Perry's Victory On Lake Erie
by
James Gates Percival (1795 � 1856) |
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Bright was the morn,--the waveless bay
Shone like a
mirror to the sun;
'Mid greenwood shades and meadows gay,
The matin birds their lays begun:
While swelling o'er the
gloomy wood
Was heard the faintly-echoed roar,--
The
dashing of the foaming flood,
That beat on Erie's distant
shore.
The tawny wanderer of the wild
Paddled his
painted birch canoe,
And, where the wave serenely smiled,
Swift as the darting falcon, flew;
He rowed along that
peaceful bay,
And glanced its polished surface o'er,
Listening the billow far away,
That rolled on Erie's
lonely shore.
What sounds awake my slumbering ear,
What echoes o'er the waters come?
It is the morning gun I
hear,
The rolling of the distant drum.
Far o'er the
bright illumined wave
I mark the flash,--I hear the roar,
That calls from sleep the slumbering brave,
To fight on
Erie's lonely shore.
See how the starry banner
floats,
And sparkles in the morning ray:
While sweetly
swell the fife's gay notes
In echoes o'er the gleaming
bay:
Flash follows flash, as through yon fleet
Columbia's cannons loudly roar,
And valiant tars the
battle greet,
That storms on Erie's echoing shore.
O, who can tell what deeds were done,
When Britain's
cross, on yonder wave,
Sunk 'neath Columbia's dazzling
sun,
And met in Erie's flood its grave?
Who tell the
triumphs of that day,
When, smiling at the cannon's roar,
Our hero, 'mid the bloody fray,
Conquered on Erie's
echoing shore.
Though many a wounded bosom bleeds
For sire, for son, for lover dear,
Yet Sorrow smiles amid
her weeds,--
Affliction dries her tender tear;
Oh! she
exclaims, with glowing pride,
With ardent thoughts that
wildly soar,
My sire, my son, my lover died,
Conquering on Erie's bloody shore.
Long shall my
country bless that day,
When soared our Eagle to the
skies;
Long, long in triumph's bright array,
That
victory shall proudly rise:
And when our country's lights
are gone,
And all its proudest days are o'er,
How will
her fading courage dawn,
To think on Erie's bloody shore! |
By James Gates Percival (1795 �
1856)
Listed June 20, 2012
Note:
(September 10, 1813)
Throughout the war of 1812
with Great Britain, the navy was
more successful than
the army. In the battle on Lake Erie,
Commodore Oliver
Hazard Perry captured six British vessels. |
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