Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/51

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Lawrence, Columbia’s pride and boast,
Of conquest counted sure as fate.
 He thus address’d his haughty host,
With form erect and heart elate:
"Three cheers, my brave boys, let your courage bespeak
And give them a taste of your cannon;
And soon they shall know that the proud Chesapeake
Shall ne’er lower a flag to the Shannon."

 Silent as death each foe drew nigh.
While lock’d in hostile, close embrace
 Brave Broke, with British seaman’s eye,
The signs of terror soon could trace.
He exclaim’d, while his looks did his ardor bespeak:
"Brave boys, they all flinch from their cannon;
Board, board, my brave messmates; the proud Chesapeake
Shall soon be a prize for the Shannon."

 Swift flew the word — Britannia’s sons
Spread death and terror where they came;
 The trembling foe forsook their guns,
And called aloud on Mercy’s name.
Brave Broke led the way, but fell, wounded and weak,
But exclaim’d: "They have fled from their cannon;
Three cheers, my brave seamen, the proud Chesapeake
Has lower’d her flag to the Shannon."

 The day was won, but Lawrence fell;
He closed his eyes in endless night;
 And oft Columbia’s sons will tell
Of hopes all blighted in that fight.
But brave Captain Broke, though wounded and weak,
Survived, again to play his cannon;
And his name from the shores of the wide Chesapeake
Shall resound to the banks of the Shannon.