AMERICA, a poem

THY children are inspired by thee:
Blest by thy gift of liberty,
They go to make the wretched free,
          Mother-land!

They were indeed not sons of thine
Could they withhold that gift divine.
Of liberty thou art the shrine,
          Mother-land!

Thy children glory in thy name;
They write it, as with words of flame,
In deeds that put thy foes to shame,
          Mother-land!

In deeds of daring unforecast,
In deeds of valor unsurpassed,
In deeds that make thee known at last,
          Mother-land!

Thy strength it was that made them strong;
Thy justice taught them hate of wrong;
They are of thee, to thee belong,
          Mother-land!

Their lungs are filled with thy sweet breath;
Thy voice they hear, and what it saith;
They love thee, and they fear not death,
          Mother-land!

"America" by Florence Earle Coates (before the war for the liberation of Cuba). Published in The Outlook (9 July 1898), Mine and Thine (1904) and Poems (1916) Volume I.