Poetry

This land

This land is my land, your land, our land

For all my time in the light of life,

Until the end

For its mercy and peace and truth and law

And the quiet identity and trust

That is our share.

I have loved and have let it teach my heart

And I’ve dreamed of its happiness

The land is my heart.

I have worn my land’s uniform abroad

And I went to its schools and learned well there

And got some award.

And I worked from the Highlands to the Thames

From the fastness of Wales and o’the north East

I worked with my hands.

But I remember it hurt more than I can say

When they told me my Army was not mine

And sent me away.

This land is my land, your land, our land

For all my time in the light of life,

Until the end

For its mercy and peace and truth and law

And the quiet identity and trust

That is our share.

I have loved and have let it teach my heart

And I’ve dreamed of its happiness

The land is my heart.

Or I went begging for help once, to the court

And found only disbelief and lies

Because I was not their sort.

Did I dream that at work I gave skin and bone

And that after many years giving, I found

What I’d made was not mine.

And the chief of the land, retired and proud

He grew rich, and he kept to himself

The taxes he owed.

This land is my land, your land, our land

For all my time in the light of life,

Until the end

For its mercy and peace and truth and law

And the quiet identity and trust

That is our share.

I have loved and have let it teach my heart

And I’ve dreamed of its happiness

The land is my heart.