IN battle-line of sombre gray Our ships-of-war advance, As Red Cross Knights in holy fray Charged with avenging lance. And terrible shall be thy plight, O fleet of cruel Spain! Forever in our van doth fight The spirit of the Maine! As when beside Regillus Lake The Great Twin Brethren came A righteous fight for Rome to make Against the Deed of Shame -- So now a ghostly ship shall doom The fleet of treacherous Spain: Before her guilty soul doth loom The spirit of the Maine! A wraith arrayed in peaceful white, As when asleep she lay Above the traitorous mine that night Within Havana Bay, She glides before the avenging fleet, A sign of woe to Spain. Brave though her sons, how shall they meet The spirit of the Maine! |