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To: PROCON

Paul Revere’s Ride
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1807-1882

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm.”

Then he said “Good night!” and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war:
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon, like a prison-bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed to the tower of the church,
Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry-chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,—
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night-encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, “All is well!”
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,—
A line of black, that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride,
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse’s side,
Now gazed on the landscape far and near,
Then impetuous stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry-tower of the old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height,
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns!

A hurry of hoofs in a village-street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet:
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders, that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer’s dog,
And felt the damp of the river-fog,
That rises when the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read,
How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

This poem is in the public domain.


2 posted on 04/19/2022 12:23:34 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Thanks RB!
.
Ever Vigilant!!


3 posted on 04/19/2022 12:26:17 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (On the Other hand,,, Free Men Choose- - SLAVES OBEY)
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To: Red Badger

Bump, thanks RB.


7 posted on 04/19/2022 12:31:47 PM PDT by PROCON (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: Red Badger

.


14 posted on 04/19/2022 1:10:01 PM PDT by sauropod (o may we start? It's timel to start. High time to start.)
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To: Red Badger
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

Indeed. In 1863, when this was written, very few were around who would have remembered that day and year.

15 posted on 04/19/2022 1:18:30 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Red Badger; Phinneous; Daffynition
Some long while back I had wondered what was the origin of the saying, "No King but Jesus!"

Turns out is it dubious lore from that morning in Lexington. Supposedly Reverend Jonas Clarke exclaimed this to the British when the deplorables were told to disperse and lay down their arms.

Funny how sketchy stories from one century can become reality in another. It's like the recent thread title:

Jesus Christ’s Resurrection Is Probably The Best-Documented Historical Event Ever

Or like the famous GE slogan:

We bring good things to life:

The General Electric Building (also known as 570 Lexington Avenue) is a skyscraper at the southwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building, designed by Cross & Cross and completed in 1931, was known as the RCA Victor Building during its construction.

General Electric Building

Light is always on the move, because now the GE HQ is at 5 Necco in Boston. That's down where the big Necco factory used to be located, but then they moved to... Revere.

It's so hard to keep up because the famous Necco factory in Revere closed a few years back. Then the next big news,

"Amazon Opens Delivery Center in Former Necco Candy Factory"

In other news, today is the anniversary of Ingenuity's first flight, demonstrating that what's old is new again. Ginny's up to 25 now, light being the 25th word of the Torah. Light (we bring good things to).

23 posted on 04/19/2022 2:04:49 PM PDT by Ezekiel ("Come fly with US". Ingenuity -- because the Son of David begins with Mars ♂️.)
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To: Red Badger
Paul Revere hasn't got a thing on 16 year old Sybil Ludington.
.
Read this young lady's story. She rode 40 miles, round trip in the dead of night to warn the Danbury militia that the British were coming to seize their guns and powder.

That's twice the distance Revere rode.

31 posted on 04/19/2022 11:01:21 PM PDT by jmacusa (America. Founded by geniuses. Now governed by idiots. )
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