The American Rebellion
1776
1776
Before
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Twas not while England’s sword unsheathed
         Put half a world to flight,
      Nor while their new-built cities breathed
         Secure behind her might;
      Not while she poured from Pole to Line
         Treasure and ships and men–
      These worshippers at Freedoms shrine
         They did not quit her then!      Not till their foes were driven forth
         By England o’er the main–
      Not till the Frenchman from the North
        Had gone with shattered Spain;
      Not till the clean-swept oceans showed
         No hostile flag unrolled,
      Did they remember that they owed
         To Freedom–and were bold!
AfterÂThe snow lies thick on Valley Forge,
 The ice on the Delaware, Â
But the poor dead soldiers of King George
 They neither know nor care.ÂNot though the earliest primrose break
 On the sunny side of the lane,
And scuffling rookeries awake
 Their England’ s spring again.ÂThey will not stir when the drifts are gone,
 Or the ice melts out of the bay:
And the men that served with Washington
 Lie all as still as they.ÂThey will not stir though the mayflower blows
 In the moist dark woods of pine,
And every rock-strewn pasture shows
 Mullein and columbine.ÂEach for his land, in a fair fight,
 Encountered strove, and died,
And the kindly earth that knows no spite
 Covers them side by side.ÂShe is too busy to think of war;
 She has all the world to make gay;
And, behold, the yearly flowers are
 Where they were in our fathers’ day!ÂGolden-rod by the pasture-wall
 When the columbine is dead,
And sumach leaves that turn, in fall,
 Bright as the blood they shed.
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