Patriot Acts

There were three riders on that fateful
Evening of April 18, 1775: Paul Revere,
William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott.

Initially the British Redcoats had caught
All three. Each man eventually talking
His way out of custody, Revere being

The last and having to walk back to town

Barefoot. But Revere’s ancestor was

The famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Who wrote “Paul Revere’s Ride,” altering

History ever so slightly and making Paul

A more successful patriot than his biblical

Namesake. A few years later, Helen Moore

(No relation to William Dawes) wrote a parodic

Poem for Billy (as his friends called him)

And published it in Century Magazine.

But nobody has written a poem for poor

Sam Prescott until now. So let the record show:

He too was captured trying to commit

A crime against the world’s greatest

Power and failed; but he was the first

To amble back to town without shoes.

Mark Yakich