The Men Behind The Guns
By John Jerome Rooney (1866
- 1934) |
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A cheer and salute
for the Admiral, and here's to the Captain bold,
And
never forget the Commodore's debt when the deeds of might
are told!
They stand to the deck through the battle's
wreck when the great shells roar and screech--
And never
they fear when the foe is near to practise what they preach:
But off with your hat and three times three for Columbia's
true-blue sons,
The men below who batter the foe--the men
behind the guns!
Oh, light and merry of heart are
they when they swing into port once more,
When, with more
than enough of the "greenbacked stuff," they start for their
leave-o'-shore;
And you'd think, perhaps, that the
blue-bloused chaps who loll along the street
Are a tender
bit, with salt on it, for some fierce "mustache" to eat--
Some warrior bold, with straps of gold, who dazzles and
fairly stuns
The modest worth of the sailor boys--the
lads who serve the guns.
But say not a word till the
shot is heard that tells that the fight is on,
Till the
long, deep roar grows more and more from the ships of "Yank"
and "Don,"
Till over the deep the tempests sweep of fire
and bursting shell,
And the very air is a mad Despair in
the throes of a living hell;
Then down, deep down, in the
mighty ship, unseen by the midday suns,
You'll find the
chaps who are giving the raps--the men behind the guns!
Oh, well they know how the cyclones blow that they loose
from their cloud of death,
And they know is heard the
thunder-word their fierce ten-incher saith!
The steel
decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the
dead and reaches for his spoil--
But not till the foe has
gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of
peace bring sweet release to the men behind the guns! |
By
John Jerome Rooney (1866 - 1934)
Listed September 19, 2012
Note: 1998
The high quality of American marksmanship was never
more conclusively shown than in the battle of
Santiago.
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