James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
February 15Off Havana
By John Hall Ingham (1860–1931)T
To heroes’ souls that unto mortal ears
Sounded the blasts of Hell. The hopes and fears,
The loves and hates that earth and time had given,
Through pain and death passed to Eternity.
The shattered vessel, shivering in the flood
Of hostile waters, stained with martyrs’ blood,
Uprose and sank.—Silence was on the sea.
Silence was there, but in the hearts of men
Through all the echoing centuries shall roll
That thunderpeal of foe or fate. Again,
Whene’er our Country calls,—forgetting not,
Her sons shall press undaunted to the goal,
Die in their duty and be unforgot.