Story XIII: I Loved America

A eulogy.

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

I loved America because three ships risked the cliff edge of the world to find her, and only two made it home.

I loved America for the Mayflower and New World pumpkins, for her rough, patchwork corn and tobacco shared in thin, clay pipes — for schoolbook Indians standing quietly beside long Thanksgiving tables.

For the bundled papoose on her mother’s back and the paddling of midnight canoes and the carving of totem poles in mossy Northwest forests. For the roadside names of a thousand orphaned towns and Connecticut rivers and Dakota states, signs that paid respect to their forgotten stewards as silently as Quakers.

For the sounds of “Apache” and “Sioux,” and “Cherokee” and “Iroquois.” Names that could be felt but not explained.

For an Indian chief who stood by a city highway weeping.

A million buffalo.

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I loved Ameri…