The nation yes

The nation will endure

The caring and conquering nation shall endure.

            They will be fooled and be foolish, and fooled again

To pick up the pieces and claw upwards into the sun again.

The nation is capable of many names:

The family, the fatherland, the motherland, the homeland,

Israel, the Empire, the Reich, the State, the Union.

All attempt to capture the ideal with a label

But the nation continues through all transformations.

The nation so often made up of strange parts

That the nation may well be lost to sight

But can be heard saying:

“I pay my taxes

I fight and die

Only to find out

I have fought for nothing

And my children are gone.

My money is spent

The rich and the poor

Grow greater and more distant

Each day.”

So, slowly slipping

The nation notices nothing,

But endures

The nation yes