As when on Eden first the sun rose),
Thanks to the Power that holds in trust
That legacy of Colonel Monroe's.
But out of those so halcyon skies
Chill blasts of disillusion blow
When I observe with pained surprise
The state of things in Mexico;
And "Why," I ask, "in Heaven's name,
Can't 'God's own country' (U.S.A.) go
And, by the right none else may claim,