A Nation's Strength (Poem)

A NATION'S STRENGTH (POEM)

[This poem is written by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). He was born in Boston (USA). He was an essayist, a poet and a philosopher. His philosophy is everlasting, because it arose from a desire to make all things new, to seize life freshly, experience it first hand and use it to build beyond the old.]

Not gold, but only men can make,

          A people great and strong,

Men who, for truth and honour's sake,

          Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,

          Who dare while other fly

They build a nation's pillars deep,

          And lift them to the sky.

Ralph Waldo Emerson