<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">The Battle of the Bight</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">HAD I that fabled herb</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Which brought to life the dead,</p><p class="line">Whom would I dare disturb</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">In his eternal bed ?</p><p class="line">Great Grenville would I wake,</p><p class="line">And with glad tidings make</p><p class="line">The soul of mighty Drake</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Upheave a glorying head.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">As rose the misty sun,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Our men the North Sea scanned,</p><p class="line">And each rejoicing gun</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Welcomed a foe at hand,</p><p class="line">Eager, with thunderous throat,</p><p class="line">To sound, for all afloat,</p><p class="line">The world-awakening note</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">The world can understand.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">For ev'n as birds of night,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Hoary and tawny owl,</p><p class="line">Do sometimes brave the light,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Like bolder, nobler fowl,</p><p class="line">So did the foe that day</p><p class="line">Come venturing forth for prey,</p><p class="line">Where, on the ocean way,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Our ocean watchdogs prowl.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But brief and plain, 'mid men</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Not born to yield or flee,</p><p class="line">Our cannon spoke out then</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">The speech that keeps us free,</p><p class="line">And battered, with hoarse boom,</p><p class="line">Four warships to their doom,</p><p class="line">While one, to a fiercer tomb,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Fled blazing down the sea.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Sleep on, O Drake, sleep well,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">In days not wholly dire!</p><p class="line">Grenville, whom nought could quell,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Unquenched is still thy fire.</p><p class="line">And thou that hadst no peer,</p><p class="line">Nelson, thou need'st not fear!</p><p class="line">Thy sons and heirs are here,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">And shall not shame their sire.</p></div></body></html> · Great War