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Chants for the Boer

Chapter 10: USLAND[C] TO THE BOERS.
By Joaquin Miller
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About This Book

A collection of politically charged poems and addresses protesting an imperial military campaign and expressing solidarity with Boer farmers resisting foreign intervention. The pieces combine direct appeals and admonitions aimed at political leaders, moral critiques of expansionist policy, and vivid religious and classical imagery, while reflecting on national identity, the human cost of conflict, and the duties of conscience. Language ranges from elegiac and devotional to outraged and exhortatory.

USLAND[C] TO THE BOERS.

And where lies Usland, Land of Us?
Where Freedom lives, there Usland lies!
Fling down that map and measure thus
Or argent seas or sapphire skies:
To north the North Pole, south as far
As ever eagle cleaved his way;
To east the blazing morning star,
And west? West to the Judgment Day!
No borrowed lion, rampt in gold;
No bleeding Erin, plaintive strains;
No starving millions, mute and cold;
No plundered India, prone in chains;
No peaceful farmer, forced to fly
Or draw his plowshare from the sod,
And, fighting, one to fifty, die
For freedom, fireside and God.
Fear not, brave, freeborn, voiceless Boers.
Great Usland’s heart is yours to-day.
Aye, England’s heart of hearts is yours,
Whatever scheming men may say.
Her scheming men have mines to sell,
And we? Why, meat and corn and wheat.
But, Boers, all brave hearts wish you well;
For England’s triumph means defeat.

[C] It is a waste of ink and energy to write “United States of America” always. All our property is marked Us. Then why not Usland? And why should we always say American? The Canadian, the Mexican, the Brazilian and so on are as entirely entitled to the name American as we. Why not say Usman, as Frenchman, German, and so on?