The City On The Hill

Watching the US elections with interest. But i am amused by the left in America wanting to take back the country - to make it what it once was. And what was that? And when...

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When was that time? When was the City on the Hill?
In 1619? When African slaves first landed on those shores?
When, during the over three hundred years after that time?
What of the City on the Hill?

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

What of the Trail of Tears - what City on the Hill?
Burnt beaten raped - their lands taken from them.
Diseases accidental or intentional introduced.
Planned - the systematic destruction of wild buffalo
A plan - a table full of men had to agree had to decide
This is how we can deal with these savages - starve them
Kill them - Kill the buffalo - no more to eat - no more...
Gone from the lands that had been known for generations.

Seventy Five armed interventions since World War Two
When was this City on the Hill? - When the Asians
Were legislated against, to deny immigration,
While the African was brought in chains,
And uncountable Europeans promised untold riches
Given only grinding poverty and rotten.

When was this City on the Hill? When was this time?
This Arcadia? What of this so called left - liberals
Who despair "what has happened to my country?"
My question is simply - when?
When was this City on the Hill?