On A Noiseless Fourth

On a noiseless street stood a crackerless lad with a screechless fife and a headless drum, Venting his glee in a voiceless shout, as a blareless band, all still and dumb, Came down the length of the avenue, and a bugle corps blew a noteless blare, While a screechless rocket with noiseless hiss cut a fireless path through the silent air. The blareless band played a soundless tune and the crackerless lad gave a voiceless shout As the rippling folds of the unfurled flag from the upheld standard fluttered out. “Hurrah!” he cried with a voiceless cry, put forth from his lips in a speechless way. “Hurrah for the guns of Lexington and the noiseless Independence Day!”

Then far away down the village street a smokeless gun belched a soundless roar, A popless cracker fizzless died, and the band played a blareless tune once more; The clickless guns of the village guards with a thudless sound dropped on the ground. The marshal left his neighless horse, and the voiceless mob ranged all around; A fizzless pinwheel silent whirred, and the drum corps joined in a tootless screech, The lips of the village speaker moved in the tongueless strains of a wordless speech. Then a graceless benediction fell, and the crackerless lad, in a voiceless way, Gave a soundless shout for Bunker Hill and the noiseless Independence Day.

Oh, the pulseless thrill of the noiseless guns and the tootless fifes and the headless drums, The heartless joy of the crackerless lad, as the soundless pageant noiseless comes Down the village street, and the sightless glow of the hissless rocket’s fireless glare With noiseless swish from the silent earth through the measureless breadth of the lightless air! But a fingerless youth of the olden time, when crackers popped and cannons roared, Looked on the scene with much disgust and the look of a lad who is greatly bored; And he cried aloud--’twas the only sound that was heard, not made in a voiceless way: “Dog-gone the guns at Bunker Hill and the noiseless Independence Day!”