Happy Birthday America!!

I see a distant land; it shines so clear
Sometimes it seems so far, sometimes so near.
Come, join together, take the dusty road.
Help one another; share the heavy load.
The journey may be long; no end in sight.
There may be hills to climb, or giants to fight;
But if you'll take my hand, we'll walk together
T'ward the land of freedom.

I hear a distant song; it fills the air.
I hear it, deep and strong, rise up in prayer;
"O Lord, we are many; help us to be one.
Heal our divisions; let Thy will be done."
I know the time will come when war must cease.
A time of truth and love, a time of peace.
The people cry, "How long til all our world
Can join the song of freedom?"

I touch a distant hand and feel its glow,
The hand I hoped was there; at last I know.
Swords into ploughshares; can it all come true?
Friends out of strangers; start with me and you.
I see another time, another place
Where we can all be one, one human race.
The walls will melt away, we'll come together
On the day of freedom.
John Rutter
(written in 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall)