<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Pledge <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Today is Independence Day. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Tomorrow will also be Independence Day. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I wave the banner of the present moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to no flag, no nation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to no tribe or party.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to no bombs bursting in air.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to silence and a day of prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Patriotism is rebellion. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Rebellion is joy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Cast down the mighty, the masters of war.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the poor.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the boy I used to be. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The girl you were, the boy in the girl and the girl in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">boy before wholeness was shattered by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">our education.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to hemp and sod.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the unnamed God,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to the moon and the tide, to sun and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">wind and what I cannot know,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to a light that contains all colors, to the rainbow.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to no belief<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">but an heirloom tomato seed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">a living coral reef,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the wisdom in a weed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">when the fireworks last too long after<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">midnight and sulfur lingers in the air.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the huddled deer,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the stray dog in the street, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the shivering sparrow in a bush,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the veteran cringing in the heat of his<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">most ancient fear.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I don't need more bombs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I need to hear the gentle bursting of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">peonies in my garden.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">To notice the sun set here as it rises over Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">To greet who ever I see with a breath of peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">They don't even need to know,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">something in my chest will melt away the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">borders of every nation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Now take off your shoes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Go slow.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Don't burn the flag.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Unravel its thread.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">We hunger for a common bread.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">With all my relations gathered at birth,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the earth,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the infant curled in mother's sea of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">trust.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the dust. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">To all winged and swimming things, to creatures<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">that crawl or come out at night.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Brothers, sisters, four-legged and two,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to you.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to you.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Alfred Lamotte</span></p></body></html>