Читать книгу Ballads of Bravery - Various - Страница 8

The circling century has brought

THE day on which our fathers fought

For liberty of deed and thought,

One hundred years ago!

We crown the day with radiant green,

And buds of hope to bloom between,

And stars undimmed, whose heavenly sheen

Lights all the world below.

At break of day again we hear

The ringing words of Paul Revere,

And beat of drum and bugle near,

And shots that shake the throne

Of tyranny, across the sea,

And wake the sons of Liberty

To strike for freedom and be free: —

Our king is God alone!

“Load well with powder and with ball,

Stand firmly, like a living wall;

But fire not till the foe shall call

A shot from every one,”

Said Parker to his gallant men.

Then Pitcairn dashed across the plain,

Discharged an angry threat, and then

The world heard Lexington!

Militia and brave minute-men

Stood side by side upon the plain,

Unsheltered in the storm of rain,

Of fire, and leaden sleet;

But through the gray smoke and the flame,

Star crowned, a white-winged angel came,

To bear aloft the souls of flame

From war’s red winding-sheet!

Hancock and Adams glory won

With yeomen whose best work was done

At Concord and at Lexington,

When first they struck the blow.

Long may their children’s children bear

Upon wide shoulders, fit to wear,

The mantles that fell through the air

One hundred years ago!