Classic Poem

The waves were gleaming: the sunlight shone
On the Queen of the Antilles, —
On peopled city, savanna lone,
On olden castle with moss o'ergrown,
On palms, whose frondage was idly blown
By the slumb'rous tropic breeze.

O life was lovely and earth was fair
In the blaze of that golden day!
But there breathed a dirge in the sunny air,
A plaintive wailing of woe was there,
Which even the waters seemed to share,
As they sobbed in their heaving play.

To the right old Moro looked grimly down.
The harbor stretched before.
Far to the left lay the clustered town,
Mottled with yellow and blue and brown.
Between, the troops of the Spanish crown
With their captives, lined the shore.

With a firm, proud tread and a fearless eye
The martyrs take their stand.
Though the distant dear ones may claim a sigh,
No plea is uttered, no craven cry;
They feel it is glorious so to die,
To die for a fettered land!

Behind them is drawn the serried line
Of the stern, relentless foe.
Like diamond-sparkles the bayonets shine,
And the banner glows like a thing divine;
Five times that flag they have laid supine
In disastrous overthrow.

" Down on your knees! " cried the Spanish chief.
" Kneel down to receive the fire! "
There was silence; none stirred; in that stillness brief
The rustling smite of the plantain leaf
You well might hear, and the zephyr's grief
And the ripples' gentle choir.

A man stepped forth from the fated crowd.
No tremor was in his tone.
Clear were his accents and full, not loud,
Noble his bearing, his form unbowed;
His answer, reverent, grand, and proud, —
" I kneel to my God alone. "

The words thrilled forth on the sunny air.
Then the fatal order came.
Along the line broke the lurid glare;
The smoke rolled outward in wreaths; and there
Lay Crittenden on the sea-shore bare,
Sacred to deathless fame.

The words sped, thrilling, — a nation's dower;
There was magic in the tone.
They swelled and deepened from hour to hour,
Till the fruit had grown from the perfect flower,
And Cuba shouted with voice of power,
" I kneel to my God alone! "