History & Politics
The Spirit of the Maine
From Poems of American History (1908)
In battle-line of sombre gray
Our ships-of-war advance,
As Red Cross Knights in holy fray
Charged with avenging lance.
And terrible shall be thy plight,
O fleet of cruel Spain!
Forever in our van doth fight
The spirit of the Maine!
As when beside Regillus Lake
The Great Twin Brethren came
A righteous fight for Rome to make
Against the Deed of Shame--
So now a ghostly ship shall doom
The fleet of treacherous Spain:
Before her guilty soul doth loom
The Spirit of the Maine!
A wraith arrayed in peaceful white,
As when asleep she lay
Above the traitorous mine that night
Within Havana Bay,
She glides before the avenging fleet,
A sign of woe to Spain,
Brave though her sons, how shall they meet
The Spirit of the Maine!
Cite this poem
MLA
Jenks, Tudor. “The Spirit of the Maine.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/jenks_t/0/.
Chicago
Jenks, Tudor. “The Spirit of the Maine.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/jenks_t/0/.
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