Swords and Plowshares/Cuba Libre

​Cuba Libre[1]

WHEN we sailed from Tampa Bay
 (Cuba Libre!),
And our ships got under weigh
    (Cuba Libre!),
As we floated down the tide.
Crowding to the steamer's side,
You remember how we cried
    "Cuba Libre!"

When we spied the island shore
    (Cuba Libre!)
Then we shouted loud once more
    "Cuba Libre!"
As we sank Cervera's ships,
Where the southern sea-wall dips,
What again was on our lips?
    "Cuba Libre!"

These are foreign words, you know—
    "Cuba Libre!"—
That we used so long ago
    (Cuba Libre!);
And in all the time between
Such a lot of things we've seen,
We've forgotten what they mean—
    "Cuba Libre!"

​
Let us ask the President
    (Cuba Libre!),
What that bit of Spanish meant—
    "Cuba Libre!"
Ask the Senate, Root, and Hay
What on earth we meant to say,
When we shouted night and day,
    "Cuba Libre!"

But alas! they will not speak
    (Cuba Libre!),
For their memories are weak
    (Cuba Libre!),
If you have a lexicon,
Borrowed from a Spanish don,
Send it down to Washington
    (Cuba Libre!).

  1. ↑ Reprinted here from Life by courtesy of the Life Publishing Company of New York.
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