Concord Hymn by Emerson
CONCORD HYMN
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Minuteman statue
Photo taken by Flickr.com user
Liz West, March 6, 2011.
Creative Commons License
Photographer’s note: “This statue stands at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. On its base is the first verse of Emerson’s poem ‘Concord Hymn.’ The statue is by Daniel Chester French….”
SUNG AT THE COMPLETION OF THE BATTLE MONUMENT, JULY 4, 1837
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
