Sonnet V: On Life
July 5, 2023Childhood
July 5, 2023Sonnet I: Addressed to my Friends at Yale College…
Adieu! thou Yale! where youthful poets dwell,
No more I linger by thy classic stream.
Inglorious ease and sportive songs farewell!
Thou startling clarion! break the sleeper’s dream!
And sing, ye bards! the war-inspiring theme.
Heard ye the din of battle? clang of arms?
Saw ye the steel ‘mid starry banners beam?
Quick throbs my breast at war’s untried alarms,
Unknown pulsations stirr’d by glory’s charms.
While dear Columbia calls, no danger awes,
Though certain death to threaten’d chains be join’d.
Though fails this flesh devote to freedom’s cause,
Can death subdue th’ unconquerable mind?
Or adamantine chains ethereal substance bind?
David Humphreys
David Humphreys (1752-1818) was an American poet and soldier known for his patriotic and political works. He served as an aide to General George Washington during the American Revolution and wrote several volumes of poetry, including "The Happiness of America" and "A Poem on the Happiness of America."