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Home  »  The Complete Poetical Works by William Wordsworth  »  TO THE PENNSYLVANIANS

TO THE PENNSYLVANIANS


DAYS undefiled by luxury or sloth, Firm self-denial, manners grave and staid, Rights equal, laws with cheerfulness obeyed, Words that require no sanction from an oath, And simple honesty a common growth– This high repute, with bounteous Nature’s aid, Won confidence, now ruthlessly betrayed At will, your power the measure of your troth!– All who revere the memory of Penn Grieve for the land on whose wild woods his name 10 Was fondly grafted with a virtuous aim, Renounced, abandoned by degenerate Men For state-dishonour black as ever came To upper air from Mammon’s loathsome den. 1845.