Listen, my children and you shall hear
Of the day-long ride of Paul Revere,
December thirteenth in ‘Seventy-Four,
Not ‘Seventy-Five: several months before,
With news that British warships drew near.

King George foresaw an emergency
As colonists, with increasing ardor,
Fed his fear of insurgency
From Boston on up to Portsmouth Harbor
Civic distrust spread like chokecherry;
Rage in the colonies grew by the hour
Exposing unduly Fort William and Mary
Stocked with a surplus of firepower,
And thus at greater risk of a raid.

Just guess how many provincial soldiers
Guarded the cannons and muskets and kegs,
Including the dutiful Captain Cochran,
Six men stood watch on twelve trembling legs.

Now was the chance to challenge the fort
The Boston Committee came up with a task
To take orders to bring the British up short
There was, in Boston, but one man to ask
None braver, none fleeter no one with less fear
Than the silversmith’s son, name of Paul Revere.

Sixty-six miles he covered that day
Freezing and urging his hard-charging steed
Galloping miles with no time to delay
To perform his patriotic deed
Langdon and Cutts met him past four
General John Sullivan also was sent
To Portsmouth to plan their act of war
With the help of a man of African descent.

While Cochran was warily manning the fort;
From up in the ramparts, he studied Great Isle
And eyed the horizon, when after a while
A sea of transgressors sailed in from the port
Hundreds of men, armed and bloodthirsty
Rushed the old fort; Damn them all, cursed he.
Through the narrowest chink in the fort’s wooden wall,
He couldn’t see any way out, none at all
Shots were then fired – Don’t come any closer!
They couldn’t reveal how few they were, no sir,
For country and King they’d sacrifice all.