The land was ours before we were the land's. She was our land more than a hundred years Before we were her people. She was ours In Massachusetts, in Virginia, But we were England's, still colonials, Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, Possessed by what we now no more possessed. Something we were withholding made us weak Until we found out that it was ourselves We were withholding from our land of living, And forthwith found salvation in surrender. Such as we were we gave ourselves outright (The deed of gift was many deeds of war) To the land vaguely realizing westward, But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced, Such as she was, such as she would become. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOR OUR BETTER GRACES by JAMES GALVIN FRANCIS II, KING OF NAPLES; SONNET by AMY LOWELL MAPLE AND SUMACH by CECIL DAY LEWIS FOR THAT HE LOOKED NOT UPON HER by GEORGE GASCOIGNE THE LOWEST PLACE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI SONNET: 128 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ONCE WITH DEATH NEAR by REBA MAXWELL AVERY |