The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Court of Madrid |
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 | The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys |  |
Hail sacred Love of Country! mystic tie!
That binds us to our native soil and sky!
Indissolubly binds through each extreme
Of noxious climes. The native braves the beam
Where darts the crimson sun, with downward ray,
O'er tropic isles, insufferable day.
Beneath cold Zembla's clouds, the last of men
Pent with his wife and children in his den,
Six wintry months, while hail and thunder pour
O'er rocks of ice, the elemental roar,
While sweeping tempests ride night's raven wings,
Still to his frozen cave more closely clings.
Nor where dire earthquakes sleep by Lisbon's rock,
Thy sons, oh Tagus! who once felt the shock,
Fly ere again the sleeping vengeance wake,
And low in dust the rebuilt city shake.
Nor yet Vesuvio's brow, with cinders bright,
Pouring red lavas through the noon of night,
Can make the peasant from his home retire,
And shun betimes the falling flood of fire.
That binds us to our native soil and sky!
Indissolubly binds through each extreme
Of noxious climes. The native braves the beam
Where darts the crimson sun, with downward ray,
O'er tropic isles, insufferable day.
Beneath cold Zembla's clouds, the last of men
Pent with his wife and children in his den,
Six wintry months, while hail and thunder pour
O'er rocks of ice, the elemental roar,
While sweeping tempests ride night's raven wings,
Still to his frozen cave more closely clings.
Nor where dire earthquakes sleep by Lisbon's rock,
Thy sons, oh Tagus! who once felt the shock,
Fly ere again the sleeping vengeance wake,
And low in dust the rebuilt city shake.
Nor yet Vesuvio's brow, with cinders bright,
Pouring red lavas through the noon of night,
Can make the peasant from his home retire,
And shun betimes the falling flood of fire.
Although the author had his residence for several years in Lisbon, it was on that high part of the city called Buenos Ayres, where no damage has ever been done by earthquakes. Near the river Tagus, the buildings which have more than once been destroyed, may probably hereafter experience a similar fate.
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |