Their Finest Hour Poem by Lone Dog

(A tribute to the men who fought for the British in the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10,1813)


Drums beat a dirge on the border.
Sails swell like shrouds for the dead.
Warships move out for a battle
On a lake that will soon turn blood red.

Make haste, for the Yankees are pressing!
Make haste for the country we pride!
Make haste for our storied old Ensign
And all those who for her have died!

Gather your courage my comrades!
Harden your will like forged steel!
Fear not, for through thick of the battle
Captain Barclay will be at the wheel!

Roll ye the cannon to gun ports!
Perry's now well within range.
Our broadsides will teach this aggressor
That the course of our history can't change!

Oh how we pound Perry's flagship!
Ye brave men who fight for just cause;
Ye who'd protect our fair homeland
From aggressive and covetous jaws!

Oh how we pound Perry's flagship!
Splint'ring his decks and his masts
Till he flees in a gig from the carnage,
For we've silenced his cannon at last!

But dark in the din of the battle,
In a pool of red gore at full length
Lay bleeding our brave Captain Barclay;
Our courage, our hope and our strength.

An arm for your head, my dear Captain!
You must strive no more for the fight,
For your wounds drain the heart of a nation
That I fear may be dying tonight!

Without you the battle is over!
Without you the ship is adrift!
Lay still my dear Captain, I beg you,
And pray that the end will be swift!

Perry now takes the advantage.
His cannon belch fire and flame.
Death stalks the decks of our warship
As we're pounded and pounded again.

Sulphur and smoke burn our nostrils
And clutch like a claw at our throats!
We reel to the murderous salvos
As they rock and they splinter our boat.

Screams pierce the thunderous broadsides
As geysers of wood and of steel
Rain upon duty-bound crewmen,
While I, with my Captain, still kneel.

Hear ye, those who have fallen,
And those lost in watery graves.
We shall not forget your rare mettle,
In the battle on Lake Erie's waves.

For though our old Ensign they've captured,
'Twas your strength and your courage and will
That disheartened the Yankee invaders
And kept us Canadian still.