next to of course god america i

next to of course god america i 
love you land of the pilgrims’ and so forth oh 
say can you see by the dawn’s early my 
country ’tis of centuries come and go 
and are no more what of it we should worry 
in every language even deafanddumb 
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry 
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum 
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut 
iful than these heroic happy dead 
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter 
they did not stop to think they died instead 
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?  
 
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water 

© Used with permission of W W Norton. Poem featured in the Poetry Archive's BBC 100 Collection.

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