William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
Song: Now the war-blast is blown, and the thunders are stillJohn Shaw (17781809)
N
And the blue gleam of steel lies asleep in the sheath,
And to peace and to mirth the full bumpers we fill,
While the ear shrinks no more at the echo of death.
Our heart’s strongest impulse shall eagerly tell,
And on those who have sunk in a watery grave
With a sorrowing tear still shall memory dwell.
That the blood in their veins beats for freedom as high,
And wherever the red-striped flag is unfurl’d,
Like them they can conquer, like them they can die.
And forbid him the strong-sinewed wing to display,
Yet break but the bands that his ardour confine,
And he mingles his flight with the blaze of the day.
Though few, yet determined, all peril defy,
Their prospect by day but the hot, gleaming sand—
Their bed the hard desert—their shelter the sky.
Whose sovereign impulse leads onward the brave,
And the cluster’d stars rise o’er Derna’s proud walls,
And the wan crescent fades, and descends in the wave.
Though ’tis small, yet ’tis all we now have to give:
Yet, while memory holds seat in our bosoms, the names
Of Eaton, and Mann, and O’Bannen shall live.