Watch, America
by Robert Nathan (1894-1985)
Where the northern ocean darkens,
Where the rolling rivers run,
Past the cold and empty headlands,
Toward the slow and westering sun,
There our fathers, long before us,
Armed with freedom, faced the deep;
What they won with love and labor,
Let their children watch and keep.
By our desk and dreaming forests,
By our free and shining skies,
By our green and ripening prairies,
Where the western mountains rise;
God who gave our fathers freedom,
God who made our fathers brave,
What they built with love and anguish,
Let their children watch and save.