William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
Fate of the U.S. Sloop of War LEpervierB
The crescent hid her head,
The thunders of their victory
She heard afar with dread:
And when the foe she dared was near,
In tame submission quell’d her fear.
The tidings of success?
She left behind the failing shore
On ocean fathomless—
Joy bade the welcome breezes blow,
And Rapture sat upon the prow.
That mock the dreams of man,
Majestic, as in days of old,
When erst their march began.
Why does that gallant bark yet stay?
Why stops she on her gladsome way?
The years beyond the flood,
Nor mortal might, nor power divine,
Can call them where they stood.
That gallant bark has heard her doom—
She comes not—and she may not come.
That tried the dauntless brave:
That mock’d the boast of human power,
All impotent to save,
The sailor cast a hopeless eye,
To threatening waves and frowning sky.
All, all have own’d thy might:
They cried aloud, but could not move,
And sunk in one dark night.
Despair around her mantle flung:
Their dirge, the storms that whelm’d them sung.
Shall close the failing ball,
When gathering round, the gloomy band
Of death, the soul appal:
Nor earth, by Christian footsteps hallow’d,
Receive the corse the deep has swallow’d.
The gallant and the gay,
The forms so loved and cherish’d here,
Are ravening monsters’ prey.
Each bond of love and sorrow burst,
Yes, tyrant, thou hast done thy worst!
Omnipotent on earth?
Destroyer of the sons of men,
Of beauty and of worth!
And shall Oblivion’s sable cloud,
That hid their fate, their memory shroud?
Where slumber all the brave,
In vain its mellow lustre sheds
Upon the envious wave:
Transplanted to a royal shrine,
With brighter lustre ne’er shall shine.
Thine eyes were closed for e’er,
The shades of death came blackening o’er,
And horror brooded near:
But she, whose pinions never tire,
Shall bear thee on her wings of fire!