Poetry Performed Episode 036 - A Nation’s Strength by William Ralph Emerson

Poetry Performed Episode 036 - A Nation’s Strength by William Ralph Emerson

As summer continues, and the Fourth of July approaches, we celebrate Independence Day here on the show with “A Nation’s Strength” by William Ralph Emerson.

Before we dive into this weeks poem, I wanted to make one programming note. Some of you may have noticed that we’ve been on a bit of a hiatus over the last month. This wasn’t a fully planned hiatus, and I apologize for not announcing it before it happened. In my life away from Poetry Performed, I am the Artistic Director of a small professional theatre, and the month of June saw us opening our 2019 season in a newly renovated building. Getting that all taken care of pulled me away from the show. But I’m glad to be back, and we will now be resuming our weekly schedule. Thanks for listening. And now, on to this week’s poem.

A Nation’s Strength by William Ralph Emerson
What makes a nation's pillars high
And its 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.

That was “A Nation’s Strength” by William Ralph Emerson. An architect with a familiar sounding name, William Ralph Emerson is the second cousin of another favorite poet of Poetry Performed, Ralph Waldo Emerson. William Ralph Emerson was an accomplished architect during his life, including providing the designs for some of the first buildings built for the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Born in 1833, he died in 1917.