A CENTURY ago, on sterile land That sturdy souls had purchased with their blood, A little, patient and determined band, With rusty flint-locks at their shoulders, stood. No word was spoken of bravado bold; No eye betokened reckless scorn of death; But fast-set lips and frowning faces told That each would brave the worst with bated breath. A mother's blessing was on every son; A wife's hot tears as yet had hardly dried; While there they halted, daily tasks undone, And British ball and bayonet defied. Those were our fathers, faithful to the cause Of continental liberty and right, Not craven minions of despotic laws, But farmer-soldiers steadfast for the fight. The ground was taken by a martial tread; The red-coats proudly marched upon the plain; "Disperse, ye rebels!" their commander said, "Throw down your arms and to your homes again!" Not a staunch patriot from his duty shrank, Not a knee trembled at the ringing shot, As Lexington's green sod the warm blood drank Of men whose memory ne'er will be forgot. A gun was fired—the first loved martyr fell— His comrades' muskets quick a requiem rung, Whose volleys echoed out a tyrant's knell, While to the breeze the pine-tree flag was flung. A nation on that day was newly born, And England lost her best and brightest gem; Her royal robes were trampled on and torn, And fair Columbia won a diadem. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A LOVE SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR LINCOLN by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR BINSEY POPLARS (FELLED 1879) by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS A LULLABY by THOMALLY HOLBECH ANDERSON THE LOVE SONNETS OF PROTEUS: 106. THE SUBLIME: 1 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |