The Cumberland
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) |
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At anchor in Hampton Roads we lay,
On board of the Cumberland, sloop-of-war;
And at times
from the fortress across the bay
The alarum of drums
swept past,
Or a bugle blast
From the camp on the
shore.
Then far away to the south uprose
A little
feather of snow-white smoke,
And we knew that the iron
ship of our foes
Was steadily steering its course
To
try the force
Of our ribs of oak.
Down upon us
heavily runs,
Silent and sullen, the floating fort;
Then comes a puff of smoke from her guns,
And leaps the
terrible death,
With fiery breath,
From each open
port.
We are not idle, but send her straight
Defiance back in a full broadside!
As hail rebounds from
a roof of slate,
Rebounds our heavier hail
From each
iron scale
Of the monster's hide.
"Strike your
flag!" the rebel cries,
In his arrogant old plantation
strain.
"Never!" our gallant Morris replies;
"It is
better to sink than to yield!"
And the whole air pealed
With the cheers of our men.
Then, like a kraken huge
and black,
She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp!
Down went the Cumberland all a wrack,
With a sudden
shudder of death,
And the cannon's breath
For her
dying gasp.
Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay,
Still floated our flag at the mainmast head.
Lord, how
beautiful was Thy day!
Every waft of the air
Was a
whisper of prayer,
Or a dirge for the dead.
Ho!
brave hearts that went down in the seas!
Ye are at peace
in the troubled stream;
Ho! brave land! with hearts like
these,
Thy flag, that is rent in twain,
Shall be one
again,
And without a seam! |
By
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Listed July 30, 2012
Note: March 8, 1862
The "Cumberland" was sunk by the
iron-clad rebel ram
"Merrimac," going down with her
colors flying, and firing
even as the water rose over the
gunwale. |
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