‘America at the Crossroads’ Back in the Spotlight

From The Pen Woman, Spring 2021

By Donna Puglisi

“America at the Crossroads,” written by JoAnna O’Keefe, couldn’t come at a better time. Her lyrics plead with Americans to come together in this time of crisis.

Her plea for unity was recorded by American country music artist Michael Peterson, whose song, “From Here to Eternity,” became No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 40 Hot Country Singles and Tracks. The Peterson version of “America at the Crossroads” was released worldwide last year in November and a video was released on YouTube in December. The song is available through Amazon, Apple Music, and Spotify.

O’Keefe discusses the birth of her song in a YouTube video. “It has been said that a song can stir the soul of a nation,” she said.

A Florida resident, O’Keefe is a member of the Cape Canaveral Branch. Recently, the local newspaper, Vera Voice, featured her in an article.

She is a 2016 recipient of the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation. Sen. Bill Nelson shared her poem with members of Congress in 2017, which was entered into the Congressional Record. In 2018, O’Keefe received the NLAPW president’s Prestigious Pen Woman Award for Distinguished Achievement in Poetry for “America at the Crossroads.”

 

America at the Crossroads

By JoAnna O’Keefe

We the people
Are on opposite sides;
We’ve lost sight of the middle
Where Resolutions reside.

If Jefferson were here right now
He would pick up his pen.
On parchment he’d write:
Be Patriots again!

Look into the eyes
Of your sisters and brothers.
Be Americans!
Respecting one another.

No outside force
Will ever take this land.
But a “house divided,”
Cannot stand.

Blood has been shed
For this land of the Free
Be Americans!
Embrace your destiny.

Be that “City on a Hill.”
Be that Light!
Lay down your anger.
Americans! Unite!