Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the — Volume 02: Additional Poems (1837-1848) by Oliver Wendell Holmes
page 75 of 85 (88%)
page 75 of 85 (88%)
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Dash the red torches of the rebel down!
Flood his black hearthstone till its flames expire, Though your old Sachem fanned his council-fire! But if at last, her fading cycle run, The tongue must forfeit what the arm has won, Then rise, wild Ocean! roll thy surging shock Full on old Plymouth's desecrated rock! Scale the proud shaft degenerate hands have hewn, Where bleeding Valor stained the flowers of June! Sweep in one tide her spires and turrets down, And howl her dirge above Monadnock's crown! List not the tale; the Pilgrim's hallowed shore, Though strewn with weeds, is granite at the core; Oh, rather trust that He who made her free Will keep her true as long as faith shall be! Farewell! yet lingering through the destined hour, Leave, sweet Enchantress, one memorial flower! An Angel, floating o'er the waste of snow That clad our Western desert, long ago, (The same fair spirit who, unseen by day, Shone as a star along the Mayflower's way,)-- Sent, the first herald of the Heavenly plan, To choose on earth a resting-place for man,-- Tired with his flight along the unvaried field, Turned to soar upwards, when his glance revealed A calm, bright bay enclosed in rocky bounds, And at its entrance stood three sister mounds. |
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