Poem by William Cullen Bryant

The Green Mountain Boys

I.

Here we halt our march, and pitch our tent
    On the rugged forest ground,
And light our fire with the branches rent
    By winds from the beeches round.
Wild storms have torn this ancient wood,
    But a wilder is at hand,
With hail of iron and rain of blood,
    To sweep and waste the land.

II.

How the dark wood rings with voices shrill,
    That startle the sleeping bird;
To-morrow eve must the voice be still,
    And the step must fall unheard.
The Briton lies by the blue Champlain,
    In Ticonderoga's towers,
And ere the sun rise twice again,
    The towers and the lake are ours.

III.

Fill up the bowl from the brook that glides
    Where the fireflies light the brake;
A ruddier juice the Briton hides
    In his fortress by the lake.
Build high the fire, till the panther leap
    From his lofty perch in flight,
And we'll strenghten our weary arms with sleep
    For the deeds of to-morrow night.

1. “Blessed Are They That Mourn”
2. The Hunter of the Prairies
3. Rizpah
4. A Scene on the Banks of the Hudson
5. William Tell

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