It's been a week of enormous ups and downs both politically and spiritually. I worked a full day today and had almost forgotten about posting the poetry prayer. I went idly searching for a poem with the word "Pride" in it because the NYC Gay Pride parade was today and because the SCOTUS decisions on DOMA and Prop 8 were uplifting and I wanted to go that direction. I found this poem by Emerson that speaks to both the great joy of those things and the great sorrows of the anti-choice legislation in OH and possibly in TX. It is also, I know, relevant to a million other things.
And beautiful.
A Nation's Strength
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
What makes a nation’s pillars high
And its foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?
It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.
Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.
And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.
Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.
Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.
A Nation's Strength
by Ralph Waldo EmersonWhat makes a nation's pillars high And its foundations strong? What makes it mighty to defy The foes that round it throng? It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand Go down in battle shock; Its shafts are laid on sinking sand, Not on abiding rock. Is it the sword? Ask the red dust Of empires passed away; The blood has turned their stones to rust, Their glory to decay. And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown Has seemed to nations sweet; But God has struck its luster down In ashes at his feet. Not gold but only men can make A people great and strong; Men who for truth and honor's sake Stand fast and suffer long. Brave men who work while others sleep, Who dare while others fly... They build a nation's pillars deep And lift them to the sky.- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20275#sthash.yQUla4Xk.dpuf
A Nation's Strength
by Ralph Waldo EmersonWhat makes a nation's pillars high And its foundations strong? What makes it mighty to defy The foes that round it throng? It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand Go down in battle shock; Its shafts are laid on sinking sand, Not on abiding rock. Is it the sword? Ask the red dust Of empires passed away; The blood has turned their stones to rust, Their glory to decay. And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown Has seemed to nations sweet; But God has struck its luster down In ashes at his feet. Not gold but only men can make A people great and strong; Men who for truth and honor's sake Stand fast and suffer long. Brave men who work while others sleep, Who dare while others fly... They build a nation's pillars deep And lift them to the sky.- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20275#sthash.yQUla4Xk.dpuf
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