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A Fragment
[May 1, 1898]
BY Cavité on the bay | |
| ’T was the Spanish squadron lay; | |
| And the red dawn was creeping | |
| O’er the city that lay sleeping | |
| To the east, like a bride, in the May. | 5 |
| There was peace at Manila, | |
| In the May morn at Manila,— | |
| When ho, the Spanish admiral | |
| Awoke to find our line | |
| Had passed by gray Corregidor, | 10 |
| Had laughed at shoal and mine, | |
| And flung to the sky its banners | |
| With “Remember” for the sign! | |
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| With the ships of Spain before | |
| In the shelter of the shore, | 15 |
| And the forts on the right, | |
| They drew forward to the fight, | |
| And the first was the gallant Commodore; | |
| In the bay of Manila, | |
| In the doomed bay of Manila— | 20 |
| With succor half the world away, | |
| No port beneath that sky, | |
| With nothing but their ships and guns | |
| And Yankee pluck to try, | |
| They had left retreat behind them, | 25 |
| They had come to win or die! * * * * * | |
| For we spoke at Manila, | |
| We said it at Manila, | |
| Or be ye brave, or be ye strong, | |
| Ye build your ships in vain; | 30 |
| The children of the sea queen’s brood | |
| Will not give up the main; | |
| We hold the sea against the world | |
| As we held it against Spain. | |
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| Be warned by Manila, | 35 |
| Take warning by Manila, | |
| Ye may trade by land, ye may fight by land, | |
| Ye may hold the land in fee; | |
| But not go down to the sea in ships | |
| To battle with the free; | 40 |
| For England and America | |
| Will keep and hold the sea! | |
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