I will add my name

In seventeen seventy six
our founding fathers met.
they gathered round a document
the ink still almost wet.
a call to independence
a call to cross the line
John Hancock took the pen in hand
said, Show me where I sign

I will add my name, I will add my name.
I’ll light the world with freedom’s flame.
I will add my name.
I will add my name, I will add my name.
For a better world I’ll stake my claim
I will add my name.

Men and women gathered
In the Methodist Village hall
The year was 1848
the Town of Seneca Falls
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
spoke for the write to vote
and underneath her written speech
her signature she wrote...Chorus

we call these people heroes
we say that they’re the best.
but what about those who risked it all
but never knew success?

As I look around me. everything so nice.
protected by the privilege. kept far from sacrifice.
If I faced those kinds of choices
on some future day
would I find the courage in me
and have the strength to say?

© Stuart stotts and Tom Pease 2001

unrecorded