Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE DEFENSE OF LAWRENCE [SEPTEMBER 14, 1856], by RICHARD REALF Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: All night upon the guarded hill Last Line: The pulses of the grass. Variant Title(s): The Defence Of Lawrence Subject(s): Courage; Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Kansas; Slavery; Valor; Bravery; Antislavery Movement - United States; Serfs | ||||||||
ALL night upon the guarded hill, Until the stars were low, Wrapped round as with Jehovah's will, We waited for the foe; All night the silent sentinels Moved by like gliding ghosts; All night the fancied warning bells Held all men to their posts. We heard the sleeping prairies breathe, The forest's human moans, The hungry gnashing of the teeth Of wolves on bleaching bones; We marked the roar of rushing fires, The neigh of frightened steeds, The voices as of far-off lyres Among the river reeds. We were but thirty-nine who lay Beside our rifles then; We were but thirty-nine, and they Were twenty hundred men. Our lean limbs shook and reeled about Our feet were gashed and bare, And all the breezes shredded out Our garments in the air. They came: the blessed Sabbath day, That soothed our swollen veins, Like God's sweet benediction, lay On all the singing plains; The valleys shouted to the sun, The great woods clapped their hands, And joy and glory seemed to run Like rivers through the lands. And then our daughters and our wives, And men whose heads were white, Rose sudden into kingly lives And walked forth to the fight; And we drew aim along our guns And calmed our quickening breath, Then, as is meet for Freedom's sons, Shook loving hands with Death. And when three hundred of the foe Rode up in scorn and pride, Whoso had watched us then might know That God was on our side; For all at once a mighty thrill Of grandeur through us swept, And strong and swiftly down the hill Like Gideons we leapt. And all throughout that Sabbath day A wall of fire we stood, And held the baffled foe at bay, And streaked the ground with blood. And when the sun was very low They wheeled their stricken flanks, And passed on, wearily and slow, Beyond the river banks. Beneath the everlasting stars We bended child-like knees, And thanked God for the shining scars Of His large victories. And some, who lingered, said they heard Such wondrous music pass As though a seraph's voice had stirred The pulses of the grass. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOY IN THE WOODS by CLAUDE MCKAY ELIZABETH KECKLEY: 30 YEARS A SLAVE AND 4 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE by E. ETHELBERT MILLER EMANCIPATION by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER JOHN BROWN'S BODY by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET |
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