Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson
SUNG AT THE COMPLETION OF THE BATTLE MONUMENT, JULY 4, 1837
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 heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
The wooden Old North Bridge is the site of the first battle of the American Revolution in 1775, known as the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The current bridge is a 1956 replica of the original bridge from the 1760s.
Ralph Waldo Emerson had many personal links to the battle. Emerson's grandfather was one of the rebels who fought at the Old Bridge on the day of the battle. The Emerson family home, the Old Manse, is beside the bridge.
The first stanza of the poem is inscribed on the statue "The Minute Man" (below) erected in 1875, which stands by the Old North Bridge.
