Gather round all of you, while I tell a story
About the night Paul Revere went down in glory;
On April 18, 1775, not very many men are still alive
Who can remember that special day and year, that all
The British ran in fear.

If the British march on land or on sea, from village to night
Hang a light in the belfry,
From the North Church tower for a signal light-
One if by land and two if by sea;
And on the other shore I will be ready to travel and
Spread the alarm through every village farm,
For all people to be awake and to arm.

Then was said “Good Night!” and with a quiet oar,
Silently paddled to the Charlestown shore;
As the moon lit up the sky over the bay,
And swinging wide at the moorings lay
The British man-of-war;
An invisible ship with each mast and spar,
Across the moon shadows a prison bar,
An enormous black hulk that is amplified
Of its very reflection in the river tide.