My Country! dare we do it? Dare we be Strong with our strength and with our freedom free, Commensurate with the measure of our land, And boldly equal to our destiny? No arms but arms of love should lift the sword, Those only war by whom it is abhorred, Those only kill whose choice would be to die, And none should fight but battle for the Lord. Are our eyes keen to see His form alone? Our ears to hear His solemn undertone? And all our hearts untiringly alert His high behest and none but His to own? Rather than wrong the men of meanest birth, Some least of nations least in honest worth, Be all our glorious land for evermore Cursed and erased from off the scornful earth! Rather than swagger through a boastful hour, Drunken with pride and mad with murderous power, Let us walk feebly as the cravens walk, And let us hide ourselves as cravens cower. One hundred millions! Dare we scan the rolls And take their regal meaning to our souls? Dare we assume the sceptre of ourselves And sway the power that itself controls? We that love Liberty, shall we as well Grant Liberty in other lands to dwell, Nor use her sacred name to garnish deeds As foul as Satan and as black as hell? We that the nations all have joined to frame, Can we be true to these from whence we came, Yet nourish for the darkness of the world In common purpose one clear-shining flame? Can we, discovering that we are strong, Remember Freedom's oath and Freedom's song, And wear our strength in that humility And calm forbearance that to strength belong? Then, then, my Country, let us dare to be Strong with our strength and with our freedom free, Commensurate with the measure of our land, And boldly equal to our destiny! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MEMOIR OF A PROUD BOY by CARL SANDBURG BIRCH STREAM by ANNA BOYNTON AVERILL THE HASTY PUDDING by JOEL BARLOW THE MAN IN THE MOON by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY CRY WOE, WOE, AND LET THE GOOD PREVAIL, FR. AGAMEMNON by AESCHYLUS |