Uploaded on September 13, 2011
My land is fair for any eyes to see—
Now look, my friends—look to the east and west!
You see the purple hills far in the west—
Hills lined with pine and gum and black-oak tree—
Now to the east you see the fertile valley!
This land is mine, I sing of it to you—
My land beneath the skies of white and blue.
This land is mine, for I am part of it.
I am the land, for it is part of me—
We are akin and thus our kinship be!
It would make me a brother to the tree!
And far as eyes can see this land is mine.
Not for one foot of it I have a deed—
To own this land I do not need a deed—
They all belong to me—gum, oak, and pine.
—Jesse Stuart
Favorite Poems Old and New
edited by Helen Ferris
09.13.2023: I mixed feelings about the message of this poem. I applaud the celebrated kinship of man and nature, but there’s still a “this is mine; I own it” vibe.