AMERICA

By hungry beasts chased
Wild foal cross the plains,
And tied up with strong string
On his shoulders Mazzepa is lying.

For the race at last fainted
The brute falls on the hard bushes,
And free from his tight chain,
Mazzepa rises anointed king.

So America moans between strings
To the rude colonial colt tied,
by the pack of sighthounds followed,

And inanimate, lacerated and bloodied
She runs, falls, gets up, laurels brings,
She glows her forehead crowned.