Are you a keeper of the flame

With which our land once burned.

Do we still stand in Jesus Name,

Or has our country turned?

When children in our nations’ schools

Can stand and, laughing, say,

I dont know what is in that rule,

They’ll take their rights away!

They dont know what they ought to say

And what is theirs by right.

Oh will it turn the light of day

To black and sudden night?

Is this the generation that

No patriots will brag,

Cause no one saw you raise your hat

In honour to your flag?

Is this the generation where

Our land will be undone,

Because some citizen failed to care

For God, and land and gun?

Or will we guide a child’s right hand

Cross heart in grand salute,

Of the flag that represents our land,

And tells us of its roots?

Our fathers lit a torch so bright,

As through the fire they came.

Will we be the ones put out the light,

Or we will keep the flame?

Each of us born neath this blessed sky

Has rights none can take away.

To keep them, we would fight or die!

Is that where we stand today?

For all our vigilance and scars,

To keep and use our rights,

Will we be the brightly glowing stars,

In the next generation’s night?

Our life is a tapestry of threads

Woven by authorities.

Who taught us in our hearts and heads.

Will we pass the light to these?

Danielle E Patenaude