PATRIA

I would not even ask my heart to say

If I could love some other land as well

As thee, my country, had I felt the spell

Of Italy at birth, or learned to obey

The charm of France, or England's mighty sway.

I would not be so much an infidel

As once to dream, or fashion words to tell,

What land could hold my love from thee away.

For like a law of nature in my blood

I feel thy sweet and secret sovereignty,

And woven through my soul thy vital sign.

My life is but a wave, and thou the flood;

I am a leaf and thou the mother-tree;

Nor should I be at all, were I not thine.