COME, listen all unto my song; <br />It is no silly fable; <br />'T is all about the mighty cord <br />They call the Atlantic Cable. <br /> <br />Bold Cyrus Field he said, says he, <br />I have a pretty notion <br />That I can run a telegraph <br />Across the Atlantic Ocean. <br /> <br />Then all the people laughed, and said, <br />They'd like to see him do it; <br />He might get half-seas-over, but <br />He never could go through it. <br /> <br />To carry out his foolish plan <br />He never would be able; <br />He might as well go hang himself <br />With his Atlantic Cable. <br /> <br />But Cyrus was a valiant man, <br />A fellow of decision; <br />And heeded not their mocking words, <br />Their laughter and derision. <br /> <br />Twice did his bravest efforts fail, <br />And yet his mind was stable; <br />He wa'n't the man to break his heart <br />Because he broke his cable. <br /> <br />'Once more, my gallant boys!' he cried: <br />'Three times!-you know the fable,- <br />(I'll make it thirty,' muttered he, <br />'But I will lay the cable!') <br /> <br />Once more they tried,-hurrah! hurrah! <br />What means this great commotion? <br />The Lord be praised! the cable's laid <br />Across the Atlantic Ocean! <br /> <br />Loud ring the bells,-for, flashing through <br />Six hundred leagues of water, <br />Old Mother England's benison <br />Salutes her eldest daughter! <br /> <br />O'er all the land the tidings speed, <br />And soon, in every nation, <br />They'll hear about the cable with <br />Profoundest admiration! <br /> <br />Now, long live President and Queen; <br />And long live gallant Cyrus; <br />And may his courage, faith, and zeal <br />With emulation fire us; <br /> <br />And may we honor evermore <br />The manly, bold, and stable; <br />And tell our sons, to make them brave, <br />How Cyrus laid the cable!<br /><br />John Godfrey Saxe<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/how-cyrus-laid-the-cable/
