(National Poetry Month, Day 19)

Where were you on this day, 238 years ago?

Yesterday, we read “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Today, we’ll commemorate the battle that took place on today’s date 238 years ago.

As we read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn,” we can reflect on the legacy of the war that began with the battle in today’s Minute Man National Historical Park.

Concord Hymn
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

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, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.