Classic Poem

Thy soil, Virginia! is all hallowed ground,
Made such by steps of patriots; thy high fame,
Alway unto our ears, a glorious sound,
Kindles, in all high hearts, heroic flame.

I walk beneath thy forests, high and lone,
I hear a voice that sinks into my heart,
The voice of fetterless Liberty; the tone
Which bids the flame of patriotism start.

Greece was the land of heroes, and her soil
Is sacred with the deathless memory
Of martyred virtue, which on Death could smile,
At Marathon and proud Thermopylæ:

Gray Rome shall never lose the magic charm,
That valor's fire can pour along a land;
That charm shall bid the hearts of mankind warm,
Long after her last stone hath ceased to stand:

Yet, thou, Virginia! art a prouder land,
For when thy hills become red shrines to Right;
Thy plains become the spots, where, smiling, stand,
The angels, gentle Peace and true Delight.

And now, how fair thy homes! on every hand,
Thy cities and thy country domes arise,
From mountains vast, to ocean's shelly strand,
And bring a pride into our gazing eyes!

How brave thy polished sons! their hearts how free!
How far above the plotting of the mean!
How they contemn all base chicanery,
And proudly move, as men, through every scene!

And when thy daughters, an angelic train,
Roam mid thy flowery walks, how sweet their love!
And when they speak--the sound seems like a strain,
That wander'd from a blissful clime above!

Immortal land! my soul is proud, to think
I yet can walk upon thy mother soil,
And, willing that her mouldering frame may sink,
Back to thy breast, after its lifetime toil.