A Nation's Strength

What makes a nation's pillars high
And it's 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.

...Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up - - Paul Valery

Margo,

Good one.. Wish this was true ...back home.

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What goes around comes around...
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A CANADIAN INDIAN

True. In this day and age priorities are totally different. I hope this poet's idealism does not go out of style altogether

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The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up - - Paul Valery