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Charlie Daniels had a blog, and this was the last thing he wrote. He posted it on Saturday. He died of a stoke a few days later.**************My Beautiful AmericaHave you ever spent the late afternoon,Watching the purple shadows deepen in the Arizona desert?Or seen a herd of Elk plow their wayThrough waist-deep snow on a cold Colorado dawn?Did you ever see the sun go down in HawaiiOr seen the stormy waves break over the rockbound coast of MaineOr have you ever seen an eagle fly up out of the mists of AlaskaOr a big October moon hanging full over the still Dakota badlands?Have you ever tasted the gumbo in New Orleans, barbecue in CarolinaOr the chicken wings in Buffalo?Have you ever had Brunswick stew in Macon, or cornbread in Birmingham?Or briskets slow cook over hill country mesquite wood?Did you ever drink the water from a gurgling branch in Utah,Or stand on the mountain above El Paso Del NorteAnd see the lights twinkling clear over into MexicoDid you ever jingle horses in the pre-dawn stillness of a perfect Texas dayAnd watch their shod hooves kicking up sparks on the volcanic rock?Or tended a trotline on a foggy Carolina morning,Or heard the distant love song of a lovesick whippoorwillOn a pristine Tennessee late night?Have you seen the faces on Mount Rushmore or stood at the Vietnam monument?Have you ever crossed the mighty Mississippi,Or been to the Daddy of ‘Em All in Cheyenne, WyomingOr seen the mighty Vols run out on the football field on a chilly autumn afternoon?Did you ever see the Chicago skyline from Lakeshore Drive at nightOr the New England foliage in the fall,Or the summer beauty of the Shenandoah Valley,Or Indiana covered with new snow?Did you ever seen a herd of wild horses running freeAcross the empty spaces of Nevada?Or caught a walleyed pike out of a cold Wisconsin stream,Or marveled at the tall ships docked in the harbor at Baltimore?Did you ever see the early morning dew sparkling on the bluegrass,Or the wind stir the wheat fields on a hot Kansas afternoonOr driven the lonely stretches of old Route 66Have you ever heard the church bells peal their call to worshipOn an early Sunday, in some small town in the Deep South?Or passed through the Redwood Forest just as the sun was going downHave you ever been to Boise or Baxley or Beaufort or Billings?Have you ever passed through Sanford or Suffolk or San AngeloHave you ever seen the falls at NiagaraThe Ice Palace in Saint PaulOr the Gateway to the West?This then is America!The land God blesses with everythingAnd no Eiffel Tower: no Taj Mahal,No Alps, No AndesNo native hut, nor Royal Palace -Can rival her awesome beauty,Her diverse population, her monolithic majesty.America the FreeAmerica the mightyAmerica the beautifulI pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of AmericaAnd to the republic for which it standsOne nation under God, indivisiblewith liberty and justice for all.What do you think?Pray for our troops, and for the peace of Jerusalem.God Bless America— Charlie Daniels