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Concord Hymn

Sung at the completion of the Concord Battle Monument, April 19, 1836

Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson > Concord Battle Monument Marker Inscription: Here on the 19th of April 1775 was made the first forcible resistance to British aggression. On the opposite bank stood the American Militia. Here stood the invading Army and on this spot the first of the enemy fell in the War of that Revolution which gave Independence to these United States. In gratitude to God and in the love of Freedom this monument was erected AD 1836.

 
 

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! who made those freemen dare
To die, or leave their children free,
Bid time and nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and Thee.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bridges, April, Farmers, Conqueror, Spirit, Freeman, Concord Battle Monument