After nine and a half perilous months at sea,
102 ill-suited whites stepped onto welcomed land
To unpack frivolous trumpets, sundials, and candle snuffers.
Hapless adventurers, facing a hostile ocean at their back, and before them
A vast and unknown continent of wild and savage hue.
They gave thanksgiving for good fortune...
"Lord, teach me grace for the comfort and safety of my warm home.
Remind me to give blessings for family, sustenance, and health.
Guide me towards redemption and forgiveness of my earthly sins.
Strengthen me with hope and eternal faith in God.
And sustain me in my morality and civilized education.
"Father, help me build strong fences of defense against the ignorant savages.
Keep me at a distance from the superstitious, hell-bent heathens.
Let me judge with righteous confidence the necessary purge of evil,
And instruct me in the ways of manipulation over those of lesser degrees
As I establish my new Separatist home.
"For Almighty predestination in salvation is my birthright
Acquired as the true faith of my Pilgrim fathers
And proven by my Baptism that cleansed original sin.
Freed of all idolatry, worldly manifestations of sacraments,
May I offer no celebration created by the handiwork of mortals."
And soon a new world found root...
People of the First Light lay scattered in fields of native corn
Stricken down by foreign plague and blazing musket.
Fishers, hunters, gatherers:
Wampanoag remains fertilizing their motherland,
Unrecognizable victims of their own saving grace,
The dark-skinned spiritual remnants of an American Thanksgiving.
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