THE Land we from our fathers had in trust, And to our children will transmit, or die: This is our maxim, this our piety; And God and Nature say that it is just. That which we 'would' perform in arms -- we must! We read the dictate in the infant's eye; In the wife's smile; and in the placid sky; And, at our feet, amid the silent dust Of them that were before us. -- Sing aloud Old songs, the precious music of the heart! Give, herds and flocks, your voices to the wind! While we go forth, a self-devoted crowd, With weapons grasped in fearless hands, to assert Our virtue, and to vindicate mankind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...L.E.L.'S LAST QUESTION by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING BROTHERS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ON HIS BEING [OR, HAVING] ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE by JOHN MILTON VERLAINE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON INTROSPECTIVE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH by WALT WHITMAN |