I would not even ask my heart to say <br />If I could love some other land as well <br />As thee, my country, had I felt the spell <br />Of Italy at birth, or learned to obey <br />The charm of France, or England's mighty sway. <br />I would not be so much an infidel <br />As once to dream, or fashion words to tell, <br />What land could hold my love from thee away. <br /> <br />For like a law of nature in my blood <br />I feel thy sweet and secret sovereignty, <br />And woven through my soul thy vital sign. <br />My life is but a wave, and thou the flood; <br />I am a leaf and thou the mother-tree; <br />Nor should I be at all, were I not thine.<br /><br />Henry Van Dyke<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/patria/
