There are at least two Anglosphere anniversaries today: in America today is Patriot’s Day, which commemorates the Battle of Lexington and Concord. In Ireland, it’s the 90^th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Dublin.

Here’s the Concord Hymn, commemorating Lexington and Concord, by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We place with joy a votive stone,
That memory may their deeds redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

O Thou who made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free, —
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raised to them and Thee.

Today is the best kind of Patriot’s Day, if you ask me. Also, if you’re confused about the name of this holiday, Language Log has the scoop.