"The New West"

The New West

Stand up, my West! Lift thy young, noble head

            On the strong pillar of thy proud, 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 Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898).

"The New West" as it appears in Ella Higginson's The Vanishing Race (1911).