by Edwin Holden
a former Navy SEAL from Narragansett, RI
Submitted August 2005 by the author

G — is for German George, who sent HMS Gaspee up the bay.
Enforcing English tax laws in this very special way.
A — is for Avant Garde, Warwick colonists lit the fuse,
For a free country and the inalienable right to choose.
S — is for Sabin's Tavern where Gaspee's destruction was planned.
Where the brave colonists's flames for freedom were fanned.
P — is for Pyrotechnics, selected as the best way to go.
To incur the Hessian's ire with a jolly good show.
E — is for the Explosion heard from far and near.
Gaspee's powder magazine going brought forth a mighty cheer.
E — is for the Effort George III spent to solve this 'crime.'
Unknowing Warwick's rebellion was ahead of its time.

D — is for Defiance to George's taxes on stamps and tea.
They tweaked the British lion's tail for all the world to see.
A — is for Audacity, colonist virtue without peer.
To defy the Monarch of the seas without any show of fear.
Y — is for Youthful vigor, with their hopes of freedom in flower,
They brought to the colonies their finest hour.
S — is for the Spirit of seventeen seventy-two —
Years ahead of Independence Hall, were these courageous few.

Put them all together they spell GASPEE DAYS — and more,
An omen for Great Britain of what she had in store.