Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MARINE, by THOMAS AUGUSTINE DALY



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MARINE, by                    
First Line: In assorted shades of green
Last Line: "will be there!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Daly, T. A.
Subject(s): Freedom; Marines - United States; Liberty


IN assorted shades of green
You have painted The Marine,
And a deal of yarns about him you've been spinning;
He has much to say to you
Of his red and white and blue,
So he'd like to have your ear and take his inning:

"Back of Freedom's earliest glimmer,
When the night was never dimmer,
And before the light of hope upon the mountain top was shed,
There were men whose steel flashed splendid
When the long black night was ended
And the sun looked in upon them 'round the Nation's trundle bed;
And in that electric air,
With the laurel in our hair,
We Colonial Marines, of the victor forces deans,
We were there!

When the ships of Jones and Barry
Sallied gayly forth to harry

And to take the proudest vaunters of the British navy's might,
When that most belov'd commander
To the foe's demand "Surrender!"
Made his lion-hearted answer, "We have just begun to fight!"
Who were first and most to dare
In the battle lantern's glare?
We, as landsmen or as tars, still the myrmidons of Mars,
We were there!

In those sailing ships of wonder,
When, with taffrail seething under,
From the gun-decks came the thunder of a broadside dealing woe;
And with Perry, Hull -- and later --
With the dashing young Decatur,
In the war wherein no waters saw our yielding to the foe,
We were not denied our share
Of the battle joy so rare;
For the easing of our spleens, we amphibious Marines,
We were there!

Out of iron ships were hollowed
In the leaping years that followed,
And they've changed the style of fighting, but they haven't changed the men;
Shall we, first of Yankee yeomen
To repel those ancient foemen,
Let an ocean stay our vengeance, if it failed to stay it them?
Nay, in France the ever fair
When Old Glory takes the air,
The ubiquitous Marine, as becomes the fighting dean,
Will be there!"





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