The Coming American
Bring me men to match my mountains,
Bring me men to match my plains,
Men with empires in their purpose,
And new eras in their brains.
Bring me men to match my prairies,
Men to match my inland seas,
Men whose thoughts shall pave a highway
Up to ampler destinies,
Pioneers to cleanse thought’s marshlands,
And to cleanse old error’s fen;
Bring me men to match my mountains –
Bring me men!
Bring me men to match my forests,
Strong to fight the storm and beast,
Branching toward the skyey future,
Rooted on the futile past.
Bring me men to match my valleys,
Tolerant of rain and snow,
Men within whose fruitful purpose
Time’s consummate blooms shall grow,
Men to tame the tigerish instincts
Of the lair and cave and den,
Cleanse the dragon slime of nature –
Bring me men!
Bring me men to match my rivers,
Continent cleansers, flowing free,
Drawn by eternal madness,
To be mingled with the sea –
Men of oceanic impulse,
Men whose moral currents sweep
Toward the wide, unfolding ocean
Of an undiscovered deep –
Men who feel the strong pulsation
Of the central sea, and then
Time their currents by its earth throbs –
Bring me Men.
Very nice poem. I like it.
Great poem – I see where the first 4 lines were removed from a wall at your air force academy in 2003, how sad.
Political correctness, I suppose. 😦
[…] to Match My Mountains,” and early on the campaign trail, Mr. Romney liked to quote from the Samuel Walter Foss poem that inspired the book’s name. (It’s a poem he still recites, but with less […]
I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours nowadays, but I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth sufficient for me.
In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made excellent content as you did, the net
might be much more useful than ever before.
I am a woman who finds it most disturbing that these words were removed from an air force academy for reasons of political correctness. Can’t we accept the context and the era from which these words were written, and be secure within ourselves to take from it the deeper inspiration intended? What a magnificent poem! I can assure you, the academy lost much more than it gained by doing so. Really sad.
I reread the poem and I’m wondering if it was removed because of “men”? But that’s just a generic term when used like this. Mankind includes all. Thanks for reading and I agree it’s a shame. We’ve lost our way, the way.
The words were replaced by the Air Force Core Values – Integrity First. Service Before Self. Excellence in All We Do. Unlike “Bring Me Men,” the Core Values have direct and significant meaning to how we conduct ourselves as officers in the Air Force. This ramp is one of the first things new cadets see when they arrive at USAFA, so connecting their first impression to a meaningful code that they are expected to live by highlights the seriousness of the commitment they are making and the training they are undertaking.
Thanks for the information. That clears up a lot of things.
Yes, it was removed because of the word “men”.
I agree.
[…] most famous poem, though Wikipedia informs us here that the opening lines from another poem, called The Coming American, used to be inscribed in a granite wall at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. (The lines […]
The song “Empires” by singer Lamya uses this poem as a basis for the lyrics to her song.
I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info.
One of my favorites. It’s a shame the United Stares Air Force Academy succumbed to political correctness and failed to understand and communicate it’s true meaning.