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 |  |
Though thou, old age! unlovely, dark, and cold,
Art prone to quell the spirits of the bold;
To freeze the veins, with palsy smite each limb,
And make the late keen-sighted eye-balls dim;
Though for my peers thy frosty fingers strow
The cheeks with paleness and the locks with snow;
Yet will those heroes venerable rise,
A spark unquench'd still flashing from their eyes,
In freedom's cause their bosoms beating high,
Prepar'd to conquer, or resolv'd to die;
Around their country's standard rallying soon,
In all the promptness of life's genial noon,
Form walls of aged breasts, to ward the ball
From younger, and avert their country's fall:
Or if it falls—none living leave to weep—
But rest all buried in the ruins deep.
Art prone to quell the spirits of the bold;
To freeze the veins, with palsy smite each limb,
And make the late keen-sighted eye-balls dim;
Though for my peers thy frosty fingers strow
The cheeks with paleness and the locks with snow;
Yet will those heroes venerable rise,
A spark unquench'd still flashing from their eyes,
In freedom's cause their bosoms beating high,
Prepar'd to conquer, or resolv'd to die;
Around their country's standard rallying soon,
In all the promptness of life's genial noon,
Form walls of aged breasts, to ward the ball
From younger, and avert their country's fall:
Or if it falls—none living leave to weep—
But rest all buried in the ruins deep.
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |