The Shot Heard Round the World


Concord Hymn

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.

A possibly accidental shot, fired without authority or maybe even intent, ignited a powder keg of tension and set off an explosion the reverberations of which are still felt today. How accidental human history is! A cursory review of humankind’s most important events disproves Hegelian dialectics outright. One must hope we have not left too many other powder kegs exposed to the sparks thrown off by everyday affairs, particularly in times (like the present) when we walk swinging swords among people made of flint.


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