Old Ironsides
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
1809 to 1894
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Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it ______ on high,
And many an eye has danced to ______
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the ______ shout,
And burst the cannon’s roar;—
The meteor ______ the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more!
______ deck, once red with heroes’ blood
Where knelt the ______ foe,
When winds were hurrying o’er the flood
And ______ were white below,
No more shall feel the victor’s tread,
Or know the conquered knee;—
The harpies of ______ shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
O, ______ that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
______ thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be ______ grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set ______ thread-bare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,—
The lightning and the gale!