O'er the red battlefield, or populous street, By river shore, or by the railway side, Or stretch'd on old-world shells beneath the tide, The wire is laid, our world-wide wants to meet. The lightning dived, and rose to bring my name To England, with a message kind and sweet: And at my beck returned again, to greet My distant friend, as swiftly as it came. 'Tis strange to hold in full monopoly, Even for an instant, that electric spell Which serves the State, yet plies for thee and me; And lends itself our homely news to tell: The mighty moment posts o'er land and sea, With Willie's birth or Lotty's last farewell. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RECESSIONAL by RUDYARD KIPLING THE SMACK IN SCHOOL by WILLIAM PITT PALMER MY CREED by HOWARD ARNOLD WALTER SONNET WRITTEN IN THE FALL OF 1914: 4 by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY THE APOLOGY OF THE BISHOPS IN ANSWER TO BONNER'S GHOST by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |