Poem for Memorial Day; How?

How can anyone read the Gettysburg Address on Memorial Day and not cry?
How can anyone read the Gettysburg Address and still support nullification and secession?
How can anyone read the Gettysburg Address and be so angry and hateful toward the Federal govt. which is supposedly "of the people, by the people, and for the people?"
How can anyone read the Gettysburg Address and want to deny rights and benefits to public workers like firemen, police officers, teachers, and bureaucrats who are" the people" in the government by/of/for the people?
How can anyone read the Gettysburg Address and come away thinking that the "cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion" is merely patriotism or nationalism and not the principles of participatory democracy and equality?
How can anyone read the Gettysburg Address and come away thinking that the "cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion" is merely patriotism or nationalism and not the freedom of religion, expression, association, and the right to petition for redress of grievences?
How can anyone read the Gettysburg Address on Memorial Day and not cry?

On top of a hill

On the one hand, the steeple of the old white country church rises above bean and corn fields like a lighthouse on a rock above the beating waves.

Meanwhile, occupants of the churchyard bear silent witness to the families gathered under the eaves on Sundays like chicks gathered under a hens wings.

On a Green Sea

Wind whispers through pines
Humble, unobtrusive, yet full and constant and massive, like the ocean surf.

Rolling prairie hills and heavy air and low clouds further play out the maritime feel.

But the song of the red winged back bird, while mournful has a hope and affection that no gull or albatross ever offer.