228 LONGFELLOW
'It is better to sink than to yield! ' And the whole air pealed With the cheers of our men.
Then, like a kraken huge and black,
She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp! Down went the Cumberland all a wreck, With a sudden shudder of death, And the cannon's breath For her dying gasp.
Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay,
Still floated our flag at the mainmast head. Lord, how beautiful was thy day ! Every waft of the air Was a whisper of prayer, Or a dirge for the dead.
Ho ! brave hearts that went down in the seas,
Ye are at peace in the troubled stream ! Ho! brave land! with hearts like these, Thy flag that is rent in twain Shall be one again, And without a seam !
xcn A DUTCH PICTURE
SIMON DANZ has come home again,
From cruising about with his buccaneers; He has singed the beard of the King of Spain, And carried away the Dean of Jaen And sold him in Algiers.
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