 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
170
TO AMERICA.
Columbia, child of Britain,—noblest child!I praise the growing lustre of thy worth,
And fain would see thy great heart reconciled
To love the mother of so blest a birth:
For we are one, Columbia! still the same
In lineage, language, laws, and ancient fame,
The natural nobility of earth:
Yes, we are one; the glorious days of yore
When dear old England earn'd her storied name,
Are thine as well as ours for evermore;
And thou hast rights in Milton, ev'n as we,
Thou too canst claim ‘sweet Shakspeare's wood-notes wild,’
And chiefest, brother, we are both made free
Of one Religion, pure and undefiled!
| Three Hundred Sonnets | |