The shot heard 'round the world.

Mrs. Sylvester made our whole class memorize this poem in the 8th grade. She swore it would come in useful, that it might appear on a test or we'd have to know it in college. She was wrong about that, but I wonder if it was useful somehow, in less tangible ways. She made a group of young minds ingest and absorb the words of an old poet, to really consider language in another way. Good on you, Mrs. Sylvester.

I'm typing this from memory.

Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the rude bridge that arched the flood
their flag to April's breeze unfurled
here once the embattled farmers stood
and fired the shot heard 'round the world

the foe long since in silence slept
alike the conqueror silence sleeps
and time the ruined bridge has swept
down the dark stream which seaward creeps

on this green bank by this soft stream
we set today a votive stone
that memory may their deeds redeem
that when, like our sires, our sons are gone

spirit that made those heroes dare to die
and leave their children free
bid time and nature gently spare
the shaft we raise to them and thee

::

(I'm sure the line breaks are good, or mostly good, but punctuation and capitalization I'm sure are not. Ah well. Shasta, I bet you could do this, too.)