NOR force nor fraud shall sunder us! O ye Who north or south, or east or western land, Native to noble sounds, say truth for truth, Freedom for freedom, love for love, and God For God; O ye who in eternal youth Speak with a living and creative flood This universal English, and do stand Its breathing book; live worthy of that grand Heroic utterance -- parted, yet a whole, Far, yet unsevered, -- children brave and free Of the great Mother tongue, and ye shall be Lords of an empire wide as Shakespeare's soul, Sublime as Milton's immemorial theme, And rich as Chaucer's speech, and fair as Spen- ser's dream. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FLORIDA GHOST by SIDNEY LANIER ODE ON THE POETICAL CHARACTER by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) WISHES TO HIS SUPPOSED MISTRESS by RICHARD CRASHAW TRUTH AND SORROW by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY |