 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
Freedom And Union
By deeds not words we prove our inmost mind,For things, not names, we labor and contend;
In noble souls the two are still combined,
And each to each a nobleness they lend!
Freedom and Union are not names, but things,
By deeds our fathers proved for them their love;
In vain with words like these the country rings,
If to the things themselves we recreant prove.
In this alone all patriots agree,
To labor for their country's highest good;
And, by the fruit it bears, to judge the tree,
However party names are understood.
'Tis not the title that makes good the claim,
But nobler deeds, which justify the name.
Poem No. 85; September 1860
| Jones Very : The Complete Poems | |