Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE COUNTERSIGNS, by MARK ANTHONY DE WOLFE HOWE


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THE COUNTERSIGNS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What said john paul jones on the brave bon homme
Last Line: For such was the navy of long, long ago!
Subject(s): Navy - United States; War; American Navy


What said John Paul Jones on the brave "Bon Homme Richard";
What said that good fighting man, lashed foe to foe?
"You bid me surrender! I've not yet begun to fight!"
And that was the Navy of long, long ago!

CHORUS

And that is the Navy of all Yankee sailor men!
From seaboard and inland, from mountains and lakes;
The ancient commanders they gave us the countersigns,
We'll steer by the card in their gallant old wakes!

What said Captain Lawrence on board the doomed "Chesapeake";
What said he, when wounded, they bore him below?
"Don't give up the ship!" though the "Shannon" had beaten him!
And that was the Navy of long, long ago!

(Chorus)

And once on the "Hartford," what said the great Farragut;
When death for his fleet swam hid 'neath the flow?
Why, "Damn the torpedoes!" he ordered—"full speed ahead!"
And that was the Navy of long, long ago!
(Chorus)

And what say we now?—Has the Navy begun to fight—
Will it give up the ship?—By the Great Horn Spoon, no!
So it's full speed ahead, and down, down, with the submarines!
For such was the Navy of long, long ago!





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