James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
February 15The Spirit of the Maine
By Tudor Jenks (18571922)
I
Our ships of war advance,
As Red Cross knights in holy fray
Charged with avenging lance.
And terrible shall be thy plight,
O fleet of cruel Spain!
For ever in our van doth fight
The spirit of the Maine!
The great twin brethren came
A righteous fight for Rome to make
Against a deed of shame,
So now a ghostly ship shall doom
The fleet of treacherous Spain,
Before her guilty soul doth loom
The spirit of the Maine!
As when asleep she lay
Above the traitorous mine that night
Within Havana Bay,
She glides before the avenging fleet
A sign of woe to Spain.
Brave though her sons, how shall they meet
The spirit of the Maine?