Sands at Seventy（五）

    A CAROL closing sixty-nine - a résumé

    - a repetition，

    My lines in joy and hope continuing on the same，

    Of ye， O God， Life， Nature， Freedom， Poetry；

    Of you， my Land - your rivers， prairies，

    States - you， mottled

    Flag I love，

    Your aggregate¹ retain'd entire - Of north，

    south， east and west， your items all；

    Of me myself - the jocund² heart yet beating

    in my breast，

    The body wreck'd， old， poor and paralyzed -

    the strange inertia³ falling pall-like round me，

    The burning fires down in my sluggish⁴ blood not yet extinct，

    The undiminish'd faith - the groups of loving friends.