A Nation’s Strength<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What makes a nation’s pillars high
And its foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
William Ralph Emerson<\/p>\n\n\n\n