Blaine of Maine

By Eugene Fitch Ware (“Ironquill”) (1841–1911)

On his nomination by the Republican convention in Chicago, June 6, 1884.

LASHED to his flagship’s mast,

Old Farragut, through iron-guarded bays,

Through fleets of fire, through batteries ablaze,

By shot and shell harassed,

While wreck and ruin seemed to block his way,

And splintered spars spread sprinkling on the spray,

Guiding his fleet throughout the frightful fray,

Into the harbor passed;

And sullen forts grew calm and still

Beneath the victor’s iron will,

Subdued and crushed at last.

O Blaine! amid the glare

Of party ruin, take the ship of state;

We bind thee to its mast, thou statesman great;

And thine must be the care

To guide it on through rocks and reefs that vex

The changing channel with a thousand wrecks.

And though the surge shall sweep its sacred decks,

We know thou wilt not spare

Thy efforts to conduct it by

The rocks and reefs that seem to lie

Around it everywhere.