The fleet, at her commandment, to either ocean turns;
Belted around the mighty world her line of battle burns;
She has loosed the hot volcanoes of the ships of flaming hell;
With fire and smoke and earthquake shock her heavy vengeance fell.
O joyfullest May morning when before our guns went down
The Inquisition priesthood and the dungeon-making crown,
While through red lights of battle our starry dawn burst out,
Swift as the tropic sunrise that doth with glory shout!
Be jubilant, free Cuba, our feet are on thy soil;
Up mountain road, through jungle growth, our bravest for thee toil;
There is no blood so precious as their wounds pour forth for thee;
Sweet be thy joys, free Cuba,—sorrows have made thee free.
Nor Thou, O noble Nation, who wast so slow to wrath,
With grief too heavy-laden follow in duty's path;
Not for ourselves our lives are; not for Thyself art Thou;
The Star of Christian Ages is shining on Thy brow.
Rejoice, O mighty Mother, that God hath chosen Thee
To be the western warder of the Islands of the Sea;
He lifteth up, He casteth down, He is the King of Kings,
Whose dread commands o'er awe-struck lands are borne on eagle's wings.
George Edward Woodberry.
The people of the Philippines had fought against Spanish sovereignty much as the people of Cuba had. A band of them, under Emilio Aguinaldo, had assisted at the capture of Manila, in the fond hope that the defeat of the Spaniards would mean Philippine independence. Instead, they found that they had merely traded masters. At once they took up arms against the Americans.
BALLADE OF EXPANSION
1899
Time was he sang the British Brute,
The ruthless lion's grasping greed,
The European Law of Loot,
The despot's devastating deed;
But now he sings the heavenly creed
Of saintly sword and friendly fist,
He loves you, though he makes you bleed—
The Ethical Expansionist!