Maggie's Farm

Poem

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those spirits dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Every American schoolkid knows these lines which Emerson wrote in 1836 on the unveiling of the obelisk (just across the street from his house) commemorating the 1775 Battle of Lexington and Concord. People figure the "flag" to be metaphorical.