The Battle Of Lexington
By Sidney Lanier (1842-1881) |
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Then haste ye, Prescott and Revere!
Bring all the men
of Lincoln here;
Let Chelmsford, Littleton, Carlisle,
Let Acton, Bedford, hither file--
Oh, hither file, and
plainly see
Out of a wound leap Liberty.
Say,
Woodman April! all in green,
Say, Robin April! hast thou
seen
In all thy travel round the earth
Ever a morn of
calmer birth?
But Morning's eye alone serene
Can gaze
across yon village-green
To where the trooping British
run
Through Lexington.
Good men in fustian, stand ye
still;
The men in red come o'er the hill,
_Lay down
your arms, damned rebels!_ cry
The men in red full
haughtily.
But never a grounding gun is heard;
The men
in fustian stand unstirred;
Dead calm, save maybe a wise
bluebird
Puts in his little heavenly word.
O men in
red! if ye but knew
The half as much as bluebirds do,
Now in this little tender calm
Each hand would out, and
every palm
With patriot palm strike brotherhood's stroke
Or ere these lines of battle broke.
O men in red! if
ye but knew
The least of all that bluebirds do,
Now in
this little godly calm
Yon voice might sing the Future's
Psalm--
The Psalm of Love with the brotherly eyes
Who
pardons and is very wise--
Yon voice that shouts,
high-hoarse with ire,
_Fire!_
The red-coats fire,
the homespuns fall:
The homespuns' anxious voices call,
_Brother, art hurt?_ and _Where hit, John?_
And, _Wipe
this blood_, and _Men, come on_,
And _Neighbor, do but
lift my head_,
And _Who is wounded? Who is dead?
Seven
are killed. My God! my God!
Seven lie dead on the village
sod.
Two Harringtons, Parker, Hadley, Brown,
Monroe
and Porter,--these are down._
_Nay, look! stout
Harrington not yet dead._
He crooks his elbow, lifts his
head.
He lies at the step of his own house-door;
He
crawls and makes a path of gore.
The wife from the window
hath seen, and rushed;
He hath reached the step, but the
blood hath gushed;
He hath crawled to the step of his own
house-door,
But his head hath dropped: he will crawl no
more.
Clasp Wife, and kiss, and lift the head,
Harrington lies at his doorstep dead.
But, O ye Six
that round him lay
And bloodied up that April day!
As
Harrington fell, ye likewise fell--
At the door of the
House wherein ye dwell;
As Harrington came, ye likewise
came
And died at the door of your House of Fame. |
By Sidney Lanier (1842-1881)
Listed
May 13, 2012
Note... April 19, 1775 - The skirmish at
Lexington and the fight at
Concord closed all political
bickering between Great Britain and
her colonies and
began the War of the Revolution. The following
verses are
a fragment of the "Psalm of the West." |
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