As we lift off, the flight attendant announces
active duty soldiers are on board, and we applaud.

At the afternoon concert, the parade and the pyrotechnics
at the arboretum, will the fanfare feel genuine?

Will our troops throughout the world feel the lyrics of Hamilton:
“Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now”?

Will the U.S. special operations forces in Tal Abyad
hear the live cannon fire during Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”?

Will protesters of the Senate health-care bill
see the display of fireworks from their jail cells?

Will the Army Herald Trumpets, the official ensemble
for the President of the United States, add splendor to the day?