COUNTRY
Divided by the ocean’s vast
From other dear and shining strands,
The wonder of the storied past
Confesses this the land of lands;
The refuge of the fair and brave
When freedom was denied her due;
Sing with the wild, wild ocean-wave,
“America the true!”
Dear was the boon the pilgrim sought
Amid the redman’s forest wild,
And dearly, too, the lesson taught
By this sweet Freedom’s native child;
Which yet once learned forget no more,
O heir of that loved Liberty!
Breathe with the spirit of thy shore,
“America the free!”
Her stars and stripes that proudly float
So many citied states above,
Shall we forget that they denote
The oneness of a common love?
Sweet token to the patriot
O’er all thy territories wide,
Float to this one inspiring thought,
“America our pride!”
And still as fuller swell thy veins
And crimsoner thy throbbing blood,
Be virtue in thy broad domains,
The God of nations be thy God!
The echo of thy forest-days
Still mingle with thy voiceful sea
Or linger in the poet’s praise,
“America the free!”