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Best Famous Thickest Poems

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Written by Mary Darby Robinson | Create an image from this poem

Ode to Envy

 Deep in th' abyss where frantic horror bides, 
In thickest mists of vapours fell,
Where wily Serpents hissing glare
And the dark Demon of Revenge resides,
At midnight's murky hour
Thy origin began: 
Rapacious MALICE was thy sire;
Thy Dam the sullen witch, Despair;
Thy Nurse, insatiate Ire.
The FATES conspir'd their ills to twine, About thy heart's infected shrine; They gave thee each disastrous spell, Each desolating pow'r, To blast the fairest hopes of man.
Soon as thy fatal birth was known, From her unhallow'd throne With ghastly smile pale Hecate sprung; Thy hideous form the Sorc'ress press'd With kindred fondness to her breast; Her haggard eye Short forth a ray of transient joy, Whilst thro' th' infernal shades exulting clamours rung.
Above thy fellow fiends thy tyrant hand Grasp'd with resistless force supreme command: The dread terrific crowd Before thy iron sceptre bow'd.
Now, seated in thy ebon cave, Around thy throne relentless furies rave: A wreath of ever-wounding thorn Thy scowling brows encompass round, Thy heart by knawing Vultures torn, Thy meagre limbs with deathless scorpions bound.
Thy black associates, torpid IGNORANCE, And pining JEALOUSY­with eye askance, With savage rapture execute thy will, And strew the paths of life with every torturing ill Nor can the sainted dead escape thy rage; Thy vengeance haunts the silent grave, Thy taunts insult the ashes of the brave; While proud AMBITION weeps thy rancour to assuage.
The laurels round the POET's bust, Twin'd by the liberal hand of Taste, By thy malignant grasp defac'd, Fade to their native dust: Thy ever-watchful eye no labour tires, Beneath thy venom'd touch the angel TRUTH expires.
When in thy petrifying car Thy scaly dragons waft thy form, Then, swifter, deadlier far Than the keen lightning's lance, That wings its way across the yelling storm, Thy barbed shafts fly whizzing round, While every with'ring glance Inflicts a cureless wound.
Thy giant arm with pond'rous blow Hurls genius from her glorious height, Bends the fair front of Virtue low, And meanly pilfers every pure delight.
Thy hollow voice the sense appalls, Thy vigilance the mind enthralls; Rest hast thou none,­by night, by day, Thy jealous ardour seeks for prey­ Nought can restrain thy swift career; Thy smile derides the suff'rer's wrongs; Thy tongue the sland'rers tale prolongs; Thy thirst imbibes the victim's tear; Thy breast recoils from friendship's flame; Sick'ning thou hear'st the trump of Fame; Worth gives to thee, the direst pang; The Lover's rapture wounds thy heart, The proudest efforts of prolific art Shrink from thy poisonous fang.
In vain the Sculptor's lab'ring hand Calls fine proportion from the Parian stone; In vain the Minstrel's chords command The soft vibrations of seraphic tone; For swift thy violating arm Tears from perfection ev'ry charm; Nor rosy YOUTH, nor BEAUTY's smiles Thy unrelenting rage beguiles, Thy breath contaminates the fairest name, And binds the guiltless brow with ever-blist'ring shame.


Written by Barry Tebb | Create an image from this poem

TO THE SOUND OF VIOLINS

 Give me life at its most garish

Friday night in the Square, pink sequins dazzle

And dance on clubbers bare to the midriff

Young men in crisp shirts and pressed pants

‘Dress code smart’ gyrate to ‘Sex Bomb, Sex Bomb’

And sing along its lyrics to the throng of which I’m one

My shorts, shoulder bag and white beard

Making me stand out in the teeming swarm

Of teens and twenties this foetid Friday night

On my way from the ward where our son paces

And fulminates I throw myself into the drowning

Tide of Friday to be rescued by sheer normality.
The mill girl with her mates asks anxiously "Are you on your own? Come and join us What’s your name?" Age has driven my shyness away As I join the crowd beneath the turning purple screens Bannered ‘****** lasts for ever’ and sip unending Halves of bitter, as I circulate among the crowd, Being complete in itself and out for a good night out, A relief from factory, shop floor and market stall Running from the reality of the ward where my son Pounds the ledge with his fist and seems out to blast My very existence with words like bullets.
The need to anaesthetise the pain resurfaces Again and again.
In Leeds City Square where Pugin’s church, the Black Prince and the Central Post Office In its Edwardian grandeur are startled by the arching spumes Or white water fountains and the steel barricades of Novotel Rise from the ruins of a sixties office block.
I hurry past and join Boar Lane’s Friday crew From Keighley and Dewsbury’s mills, hesitating At the thought of being told I’m past my Sell-by-date and turned away by the West Indian Bouncers, black-suited and city-council badged Who checked my bag but smiled at ‘The Lights of Leeds’ and ‘Poets of Our Time’ tucked away as carefully as condoms- Was it guns or drugs they were after I wondered as I crossed the bare boards to the bar.
I stayed near the fruit machine which no-one played, Where the crowd was thickest, the noise drowned out the pain ‘Sex Bomb, Sex Bomb’ the chorus rang The girls joined in but the young men knew The words no more than me.
Dancing as we knew it In the sixties has gone, you do your own thing And follow the beat, hampered by my bag I just kept going, letting the music and the crowd Hold me, my camera eye moving in search, in search… What I’m searching for I don’t know Searching’s a way of life that has to grow "All of us who are patients here are searchers after truth" My son kept saying, his legs shaking from the side effects Of God-knows- what, pacing the tiny ward kitchen cum smoking room, Denouncing his ‘illegal section’ and ‘poisonous medication’ To an audience of one.
The prospect of TV, Seroxat and Diazepan fazed me: I was beyond unravelling Meltzer on differentiation Of self and object or Rosine Josef Perelberg on ‘Dreaming and Thinking’ Or even the simpler ‘Rise and Crisis of Psychoanalysis in the United States’ So I went out with West Yorkshire on a Friday night.
Nothing dramatic happened; perhaps I’m a little too used To acute wards or worse where chairs fly across rooms, Windows disintegrate and double doors are triple locked And every nurse carries a white panic button and black pager To pinpoint the moment’s crisis.
Normality was a bit of adrenaline, A wild therapy that drew me in, sanity had won the night.
"Are you on your own, love? Come and join us" People kept asking if I was alright and why I had that damned great shoulder bag.
I was introduced To three young men about to tie the knot, a handsome lothario In his midforties winked at me constantly, Dancing with practised ease with sixteen year olds Who all seemed to know him and determined to show him.
Three hours passed in as many minutes and then the crowds Disappeared to catch the last bus home.
The young aren’t As black as they are painted, one I danced with reminded me Of how Margaret would have been at sixteen With straw gold hair Yeats would have immortalised.
People seemed to guess I was haunted by an inner demon I’d tried to leave in the raftered lofts of City Square But failed to.
Girls from sixteen to twenty six kept grabbing me And making me dance and I found my teenage inhibitions Gone at sixty-one and wildly gyrated to ‘Sex Bomb, Sex Bomb’ Egged on by the throng by the fruit machine and continuous Thumbs-up signs from passing men.
I had to forgo A cheerful group of Aussies were intent on taking me clubbing "I’d get killed or turned into a pumpkin If I get home after midnight" I quipped to their delight But being there had somehow put things right.
Written by Charlotte Bronte | Create an image from this poem

The Missionary

 Lough, vessel, plough the British main,
Seek the free ocean's wider plain; 
Leave English scenes and English skies,
Unbind, dissever English ties; 
Bear me to climes remote and strange, 
Where altered life, fast-following change,
Hot action, never-ceasing toil, 
Shall stir, turn, dig, the spirit's soil; 
Fresh roots shall plant, fresh seed shall sow, 
Till a new garden there shall grow, 
Cleared of the weeds that fill it now,­ 
Mere human love, mere selfish yearning, 
Which, cherished, would arrest me yet.
I grasp the plough, there's no returning, Let me, then, struggle to forget.
But England's shores are yet in view, And England's skies of tender blue Are arched above her guardian sea.
I cannot yet Remembrance flee; I must again, then, firmly face That task of anguish, to retrace.
Wedded to home­I home forsake, Fearful of change­I changes make; Too fond of ease­I plunge in toil; Lover of calm­I seek turmoil: Nature and hostile Destiny Stir in my heart a conflict wild; And long and fierce the war will be Ere duty both has reconciled.
What other tie yet holds me fast To the divorced, abandoned past? Smouldering, on my heart's altar lies The fire of some great sacrifice, Not yet half quenched.
The sacred steel But lately struck my carnal will, My life-long hope, first joy and last, What I loved well, and clung to fast; What I wished wildly to retain, What I renounced with soul-felt pain; What­when I saw it, axe-struck, perish­ Left me no joy on earth to cherish; A man bereft­yet sternly now I do confirm that Jephtha vow: Shall I retract, or fear, or flee ? Did Christ, when rose the fatal tree Before him, on Mount Calvary ? 'Twas a long fight, hard fought, but won, And what I did was justly done.
Yet, Helen ! from thy love I turned, When my heart most for thy heart burned; I dared thy tears, I dared thy scorn­ Easier the death-pang had been borne.
Helen ! thou mightst not go with me, I could not­dared not stay for thee ! I heard, afar, in bonds complain The savage from beyond the main; And that wild sound rose o'er the cry Wrung out by passion's agony; And even when, with the bitterest tear I ever shed, mine eyes were dim, Still, with the spirit's vision clear, I saw Hell's empire, vast and grim, Spread on each Indian river's shore, Each realm of Asia covering o'er.
There the weak, trampled by the strong, Live but to suffer­hopeless die; There pagan-priests, whose creed is Wrong, Extortion, Lust, and Cruelty, Crush our lost race­and brimming fill The bitter cup of human ill; And I­who have the healing creed, The faith benign of Mary's Son; Shall I behold my brother's need And selfishly to aid him shun ? I­who upon my mother's knees, In childhood, read Christ's written word, Received his legacy of peace, His holy rule of action heard; I­in whose heart the sacred sense Of Jesus' love was early felt; Of his pure full benevolence, His pitying tenderness for guilt; His shepherd-care for wandering sheep, For all weak, sorrowing, trembling things, His mercy vast, his passion deep Of anguish for man's sufferings; I­schooled from childhood in such lore­ Dared I draw back or hesitate, When called to heal the sickness sore Of those far off and desolate ? Dark, in the realm and shades of Death, Nations and tribes and empires lie, But even to them the light of Faith Is breaking on their sombre sky: And be it mine to bid them raise Their drooped heads to the kindling scene, And know and hail the sunrise blaze Which heralds Christ the Nazarene.
I know how Hell the veil will spread Over their brows and filmy eyes, And earthward crush the lifted head That would look up and seek the skies; I know what war the fiend will wage Against that soldier of the cross, Who comes to dare his demon-rage, And work his kingdom shame and loss.
Yes, hard and terrible the toil Of him who steps on foreign soil, Resolved to plant the gospel vine, Where tyrants rule and slaves repine; Eager to lift Religion's light Where thickest shades of mental night Screen the false god and fiendish rite; Reckless that missionary blood, Shed in wild wilderness and wood, Has left, upon the unblest air, The man's deep moan­the martyr's prayer.
I know my lot­I only ask Power to fulfil the glorious task; Willing the spirit, may the flesh Strength for the day receive afresh.
May burning sun or deadly wind Prevail not o'er an earnest mind; May torments strange or direst death Nor trample truth, nor baffle faith.
Though such blood-drops should fall from me As fell in old Gethsemane, Welcome the anguish, so it gave More strength to work­more skill to save.
And, oh ! if brief must be my time, If hostile hand or fatal clime Cut short my course­still o'er my grave, Lord, may thy harvest whitening wave.
So I the culture may begin, Let others thrust the sickle in; If but the seed will faster grow, May my blood water what I sow ! What ! have I ever trembling stood, And feared to give to God that blood ? What ! has the coward love of life Made me shrink from the righteous strife ? Have human passions, human fears Severed me from those Pioneers, Whose task is to march first, and trace Paths for the progress of our race ? It has been so; but grant me, Lord, Now to stand steadfast by thy word ! Protected by salvation's helm, Shielded by faith­with truth begirt, To smile when trials seek to whelm And stand 'mid testing fires unhurt ! Hurling hell's strongest bulwarks down, Even when the last pang thrills my breast, When Death bestows the Martyr's crown, And calls me into Jesus' rest.
Then for my ultimate reward­ Then for the world-rejoicing word­ The voice from Father­Spirit­Son: " Servant of God, well hast thou done !"
Written by William Blake | Create an image from this poem

The Human Abstract

 Pity would be no more,
If we did not make somebody Poor;
And Mercy no more could be.
If all were as happy as we; And mutual fear brings peace; Till the selfish loves increase.
Then Cruelty knits a snare, And spreads his baits with care.
He sits down with holy fears.
And waters the ground with tears: Then Humility takes its root Underneath his foot.
Soon spreads the dismal shade Of Mystery over his head; And the Caterpillar and Fly Feed on the Mystery.
And it bears the fruit of Deceit.
Ruddy and sweet to eat: And the Raven his nest has made In its thickest shade.
The Gods of the earth and sea, Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree But their search was all in vain: There grows one in the Human Brain
Written by Emily Brontë | Create an image from this poem

The Prisoner

 Still let my tyrants know, I am not doomed to wear
Year after year in gloom and desolate despair;
A messenger of Hope comes every night to me,
And offers for short life, eternal liberty.
He comes with western winds, with evening's wandering airs, With that clear dusk of heaven that brings the thickest stars: Winds take a pensive tone, and stars a tender fire, And visions rise, and change, that kill me with desire.
Desire for nothing known in my maturer years, When Joy grew mad with awe, at counting future tears: When, if my spirit's sky was full of flashes warm, I knew not whence they came, from sun or thunderstorm.
But first, a hush of peace—a soundless calm descends; The struggle of distress and fierce impatience ends; Mute music soothes my breast—unuttered harmony That I could never dream, till Earth was lost to me.
Then dawns the Invisible; the Unseen its truth reveals; My outward sense is gone, my inward essence feels; Its wings are almost free—its home, its harbour found; Measuring the gulf, it stoops, and dares the final bound.
O dreadful is the check—intense the agony— When the ear begins to hear, and the eye begins to see; When the pulse begins to throb, the brain to think again, The soul to feel the flesh, and the flesh to feel the chain.
Yet I would lose no sting, would wish no torture less; The more that anguish racks, the earlier it will bless; And robed in fires of hell, or bright with heavenly shine, If it but herald Death, the vision is divine.


Written by John Dryden | Create an image from this poem

Heroic Stanzas

 Consecrated to the Glorious Memory of His 
Most Serene and Renowned Highness, Oliver,
Late Lord Protector of This Commonwealth, etc.
(Oliver Cromwell) Written After the Celebration of his Funeral 1 And now 'tis time; for their officious haste, Who would before have borne him to the sky, Like eager Romans ere all rites were past Did let too soon the sacred eagle fly.
2 Though our best notes are treason to his fame Join'd with the loud applause of public voice; Since Heav'n, what praise we offer to his name, Hath render'd too authentic by its choice; 3 Though in his praise no arts can liberal be, Since they whose Muses have the highest flown Add not to his immortal memory, But do an act of friendship to their own; 4 Yet 'tis our duty and our interest too Such monuments as we can build to raise, Lest all the world prevent what we should do And claim a title in him by their praise.
5 How shall I then begin, or where conclude To draw a fame so truly circular? For in a round what order can be shew'd, Where all the parts so equal perfect are? 6 His grandeur he deriv'd from Heav'n alone, For he was great ere fortune made him so, And wars like mists that rise against the sun Made him but greater seem, not greater grown.
7 No borrow'd bays his temples did adorn, But to our crown he did fresh jewels bring.
Nor was his virtue poison'd soon as born With the too early thoughts of being king.
8 Fortune (that easy mistress of the young But to her ancient servant coy and hard) Him at that age her favorites rank'd among When she her best-lov'd Pompey did discard.
9 He, private, mark'd the faults of others' sway, And set as sea-marks for himself to shun, Not like rash monarchs who their youth betray By acts their age too late would wish undone.
10 And yet dominion was not his design; We owe that blessing not to him but Heaven, Which to fair acts unsought rewards did join, Rewards that less to him than us were given.
11 Our former chiefs like sticklers of the war First sought t'inflame the parties, then to poise, The quarrel lov'd, but did the cause abhor, And did not strike to hurt but make a noise.
12 War, our consumption, was their gainfull trade; We inward bled whilst they prolong'd our pain; He fought to end our fighting and assay'd To stanch the blood by breathing of the vein.
13 Swift and resistless through the land he pass'd Like that bold Greek who did the east subdue, And made to battles such heroic haste As if on wings of victory he flew.
14 He fought secure of fortune as of fame, Till by new maps the island might be shown, Of conquests which he strew'd where'er he came Thick as a galaxy with stars is sown.
15 His palms, though under weights they did not stand, Still thriv'd; no winter could his laurels fade; Heav'n in his portrait shew'd a workman's hand And drew it perfect yet without a shade.
16 Peace was the prize of all his toils and care, Which war had banish'd and did now restore; Bologna's walls thus mounted in the air To seat themselves more surely than before.
17 Her safety rescu'd Ireland to him owes, And treacherous Scotland, to no int'rest true, Yet bless'd that fate which did his arms dispose Her land to civilize as to subdue.
18 Nor was he like those stars which only shine When to pale mariners they storms portend; He had his calmer influence, and his mien Did love and majesty together blend.
19 'Tis true, his count'nance did imprint an awe, And naturally all souls to his did bow, As wands of divination downward draw And points to beds where sov'reign gold doth grow.
20 When past all offerings to Feretrian Jove, He Mars depos'd and arms to gowns made yield; Successful councils did him soon approve As fit for close intrigues as open field.
21 To suppliant Holland he vouchsaf'd a peace, Our once bold rival in the British main, Now tamely glad her unjust claim to cease And buy our friendship with her idol, gain.
22 Fame of th' asserted sea through Europe blown Made France and Spain ambitious of his love; Each knew that side must conquer he would own, And for him fiercely as for empire strove.
23 No sooner was the Frenchman's cause embrac'd Than the light monsieur the grave don outweigh'd; His fortune turn'd the scale where it was cast, Though Indian mines were in the other laid.
24 When absent, yet we conquer'd in his right, For though some meaner artist's skill were shown In mingling colours, or in placing light, Yet still the fair designment was his own.
25 For from all tempers he could service draw; The worth of each with its alloy he knew, And as the confidant of Nature saw How she complexions did divide and brew.
26 Or he their single virtues did survey By intuition in his own large breast, Where all the rich ideas of them lay, That were the rule and measure to the rest.
27 When such heroic virtue Heav'n sets out, The stars like Commons sullenly obey, Because it drains them when it comes about, And therefore is a tax they seldom pay.
28 From this high spring our foreign conquests flow, Which yet more glorious triumphs do portend, Since their commencement to his arms they owe, If springs as high as fountains may ascend.
29 He made us freemen of the continent Whom Nature did like captives treat before, To nobler preys the English lion sent, And taught him first in Belgian walks to roar.
30 That old unquestion'd pirate of the land, Proud Rome, with dread the fate of Dunkirk heard, And trembling wish'd behind more Alps to stand, Although an Alexander were here guard.
31 By his command we boldly cross'd the line And bravely fought where southern stars arise, We trac'd the far-fetch'd gold unto the mine And that which brib'd our fathers made our prize.
32 Such was our prince; yet own'd a soul above The highest acts it could produce to show: Thus poor mechanic arts in public move Whilst the deep secrets beyond practice go.
33 Nor di'd he when his ebbing fame went less, But when fresh laurels courted him to live; He seem'd but to prevent some new success, As if above what triumphs earth could give.
34 His latest victories still thickest came, As near the center motion does increase, Till he, press'd down by his own weighty name, Did, like the vestal, under spoils decrease.
35 But first the ocean as a tribute sent That giant prince of all her watery herd, And th' isle when her protecting genius went Upon his obsequies loud sighs conferr'd.
36 No civil broils have since his death arose, But faction now by habit does obey, And wars have that respect for his repose, As winds for halycons when they breed at sea.
37 His ashes in a peaceful urn shall rest; His name a great example stands to show How strangely high endeavours may be blest, Where piety and valour jointly go.
Written by Friedrich von Schiller | Create an image from this poem

The Dance

 See how, like lightest waves at play, the airy dancers fleet;
And scarcely feels the floor the wings of those harmonious feet.
Ob, are they flying shadows from their native forms set free? Or phantoms in the fairy ring that summer moonbeams see? As, by the gentle zephyr blown, some light mist flees in air, As skiffs that skim adown the tide, when silver waves are fair, So sports the docile footstep to the heave of that sweet measure, As music wafts the form aloft at its melodious pleasure, Now breaking through the woven chain of the entangled dance, From where the ranks the thickest press, a bolder pair advance, The path they leave behind them lost--wide open the path beyond, The way unfolds or closes up as by a magic wand.
See now, they vanish from the gaze in wild confusion blended; All, in sweet chaos whirled again, that gentle world is ended! No!--disentangled glides the knot, the gay disorder ranges-- The only system ruling here, a grace that ever changes.
For ay destroyed--for ay renewed, whirls on that fair creation; And yet one peaceful law can still pervade in each mutation.
And what can to the reeling maze breathe harmony and vigor, And give an order and repose to every gliding figure? That each a ruler to himself doth but himself obey, Yet through the hurrying course still keeps his own appointed way.
What, would'st thou know? It is in truth the mighty power of tune, A power that every step obeys, as tides obey the moon; That threadeth with a golden clue the intricate employment, Curbs bounding strength to tranquil grace, and tames the wild enjoyment.
And comes the world's wide harmony in vain upon thine ears? The stream of music borne aloft from yonder choral spheres? And feel'st thou not the measure which eternal Nature keeps? The whirling dance forever held in yonder azure deeps? The suns that wheel in varying maze?--That music thou discernest? No! Thou canst honor that in sport which thou forgettest in earnest.
Written by George Eliot | Create an image from this poem

In a London Drawingroom

 The sky is cloudy, yellowed by the smoke.
For view there are the houses opposite Cutting the sky with one long line of wall Like solid fog: far as the eye can stretch Monotony of surface & of form Without a break to hang a guess upon.
No bird can make a shadow as it flies, For all is shadow, as in ways o'erhung By thickest canvass, where the golden rays Are clothed in hemp.
No figure lingering Pauses to feed the hunger of the eye Or rest a little on the lap of life.
All hurry on & look upon the ground, Or glance unmarking at the passers by The wheels are hurrying too, cabs, carriages All closed, in multiplied identity.
The world seems one huge prison-house & court Where men are punished at the slightest cost, With lowest rate of colour, warmth & joy.
Written by Andrew Barton Paterson | Create an image from this poem

Boots

 We've travelled per Joe Gardiner, a humping of our swag 
In the country of the Gidgee and Belar.
We've swum the Di'mantina with our raiment in a bag, And we've travelled per superior motor car, But when we went to Germany we hadn't any choice, No matter what our training or pursuits, For they gave us no selection 'twixt a Ford or Rolls de Royce So we did it in our good Australian boots.
They called us "mad Australians"; they couldn't understand How officers and men could fraternise, Thay said that we were "reckless", we were "wild, and out of hand", With nothing great or sacred to our eyes.
But on one thing you could gamble, in the thickest of the fray, Though they called us volunteers and raw recruits, You could track us past the shell holes, and the tracks were all one way Of the good Australian ammunition boots.
The Highlanders were next of kin, the Irish were a treat, The Yankees knew it all and had to learn, The Frenchmen kept it going, both in vict'ry and defeat, Fighting grimly till the tide was on the turn.
And our army kept beside 'em, did its bit and took its chance, And I hailed our newborn nation and its fruits, As I listened to the clatter on the cobblestones of France Of the good Australian military boots.
Written by William Topaz McGonagall | Create an image from this poem

The Battle of Corunna

 'Twas in the year of 1808, and in the autumn of the year,
Napoleon resolved to crush Spain and Portugal without fear;
So with a mighty army three hundred thousand strong
Through the passes of the Pyrenees into spain he passed along.
But Sir John Moore concentrated his troops in the north, And into the west corner of Spain he boldly marched forth; To cut off Napoleon's communications with France He considered it to be advisable and his only chance.
And when Napoleon heard of Moore's coming, his march he did begin, Declaring that he was the only General that could oppose him; And in the month of December, when the hills were clad with snow, Napoleon's army marched over the Guadiana Hills with their hearts full of woe.
And with fifty thousand cavalry, infantry, and artillery, Napoleon marched on, facing obstacles most dismal to see; And performed one of the most rapid marches recorded in history, Leaving the command of his army to Generals Soult and Ney.
And on the 5th of January Soult made his attack, But in a very short time the French were driven back; With the Guards and the 50th Regiment and the 42d conjoint, They were driven from the village of Elnina at the bayonet's point.
Oh! It was a most gorgeous and inspiring sight To see Sir John Moore in the thickest of the fight, And crying aloud to the 42d with all his might, "Forward, my lads, and charge them with your bayonets left and right.
" Then the 42d charged them with might and main, And the French were repulsed again and again; And although they poured into the British ranks a withering fire, The British at the charge of the bayonet soon made them retire.
Oh! That battlefield was a fearful sight to behold, 'Twas enough to make one's blood run cold To hear the crack, crack of the musketry and the cannon's roar, Whilst the dead and the dying lay weltering in their gore.
But O Heaven! It was a heartrending sight, When Sir John Moore was shot dead in the thickest of the fight; And as the soldiers bore him from the field they looked woebegone, And the hero's last words were "Let me see how the battle goes on.
" Then he breathed his last with a gurgling sound, And for the loss of the great hero the soldier's sorrow was profound, Because he was always kind and served them well, And as they thought of him tears down their cheeks trickling fell.
Oh! it was a weird and pathetic sight As they buried him in the Citadel of Corunna at the dead of night, While his staff and the men shed many tears For the noble hero who had commanded them for many years.
Success to the British Army wherever they go, For seldom they have failed to conquer the foe; Long may the highlanders be able to make the foe reel, By giving them an inch or two of cold steel.

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