The Swamp Fox by William Gilmore Simms
WE follow where the Swamp Fox guides, His friends and merry men are we; And when the troop of Tarleton rides, We burrow in the cypress tree. The turfy hammock is our bed, Our home is in the red deer’s den, Our roof, the tree-top overhead, For we are wild and hunted men. We fly […]
The Lost Pleiad by William Gilmore Simms
NOT in the sky, Where it was seen So long in eminence of light serene,— Nor on the white tops of the glistering wave, Nor down in mansions of the hidden deep, Though beautiful in green And crystal, its great caves of mystery,— Shall the bright watcher have Her place, and, as of old, high […]
The Decay Of A People by William Gilmore Simms
THIS the true sign of ruin to a race— It undertakes no march, and day by day Drowses in camp, or, with the laggard’s pace, Walks sentry o’er possessions that decay; Destined, with sensible waste, to fleet away;— For the first secret of continued power Is the continued conquest;—all our sway Hath surety in the […]
The Bard by William Gilmore Simms
Where dwells the spirit of the Bard–what sky Persuades his daring wing,– Folded in soft carnation, or in snow Still sleeping, far o’er summits of the cloud, And, with a seeming, sweet unconsciousness, Wooing his plume, through baffling storms to fly, Assured of all that ever yet might bless The spirit, by love and loftiest […]
The Angel Of The Church by William Gilmore Simms
I. Aye, strike with sacrilegious aim The temple of the living God; Hurl iron bolt and seething flame Through aisles which holiest feet have trod; Tear up the altar, spoil the tomb, And, raging with demoniac ire, Send down, in sudden crash of doom, That grand, old, sky-sustaining spire. II. That spire, for full a […]
Sumter In Ruins by William Gilmore Simms
I. Ye batter down the lion’s den, But yet the lordly beast g’oes free; And ye shall hear his roar again, From mountain height, from lowland glen, From sandy shore and reedy fen– Where’er a band of freeborn men Rears sacred shrines to liberty. II. The serpent scales the eagle’s nest, And yet the royal […]
Song In March by William Gilmore Simms
NOW are the winds about us in their glee, Tossing the slender tree; Whirling the sands about his furious car, March cometh from afar; Breaks the sealed magic of old Winter’s dreams, And rends his glassy streams; Chafing with potent airs, he fiercely takes Their fetters from the lakes, And, with a power by queenly […]
William Gilmore Simms – William Gilmore Simms
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Ode–Shell The Old City! Shell! by William Gilmore Simms
I. Shell the old city I shell! Ye myrmidons of Hell; Ye serve your master well, With hellish arts! Hurl down, with bolt and fire, The grand old shrines, the spire; But know, your demon ire Subdues no hearts! II. There, we defy ye still, With sworn and resolute will; Courage ye cannot kill While […]
Morris Island by William Gilmore Simms
Oh! from the deeds well done, the blood well shed In a good cause springs up to crown the land With ever-during verdure, memory fed, Wherever freedom rears one fearless band, The genius, which makes sacred time and place, Shaping the grand memorials of a race! The barren rock becomes a monument, The sea-shore sands […]
Hast Thou A Song For A Flower by William Gilmore Simms
I. HAST thou a song for a flower, Such as, if breathed in its ear, Would waken in beauty’s own bower The spirit most fit to be there? Then, minstrel, I challenge thy power– Such song, if thou hast, sing it here!– Here, where the breeze o’erwearied, With his travel o’er ocean creeps, And on […]
Flight To Nature by William Gilmore Simms
SICK of the crowd, the toil, the strife, Sweet Nature, how I turn to thee, Seeking for renovated life, By brawling brook and shady tree! I knew thy rocks had spells of old, To soothe the wanderer’s woe to calm, And in thy waters, clear and cold, My fev’rish brow would seek for balm. I’ve […]
Blessings On Children by William Gilmore Simms
Blessings on the blessing children, sweetest gifts of Heaven to earth, Filling all the heart with gladness, filling all the house with mirth; Bringing with them native sweetness, pictures of the primal bloom, Which the bliss for ever gladdens, of the region whence they come; Bringing with them joyous impulse of a state with outen […]