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 |  |
Can stoic precepts grief like this assuage,
Grief not confin'd to nation, sex, or age!
Could apathy our sense of grief benumb,
Matter inanimate, no longer dumb,
Would find a tongue—shall he, whose guiding sword
Our path to Independence first explor'd,
Sleep unremember'd? him will none adorn,
Whose wreaths of fame shall deck our sons unborn,
Whose independent soul, untaught to yield,
Shall fill their breasts and fire them to the field?
Shall not the western world bewail the blow
That laid our chief, the first of mortals, low?
And shall not he (th' example plac'd in view
For endless generations to pursue)
Who for his country spent his every breath,
Speak from the tomb and serve it after death?
Grief not confin'd to nation, sex, or age!
Could apathy our sense of grief benumb,
Matter inanimate, no longer dumb,
165
Our path to Independence first explor'd,
Sleep unremember'd? him will none adorn,
Whose wreaths of fame shall deck our sons unborn,
Whose independent soul, untaught to yield,
Shall fill their breasts and fire them to the field?
Shall not the western world bewail the blow
That laid our chief, the first of mortals, low?
And shall not he (th' example plac'd in view
For endless generations to pursue)
Who for his country spent his every breath,
Speak from the tomb and serve it after death?
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |