Teen Ink

   Over the hills and halls of Mount Vernon

I heard voices that cried,

"No taxation without representation!"

And the Tories who lied.



In the monuments and museums and houses

I saw people who dreamed

In the battlefields of blood and of anger

I saw the British get creamed



I saw brave men who died

And children who cried

I heard calls for freedom to vote



I heard lofty appeals

And men with ideals

I read words that the wisest men wrote



Yet it baffles me now

To understand how

These men died for America and why



It's a nation of thugs

And homewrecking drugs

And poor homeless children who cry



Our forefathers tried

But instead they died

If you look closely, I think you'll find:



A nation of crime

And a nation of death

Was not quite what they had in mind.