Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.
By PhilipFreneau2 Eutaw Springs
A
Their limbs with dust are covered o’er;
Weep on, ye springs, your tearful tide;
How many heroes are no more!
Can yet be thought to claim a tear,
O smite thy gentle breast, and say
The friends of freedom slumber here!
If goodness rules thy generous breast,
Sigh for the wasted rural reign;
Sigh for the shepherds sunk to rest!
You too may fall, and ask a tear:
’T is not the beauty of the morn
That proves the evening shall be clear.
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear—but left the shield.
The Britons they compelled to fly:
None distant viewed the fatal plain,
None grieved in such a cause to die—
Who, flying, still their arrows threw,
These routed Britons, full as bold,
Retreated, and retreating slew.
Though far from nature’s limits thrown,
We trust they find a happier land,
A brighter Phœbus of their own.