Independence Day Poems: 'Concord Hymn' by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)

Poetry

Concord Hymn

by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)

Sung at the completion of the Concord Battle Monument, April 19, 1837 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.


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