Paul Revere – Courage in the Face of Danger

My new freedom friend, Drew Jensen, suggested that I highlight a portion of the famous poem, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” on my blog today.  Written in 1860 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poem recounts Paul Revere’s thrilling ride through the Boston area to warn his compatriots about the advancing British army.

The following few lines captured the exemplary courage he exhibited in the face of personal and collective danger as the fate of an emerging nation hung in the balance.

And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with it’s heat….

"So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.’

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May we all be so courageous in the constant battle for freedom!