These are the times that try men’s soul, Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775

Some are discouraged that Barack Obama and his legion of thugs and socialists was able to take over the White House and avoid being revealed for the fraud that he is.

“Do not let your heart be troubled.”

Things were much worse during the American Revolution. The British Empire was assured of putting down the revolt. They almost did. We do not have it nearly so bad.

The tune “The American Hero” by Andrew Law with words from the poem by Nathaniel Niles, has moved me since I was a child. It was written the year of the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775. Listen and read the words of the first and last two verses and revisit one of the earlier Tea Parties.

The American Hero
By Andrew Law
(The original is fifteen verses long; the first two and last two verses are given here.)

Why should vain mortals tremble at the sight of
Death and destruction in the field of battle,
Where blood and carnage clothe the ground in crimson,
Sounding with death groans?

Death will invade us by the means appointed,
And we must all bow to the king of terrors;
Nor am I anxious, if I am prepared,
What shape he comes in.

Fame and dear freedom lure me on to battle,
While a fell despot, grimmer than a death’s head,
Stings me with serpents, fiercer than Medusa,
To the encounter.

Life, for my country and the cause of freedom,
Is but a trifle for a worm to part with;
And if preserved in so great a contest,
Life is redoubled.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qwLUpOjG2Y]

“These are the times that try men’s souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will,
in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country;
but he that stands by it now, deserves the
love and thanks of man and woman.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered;
yet we have this consolation with us,
that the harder the conflict,
the more glorious the triumph.”…Thomas Paine