Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Concord Hymn
By Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)[From Poems. Revised Edition. Edited by J. E. Cabot. 1884.]
Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, April 19, 1837
Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, April 19, 1837
B
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.