Stand up, my West! Lift thy young, noble head
On the strong pillar of thy proud,
white throat,
white throat,
And let thy gold hair on the sea-winds float.
In the world’s march, keep step with lofty tread
And firm. If passion from the South has fled,
And from the North and East, there yet remains
Its leaping fire in thy full, swelling veins.
If others have forgot the flag that led
To independent freedom, and now fail
To stand in their own strength and pride, and try
To ape the older nations, thou, my West,
Stand true―nor let thy stern eyes ever quail,
As long as thou hast breath for freedom’s cry,
And a strong, passionate heart within thy breast.
“The New West” as it appears in Higginson’s When the Birds Go North Again (1898).
“The New West” as it appears in Higginson’s The Vanishing Race (1911).