The desert has cacti and sand in piles
The clear dry air enables one to see
Expanses that extend one hundred miles
This view gives one the sense of being free

Preserving unique natural features
Protecting land from bulldozing builders
Maintaining places for native creatures
Defending land from extracting miners

Let’s not forget our friend Stephen Mather
Directing the National Park Service
They named a local road for him, I gather
He imbued sacred places with purpose

Acadia, Grand Canyon, Canyonlands
Sandy Hook, Everglades, Virgin Islands

It’s called America’s best idea
Impressing one with marvels and dangers
What one can learn is a panacea
Above all when one speaks with park rangers

Located where great events once occurred
Lest we forget their courage and fine deeds
We go there and our memory is spurred
Of people who defended rights and creeds

There is the chance that one of us might rise
To harness the same spirit of the place
And with the same vigor and strength one tries
To fix a modern problem that we face

Saint-Gaudens, Grant’s Tomb; Springfield Armory
Sagamore Hill, Statue of Liberty