Dear Kansas, I Love You.

Kansas Mine.

O Kansas, thou art mine;
O Kansas, I am thine;
Thy love I claim.
Thou land of joy and light;
Thou land where right is might;
Thou land that's ever bright
With honest fame.

Thy very name is dear
Unto my loyal ear,
And sweet it sounds.
I love to see that name;
It gleams with holy flame;
Its glory all proclaim
Within thy bounds.

I love thy prairies wide,
Thy fertile soil, well tried,
Thy rolling plains;
Thy corn, whose verdant sheen
O'er rolling miles is seen;
And waving fields, all green,
Of smaller grains.

Thy groves and vine-made bowers;
Thy wild and lavish flowers,
Give me delight;
Thy streams where thick woods grow,
And mirrored limbs below
Move gently to and fro,
Entrance my sight.

O Kansas, Kansas mine,
Thou evermore shalt shine
With radiance bright,
Like polar star on high,
The guide post of the sky;
And all shall turn the eye
To catch thy light.

^__John Edward Everett

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/poetry/kssays.html