The war was won, the paper crown was signed,
A union named where once was scattered will;
Yet what was forged in fire proved hard to bind
When peace returned and tempers would not still.
No single voice to shape, command, fulfill,
But many states that each their right would stand—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
The ink declared what muskets once made true,
Yet ink alone could not make firm the land,
For every claim returned in differing view,
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
No treasury to answer pressing need,
No power laid to levy or compel;
Each state its own reluctant purse would heed,
And common cause would falter where it fell.
The victories rang, yet silence followed well,
Where once the drums had unified command—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
Requests were sent where orders could not go,
And answers came as each saw fit to stand,
The center thin where once had seemed to grow—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
In chambers where agreement must be found,
The smallest voice could halt the greater aim;
What once was strength in union now unbound
Revealed a system hesitant to claim.
No throne refused, yet none stepped forth to name
A will that all were bound to understand—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
The frontier stirred, unrest began to rise,
And questions spread no vote could countermand,
As cracks appeared no clause could quite disguise—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
Yet still they held, as best they might contrive,
A structure meant to guard what had been won;
To keep the fledgling union yet alive,
Though lacking means to act as truly one.
The work begun was far from being done,
The shape uncertain, shifting in the sand—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
For liberty, once claimed, resists the rein,
And balance proves a thing none fully planned,
Where freedom’s gain may also weaken chain—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
So stood the frame that could not long endure,
Too slight to hold, too strong to cast aside;
A paradox no measure could secure,
Where sovereign states and union must abide.
Until at last the strain could not be tied,
And change approached no force could countermand—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
What followed next would answer what was lacking,
A firmer shape to meet a wider span,
Yet born from this, its flaws and careful tracking—
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.
Envoi:
O careful builders, cautious, thinly planned,
You held together more than you had spanned;
Though each would guard the right to self-command,
You proved a truth no state could long withstand:
They bind the states with fragile, written hand.