Heard ye the thunder of battle
Low in the south and afar?
Saw ye the flash of the death-cloud
Crimson on Trafalgar?
Such another day never
England will look on again,
Where the battle fought was the hottest,
And the hero of heroes was slain!
For the fleet of France and the force of Spain were gather'd for fight,
A greater than Philip their lord, a new Armada in might;
And the sails were white once more in the deep Gaditanian bay,
Where "Redoubtable" and "Bucentaure" and great "Trinidada" lay;
Eager-reluctant to fight; for across the bloodshed to be
Two navies beheld one prize in its glory, — the throne of the sea!
Which were bravest, who should tell? for both were gallant and true;
But the greatest seaman was ours, of all that sailed o'er the blue.
2.
From Ayamonte to Algeziras he guarded the coast,
Till he bore from Tavira south; and they now must fight, or be lost;
Vainly they steer'd for the Rock and the Midland sheltering sea,
For he headed the admirals round, constraining them under his lee,
Villeneuve of France, and Gravina of Spain: so they shifted their ground,
They could choose, — they were more than we; and they faced at Trafalgar round;
Banking their fleet two deep, a fortress-wall thirty-tower'd;
In the midst, four-storied with guns, the dark "Trinidada" lower'd.
3.
Hear ye the heart of a nation
Groan, for her saviour is gone;
Gallant and true and tender,
Child and chieftain in one?
Such another day never
England will weep for again,
When the triumph darken'd the triumph,
And the hero of heroes was slain.