XXV. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
A Nation brings its proven gifts to you!
Take home these flowers from ashes and from tears,
They are the blossoms of our harrowed years,
Strong in the strain of native growth, yet new
And burgeoning as sturdy plants will do.
They have survived a storm of crushing fears;
They have withstood the blight of cruel jeers;
Now in God's cycled time, the flowers are due.
No wealth or worldly thing could bring more power--
A warmer heart beats for humanity,
And more unselfishly men act today.
In this your time and deep prophetic hour
Men bear; the stoics smile in irony;
America is furrowing a way!