"PAST two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken." How the voice rolled down the street Till the silence rang and echoed With the stir of hurrying feet! In the hush of the Quaker city, As the night drew on to morn, How it startled the troubled sleepers, Like the cry for a man-child born! "Past two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken." How they gathered, man and maid, Here the child with a heart for the flint-lock, There the trembling grandsire staid! From the stateliest homes of the city, From hovels that love might scorn, How they followed that ringing summons. Like the cry for a king's heir born! "Past two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken." I can see the quick lights flare, See the glad, wild face at the window, Half dumb in a breathless stare. In the pause of an hour portentous, In the gloom of a hope forlorn, How it throbbed to the star-deep heavens, Like the cry for a nation born! "Past two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken." How the message is sped and gone To the farm and the town and the forest Till the world was one vast dawn! To distant and slave-sunk races, Bowed down in their chains that morn, How it swept on the winds of heaven, Like a cry for God's justice born! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALL FOOLS' CALENDER by DONALD (GRADY) DAVIDSON FOR THE INVESTITURE by CECIL DAY LEWIS THE HARD TIMES IN ELFLAND; A STORY OF CHRISTMAS EVE by SIDNEY LANIER FLEMING HELPHENSTINE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |