"CONCORD HYMN" BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON

((I first posted this back in 2012 for the 237th anniversary of the Battles of Concord &
Lexington. I'm posting it again for the 242st anniversary tomorrow. Many of my ancestors 
answered the alarm on 19Apr 1775 and I'll republish a list of their names tomorrow.)) 


We've all heard about the "shot heard round the world" fired at Concord, but there's more to
the poem. So, in honor of the 241st anniversary of the Battles of Concord and Lexington, here's
Ralph Waldo Emerson's  "Concord Hymn":


Concord Hymn
       by
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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 today 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.