My mom, Raynette Forister Eitel, passed away in September of 2022, age 85, drifting away into dementia. It was tragic to watch this woman who loved words, who was a poet, fade away into wordlessness after a lifetime of crafting poetry. To honor her, I’m sharing some of her poems. To read more of her poems, keep coming back here.
Our mom, like so many, was horrified by the events of 9/11/2001. Some of the patriotic poems she penned afterwards were published in an anthology of poetry titled 911: The Day America Cried.
Patriotism Reborn
by Raynette Eitel, written 2001
I never knew years of singing
About the sweet land of liberty
Was wedging love so securely
In my heart
That it might break.
I never dreamed humming
“God Bless America”
Would become a daily prayer
To deliver my country
From evil.
I never suspected that
All those times I bellowed
“The Star Spangled Banner”
Just before the first pitch
Would one day be so
Filled with anger.
I have lived from sea to shining sea
Beside that purple mountain
Just above the fruited plain
In a country where I
Took freedom for granted,
Worshipped God as I chose,
Said whatever I pleased,
Bore arms when I wished,
Never truly grasping
My extraordinary birthright.
It is a time for remembering
What America is all about,
Songs still sung,
Hands held over broken hearts,
Flags waving proudly
From the New York harbor
To the redwood forest,
Tears streaming down our cheeks,
Thoughts of Bunker Hill,
Gettysburg, Verdun, Pearl Harbor,
The 38th Parallel, Viet Nam,
Twin towers.
Now that I am reborn with tears
And smoke and fire
Into patriotism,
Drinking the milk of freedom,
Wrapped in the red white and blue
Of my old flag,
I sing new lullabies
Of the songs of my fathers
And vow to protect and defend
America the rest of my life.
Writing Rhetorically 