Monday, April 19, 2010

Here Once The Embattled Farmers Stood

Selected reading courtesy of Dances With Blogger-Links:  The Battles of Lexington and Concord.

BY the rude bridge that arched the flood, 
  Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, 
Here once the embattled farmers stood, 
  And fired the shot heard round the world. 
  
The foe long since in silence slept;        
  Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; 
And Time the ruined bridge has swept 
  Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. 
  
On this green bank, by this soft stream, 
  We set to-day a votive stone; 
That memory may their deed redeem, 
  When, like our sires, our sons are gone. 
  
Spirit, that made those heroes dare 
  To die, and leave their children free, 
Bid Time and Nature gently spare 
  The shaft we raise to them and thee.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson


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