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The land was ours before we were the land’s.The land was ours before we were the land’s
The land was ours before we were the land’s. She was our land more than a hundred years Before we were her people. She was ours In Massachusetts, in Virginia, But we were England’s, still colonials, Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, Possessed by what we now no more possessed. Something we were withholding made us weak Until we found out that it was ourselves We were withholding from our land of living, And forthwith found salvation in surrender. Such as we were we gave ourselves outright (The deed of gift was many deeds of war) To the land vaguely realizing westward, But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced, Such as she was, such as she would become.
The land belonged to us before we belonged to it. It was our land for over a hundred years Before we became her people. It was ours In Massachusetts and Virginia. But we were still subjects of England, colonials, Holding what we had not yet truly owned, Controlled by what we no longer had. Something we kept back made us weak Until we realized it was ourselves We were keeping from our living land, And then we found salvation in letting go. Just as we were, we gave ourselves completely (The gift involved many acts of war) To the land slowly coming into its own westward, But still untold, simple, and unrefined, Just as she was, just as she would become.