Category Archives: Battle of Lodi
Excerpt, “A Metrical History of the Life and Times of Napoleon Bonaparte: A Collection of Poems and Songs. Many from Obscure and Anonymous Sources, Selected and Arranged with Introductory Notes and Connective Narrative.” William J. Hillis. 1896.
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The Battle of Lodi
10 May, 1796
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THE BATTLE OF LODI
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The signals giv’n! Impatient neigh
The snorting chargers at the cry
Which calls proud Austria forth today,
To “charge with all her chivalry.”
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Hark to the deep and muffled drum!
Announcing death so near at hand;
The foe! The foe! They onward come;
May heaven uphold the Austrian band!
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Mark ye, the eagle standards wave
Above the torrent’s crimson tide!
Oh! Mark ye how for glory’s grave
Those gallant horsemen forward ride!
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Two despots meet; the one by right
Defends what ages make his own;
The other, in the pride of might,
Stands forth all-conquering and alone.
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This last, upon the battle-field,
With eye which beams with living fire,
Arm’d with a dread and puissant shield,
Defies the German’s wildest ire.
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Yon bridge, where slaughter yet unsafe,
Still revels in its gory bed,
Groans now beneath the growing weight
Of living—dying—and of dead.
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’T is over! And France foredoom’d to sway
Where’er her flashing eagle shone,
Hears the proud victor named that day
In victory’s shout—“Napoleon!”