Patriotism is our taking care
To paint things as they are,
To not misname a spade,
And not shout of gloom, and flare,
When there’s just a shade.
Where I Was Born
Fools die and praise their fatherland in vain
Or extol a vain throne while they suffer pain.
Where I Was Born
Truth is piety, piety truth.
Where I Was Born
In their desperate ways some kings are sure
To invoke corruption to besmear the pure.
Where I Was Born
Those who build in the heart live in the heart.
Those who build in the mind live in the mind.
And though they pass on, they never die.
Where I Was Born
The fear of death does not make a Methuselah,
Nor does the love of life or its taking.
Where I Was Born
If the land of our fathers
stabs us like adders
are we still obliged to love it,
to nod our assent to its blind conceit,
and cultivate patriotism
in a loveless acre
massed with rocks?
Where I Was Born
It’s not in caution that man’s safety lies
Or in timid silence when he ought to speak.
An end awaits the valiant as the weak.
Even the dumb dies.
Where I Was Born
The glorious path is paved with sacrifice.
In death, the buried gift is not forgiven.
Where I Was Born
And yet the poet should not deny his pain,
Or fail for lack to stress his fair bargain.
For if poets do not make money,
Then, neither does money make poets.
Where I Was Born
