M is for My Native Land

Scottish playwright and poet Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) wrote plenty on patriotism. His most popular works included Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, The Lady of the Lake, The Pirate, Rob Roy, and Waverley.

“My Native Land” offers a marvelous message for M-Day, as the title begins with ownership of one’s own homeland, and the poem’s meaning offers mindfulness of national pride.

My Native Land, by Sir Walter Scott

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd
From wandering on a foreign strand!

If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.

Last year’s A to Z post: Maybe Mercy Mends a Mess

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Image/s:

Cavalier by Antoine Gledel

Public Domain/Wikipedia Commons Photos

Favorite Classic Poems

Adapted from ClipArt ETC

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