and the powder scent
Is a strain of love that is wide and deep,
A touch of a nation's sentiment.
Love of country the cannon speaks,
Love of freedom the rocket shrieks,
Love of the flag that waves above,
This is the meaning — a nation's love .