| Lyrics: | James Bird
Where is Bird? The battle rages,
Is he in the strife or no?
Now the
cannons roar tremendous:
Dare be meet his hostile foe?
Ay, behold! see him and
Perry!
In the selfsame ship they fight;
Though his messmates fall around him,
Nothing
can his soul affright.
Ay, behold! a ball has struck him,
See the crimson current
flow:
"Leave the deck," exclaimed brave Perry;
"No," cries Bird, "I will not
go".
"Here on board I tuck my station,
Ne 'er will Bird his colors fly;
I'll
stand by you, gallant captain,
Til we conquer, lest we die.
Still he fought, though
faint and bleeding,
Till our Stars and Stripes arose,
Victory having gained our
efforts,
All triumphant o'er our foes.
[Bird deserts; he is court-martialed and
shot]
See him kneel upon his coffin;
Sure his death can do no good:
Spare him!
Hark! 0 God, they've shot him!
See, his bosom streams with blood.
Farewell Bird;
farewell forever
Friends and home you'll see no more
Now his mangled corpse lies
buried
On Lake Erie's distant shore
@war @soldier @death
Printed in Folk-Songs
of the South
filename[ JAMEBIRD
SF
===DOCUMENT BOUNDARY |
