When Israel camped by Migdol hoar, Down at her feet her shawm she threw, But Moses sung and timbrels rung For Pharaoh's stranded crew. So God appears in apt events -- The Lord is a man of war! So the strong wing to the muse is given In victory's roar. Deep be the ode that hymns the fleet -- The fight by night -- the fray Which bore our Flag against the powerful stream, And led it up to day. Dully through din of larger strife Shall bay that warring gun; But none the less to us who live It peals -- an echoing one. The shock of ships, the jar of walls, The rush through thick and thin -- The flaring fire-rafts, glare and gloom -- Eddies, and shells that spin -- The boom-chain burst, the hulks dislodged, The jam of gun-boats driven, Or fired, or sunk -- made up a war Like Michael's waged with leven. The manned Varuna stemmed and quelled The odds which hard beset; The oaken flag-ship, half ablaze, Passed on and thundered yet; While foundering, gloomed in grimy flame, The Ram Manassas -- hark the yell! -- Plunged, and was gone; in joy or fright, The River gave a startled swell. They fought through lurid dark till dawn; The war-smoke rolled away With clouds of night, and showed the fleet In scarred yet firm array, Above the forts, above the drift Of wrecks which strife had made; And Farragut sailed up to the town An anchored -- sheathed the blade. The moody broadsides, brooding deep, Hold the lewd mob at bay, While o'er the armed decks' solemn aisles The meek church-pennons play; By shotted guns the sailors stand, With foreheads bound or bare; The captains and the conquering crews Humble their pride in prayer. They pray; and after victory, prayer Is meet for men who mourn their slain; The living shall unmoor and sail, But Death's dark anchor secret deeps detain. Yet Glory slants her shaft of rays Far through the undisturbed abyss; There must be other, nobler worlds for them Who nobly yield their lives in this. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CITY REVISITED by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET CONTRA MORTEM: THE FALL by HAYDEN CARRUTH SONG OF THE MOON by CLAUDE MCKAY THE DISAPPOINTMENT by APHRA BEHN THE ROSE-BUD; TO A YOUNG LADY by WILLIAM BROOME TO OUR BLESSED LADY (1) by HENRY CONSTABLE TO LUCASTA, [ON] GOING TO THE WARS by RICHARD LOVELACE SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 114 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI |