Evolution programs us to be consumed with thoughts of progress, improvement, and making things better.

It’s wise to stop for a moment and marvel at how good we have it, how fortunate we are to be alive in this time of breathtaking technological advances, to live where we do, to know those we do, and to be at peace.

In this time of reflection and gratitude, enjoy “The Gift Outright” by Robert Frost.

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.

Robert Frost, “The Gift Outright” (1923).

If you found this helpful, please share it using the buttons below.