Sunday, June 26, 2011

"America for Me"

During our non-translated Relief Society Meeting today, my American friend, Amy, was reading one of Gordon B. Hinckley's books. In it he quoted the poem, "America for Me", by Henry Van Dyke. The first two stanzas sum up how I feel as I near the end of my year in Italy.

"Tis fine to see the Old World and travel up and down
Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,
To admire the crumbly castles and the statues and kings
But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again and there I long to be,
In the land of youth and freedom, beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

Thank you, Henry Van Dyke, for expressing my sentiments so eloquently!

Home again, and home again, America for me!

5 comments:

Alisha said...

Beautiful!

Can't wait to have you back!

Jennifer said...

Lovely! Now, how did this relate to the Italian lesson?

Laura said...

Well, we're assuming the Italian lesson was on missionary work (since we heard the word "missionario" many times). How did the lesson relate to this quote? It didn't. But that's okay - at least I took away something from my time spent in Relief Society!

Liz said...

love it. texas is ready for your return:)

Court said...

come on home. :)