Poem: “Patria” by Henry Van Dyke

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American Literature – Children Books – American Poetry – Henry Van Dyke – Poems by Henry Van Dyke
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Patria

I would not even ask my heart to say
  If I could love another land as well
  As thee, my country, had I felt the spell
Of Italy at birth, or learned to obey
The charm of France, or England’s mighty sway.
  I would not be so much an infidel
  As once to dream, or fashion words to tell,
What land could hold my heart from thee away.

For like a law of nature in my blood,
  America, I feel thy sovereignty,
    And woven through my soul thy vital sign.
My life is but a wave and thou the flood;
  I am a leaf and thou the mother-tree;
    Nor should I be at all, were I not thine.

June, 1904.

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America > > >

American Literature – Children Books – American Poetry – Henry Van Dyke – Poems by Henry Van Dyke

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Patria

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