{
 "id": "sarah-louisa-forten-purvis/my-country",
 "title": "My Country",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis",
 "poet_slug": "sarah-louisa-forten-purvis",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poetry",
 "book_slug": null,
 "book_kind": "compilation",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1834,
  "venue": "The Liberator 4.1 (Boston, 4 January 1834)",
  "note": "Printed under “[For the Liberator.]” and introduced as “By a young lady of color”.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1834-01-04_4_1"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/sarah-louisa-forten-purvis_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/liberator1831garr",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1832-06-30_2_26",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1832-07-07_2_27",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1833-05-25_3_21",
   "https://archive.org/details/sn84031524_1833080301",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1833-12-21_3_51",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1834-01-04_4_1",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1834-01-18_4_3",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1834-02-01_4_5",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1835-06-27_5_26",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_cincinnati-weekly-herald-and-philanthropist_1836-03-11_1_11"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 20,
  "n_stanzas": 1,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 55,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh! speak not of heathenish darkness again,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor tell me of lands held in error’s dread chain!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where⁠—where is the nation so erring as we,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who claim the proud name of the “home of the free”!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What a throb do the lov’d ties of country awake",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the heart of the exile!⁠—for time cannot break",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sweet vision of home, and all he loved well,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which has thrown o’er his pathway a magical spell.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can the name of “my country”⁠—the deeds which we sing⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be honored⁠—revered⁠—’midst pollution and sin?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can the names of our fathers who perished in fight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be hallowed in story, midst slavery’s blight?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When America’s standard is floating so fair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I blush that the impress of falsehood is there;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That oppression and mockery dim the high fame,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That seeks from all nations a patriot’s name.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Speak not of “my country,” unless she shall be,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In truth, the bright home of the “brave and the free!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till the dark stain of slavery is washed from her hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A tribute of homage she cannot command.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}