The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become
1961년 1월 20일 미국의 35대 존 F. 케네디 대통령 취임식에서는
로버트 프로스트가 자신의 시 <아낌없는 선물(The Gift Outright)>을 낭송했다.
“우리가 이 땅의 사람이기 전부터 이 땅은 우리에 속했다”로 시작되는 이 시는
식민지 상태를 투쟁으로 극복하고 개척의 역사를 일구어 온 미국에 대한 자부이며 결의다.
케네디를 위해 새로 쓴 헌시(獻詩)를 낭송하려 했지만
의사당을 덮은 눈이 햇빛을 반사시켜 읽기 어렵게 되자,
오래 전(1942년)에 썼던 시를 암송했다는 뒷이야기가 전해진다.