I normally am not a chest thumping, super patriotic sort of person. Nor do I generally like the writing of Ernest Hemingway. However, I found (and liked) a poem which combines both of these things.
Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americanos, and a belated happy Canada Day to my Canucks. I won't get to celebrate 4th of July this year, but I enjoyed the 1st of July thoroughly. Canadians know how to party!
I Like Americans
Ernest Hemingway
(originally credited as 'A Foreigner' and written while he was abroad in Canada ... sort of like me.)
I like Americans.
They are so unlike Canadians.
They do not take their policemen seriously.
They come to Montreal to drink.
Not to criticize.
They claim they won the war.
But they know at heart that they didn't.
They have such respect for Englishmen.
They like to live abroad.
They do not brag about how they take baths.
But they take them.
Their teeth are so good.
And they wear B.V.D.'s all the year round.
I wish they didn't brag about it.
They have the second best navy in the world.
But they never mention it.
They would like to have Henry Ford for president.
But they will not elect him.
They saw through Bill Bryan.
They have gotten tired of Billy Sunday.
Their men have such funny hair cuts.
They are hard to suck in on Europe.
They have been there once.
They produced Barney Google, Mutt and Jeff.
And Jiggs.
They do not hang lady murderers.
They put them in vaudeville.
They read the Saturday Evening Post
And believe in Santa Claus.
When they make money
They make a lot of money.
They are fine people.
Happy Holidays to my friends north and south of the border, and love to all.
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