If You Can Keep It

"If you can keep it", the man said.
His face is on the Benjamin
and "Words, not Deeds", the first who led.
Well, and since then, what have we seen?

The giants came and went. They do.
Such is their given role, it seems.
Most of the others? Much ado.
And our republic, and our dreams?

We lose it, gain it, give it back.
It's squirmy and combatant.
So far, it's weathered all attacks,
some insolent, some patent.

Our bill of rights is always due
and never paid in full,
as challengers line up in queue
to celebrate "self-rule".

"If you can keep it", the man said.
The question is, for what?
Let not desire to be led
make you forget all that.