Hark! friends! what sobs of sorrow, moans of grief,
On every gale, through every region spread!
Hark! how the western world bewails our chief,
Great Washington, his country’s father dead!
Our living light expiring with his breath
His bright example still illumes our way
Through the dark valley of thy shadow, death!
To realms on high of life without decay.
Faint, he relied on heav’nly help alone
While conscience cheer’d th’ inevitable hour;
When fades the glare of grandeur, pomp of pow’r,
And all the pageantry that gems a throne:
Then from his hallow’d track, who shall entice
Columbia’s sons to tread the paths of vice?
(David Humphreys)
More Poetry from David Humphreys:
David Humphreys Poems based on Topics: Death & Dying, Life, Friendship, Sadness, Vice & Virtue, Grief- An Elegy On A Patriot (David Humphreys Poems)
- Sonnet I: Addressed to my Friends at Yale College, on my Leaving them to join the army. (David Humphreys Poems)
- Sonnet V: On Life (David Humphreys Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Life Poems, Sadness Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Friendship Poems, Grief Poems, Vice & Virtue PoemsBased on Keywords: illumes, relied, bewails
- Aechdeacon Barbour (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
- The Old Sheperd's Recollections (Matilda Betham Poems)
- The Art Of Preserving Health. Book IV (John Armstrong Poems)
- Poem For The Two Hundred And Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Founding Of Harvard College (Oliver Wendell Holmes Poems)
- Among the Hills (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)