Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Ready
By Phbe Carey (18241871)L
A boat shot in to the land,
And lay at the right of Rodman’s Point,
With her keel upon the sand.
And never a man afraid;
When sudden the enemy opened fire,
From his deadly ambuscade.
Of the boat; and the captain said:
“If we lie here, we all are captured,
And the first who moves is dead!”
No slavish soul had he:
“Somebody ’s got to die, boys,
And it might as well be me!”
Stepped out into the tide;
He pushed the vessel safely off,
Then fell across her side:
As the boat swung clear and free;—
But there was n’t a man of them that day
Who was fitter to die than he!