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88 Silent-save ever and anon, A sound half munnur and half groan, Forces ;part the painful grip . Of the old sumner's bearded hp: 0 sad and crushing is the ftttc, 1 Of old age chained and desolate . Just God! why lies that old man there 1 A murderer shares his prison bed' Whose eyeballs, through his horrid hair, Gleam on him fierce and red i . And the rude oath and heartless Jeer' Fall ever on his loathing ear, And or in wakefulness or sleep, Ner~e, Oesh and fibre thrill and creep, 'Vhene'er that ruffian's tossing limb, Crimson with murder' touches him! ·what has the gray-haired prisoner done 1 Has murder stained his hands with gore 1 Not so: his crime's a fouler one : God made tlte old man pam· ! For this he shares a felon's cellThe fitte't earthly type of hell! For this-the boon for which he poured Ilis young hlood on th' invader's sword , And counted light the fearful costHis blood-gained liberty is lost! 89 And so, for such a place of rest, Old prisoner, poured thy blood as rain On Concord's field, and Bunker's crest, And Saratoga's plain? Look forth, thou man of many scars, 'rhrough thy dim dungeon's iron bars! It must be joy, in sooth, to see Yon Monument• uprearcd to theePiled granite and a prison cellThe land repays thy service well! Go, ring the bells and fire ti1e guns, And fling the starry banner out; Shout' Fraedom!' till your lisping ones Give back their cradle shout: Let boasted eloquence declaim Of honor, liberty, and fame; Still let the poet's strain be heard, With 'glory' for each second word, And every thing with breath agree To praise 'our glorious liberty!' And when the patriot cannon jars That prison's cold and gloomy wall, And through its grates the stripes and stars Rise on the wind , and fall- Think ye thi1t prisoner's aged car Rejoices in the general cheer 1 " Bunker Hill Monument. |
