Our Land Poem by Robert Kirkland Kernighan

What land is that which welcomes him
Who flees Despair and follows Hope ?

What land is that which first he sees
Along the high Atlantic slope ? '

That land is ours ! it queens the main !

And ours it ever shall remain !

What land is that which furthest wades

Far in the deep Pacific plain,
And welcomes first the east-bound ships

That speed with Oriental gain?
That land is ours ! from main to main
And ours it ever shall remain !

What flag is that which proudly waves
Above the happiest and the best ;

O'er seas of soil and lakes of land,
The widest Empire in the West?

That flag is ours ! it bears no stain

And ours it ever shall remain !

And shall we shut our eyes to that
Fair promise in the future hid,

And sell our splendid birthright as
The hungered hunter Esau did?

Not so ! we 've got a goal to gain

What 's ours shall ever so remain !