Thoughts: From the Writings of Dr. John Lofland, The Milford Bard
Oh! Liberty, how lovely are thy charms,
Thus to call forth embattling bands to arms!
T’ avenge his country’s wrongs, her rights to save,
To win a glorious garland, or a grave;
To rend the chains of cheerless slavery,
To give unborn millions liberty;
To dash the sceptre from the despot’s hand,
Heroes have nobly bled, and patriots plann’d…
Oh! War, what horrors follow in thy train,
What scenes of grief, of dark despair and pain?
Methinks I see the dying and the dead,
Adown this hill, upon their grassy bed;
I hear the cry of wounded men, in vain,
Calling on wives and children, o’er the main;
Calling on wives and children, they no more
Shall see on life’s now fast receding shore;
I see forms of those who died, that we
Might live and long enjoy liberty…
Dr. John Lofland, The Milford Bard