| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. The Soul | | By Colonel David Humphreys (1753–1818) |
| | | MY 1 heaven-born soul! by body unconfined, | |
| Leave that low tenement and roam abroad; | |
| Forestall the time, when, left each clog behind, | |
| Thy flight shall mount where never mortal trod. | |
| Even now, methinks, upborne in trancéd dreams, | 5 |
| The disencumbered essence tries its wings, | |
| Sees better planets, basks in brighter beams, | |
| To purer sight mysterious symbols brings, | |
| Of unconceived, unutterable things. | |
| Though dust returned to dust the worms devour, | 10 |
| Thee can dread Death annihilate or bind? | |
| There, King of Terrors! stops thy dreaded power; | |
| The bright assurgent, from all dross refined, | |
| High o’er the immense of space regains the world of mind. | |
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