This poem was inspired by Col. William Logan Crittenden of Kentucky (at left). He and his men were executed in Cuba by Spanish authorities in 1851 for his part in the failed Lopez Expedition to liberate Cuba from Spanish control. Col. Crittenden witnessed the death of his men, and when his time came to be shot, a Spanish officer offered to spare the Kentuckian’s life if he would kneel to him. Crittenden folded his arms across his chest and declared, “A Kentuckian kneels only to his God, and always dies facing the enemy.”
A KENTUCKIAN KNEELS TO NONE BUT GOD
By
Mrs. Mary E. Wilson Betts
Ah, tyrant, forge thy chains at will—
Nay gall this flesh of mine;
Yet, though it is unfettered still,
And will not yield to thine,
Take, the life that Heaven gave,
And let my heart’s blood stain thy sod,
But know ye not Kentucky’s brave
Will kneel to none but God?
You’ve quenched fair freedom’s sunny life,
Her music tones have stilled,
And with a deep and darkening blight
The trusting heart has filled;
Then do you think that I will kneel
Where such as ye have trod?
Nay; point your cold and threat’ning steel—
I’ll kneel to none but God.
As summer’s breezes lightly rest
Upon the quiet river,
And gently on its sleeping breast
The moonbeams softly quiver,
Sweet thoughts of home light up my brow,
When goaded with the rod;
Yet these can not unman me now—I’ll kneel to none but God.
And though a sad and mournful tone
Is coldly sweeping by,
And dreams of bliss forever flown
Have dimmed with tears mine eye,
Yet mine’s a heart unyielding still;
Heap on my breast the clod;
My soaring spirit scorns they will—
I’ll kneel to none but God.