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!