Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.

Loss of the U. S. Ship Wasp

Robert Stevenson Coffin (1797–1827)

’TIS night!—Columbia’s foe is nigh,

And loud Columbia’s thunders roar;

’Tis night!—The war-torch flameth high,

And ocean’s sounding surges pour;

But ere the light

Of morning bright

Shall bid the sea-bird soar,

That bloody fight

Shall close in night:

Those foemen meet no more.

’Tis night!—Pale Cynthia’s silver beams

Are glittering on the murmuring wave;

’Tis night!—The sea-mew’s piercing screams

No longer wake the slumbering brave;

For O! they sleep

In caverns deep,

Where whirlwinds cease to rave:

Where fairies weep

And vigils keep

Around their hallow’d grave.

’Tis morn!—Columbia’s sighs proclaim

That she hath heard the tale of wo;

’Tis morn!—But, ah! her wreaths of fame

Will never twine her Blakeley’s brow:

Yet o’er his urn

Shall heroes mourn,

And as their tear-drops flow,

Their hearts shall burn,

And proudly spurn

The triumph of the foe.