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
The American Hero
By Nathaniel Niles (17411828)W
Death and destruction in the field of battle,
Where blood and carnage clothe the ground in crimson,
Sounding with death-groans?
And we must all bow to the king of terrors;
Nor am I anxious, if I am prepared,
What shape he comes in.
Bids us be quiet, under all his dealings;
Never repining, but forever praising
God, our Creator.
Though a resplendence, infinitely glowing,
Dazzles in glory on the sight of mortals,
Struck blind by lustre.
Nor less his goodness in the storm and thunder,
Mercies and judgment both proceed from kindness,
Infinite kindness.
Clouds which, around him, hinder our perception,
Bind us the stronger to exalt his name, and
Shout louder praises.
I will commit all that I have or wish for,
Sweetly as babes’ sleep will I give my life up,
When called to yield it.
Bursting from bomb-shells, roaring from the cannon,
Rattling in grape-shot like a storm of hailstones,
Torturing ether.
Breaking, like Ætna, through the smoky columns,
Lowering, like Egypt, o’er the falling city,
Wantonly burned down.
Let slip your blood-hounds, named the British lions;
Dauntless as death stares, nimble as the whirlwind,
Dreadful as demons!
Fraught with destruction, horrible to nature;
Then, with your sails filled by a storm of vengeance,
Bear down to battle.
Let the explosion, dreadful as volcanoes,
Heave the broad town, with all its wealth and people,
Quick to destruction.
Never advance where I am afraid to follow:
While that precedes me, with an open bosom,
War, I defy thee.
While a fell despot, grimmer than a death’s-head,
Stings me with serpents, fiercer than Medusa’s,
To the encounter.
Is but a trifle for a worm to part with;
And, if preserved in so great a contest,
Life is redoubled.