The sonnet charts the fall of elite universities—Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, and Penn—from their biblical beginnings to apostasy. It contrasts their initial mission to cultivate Christian leaders with their later turn to secular Enlightenment ideals and skepticism, framing this transformation as a loss of their founding faith, now replaced by a godless intellectual realm.

In days of old, their charters bore the Word,
To raise up shepherds for the Lord’s own flock,
Harvard and Yale, with Princeton, undeterred,
Built towers strong on Christ, the living Rock.
Columbia’s cross, Dartmouth’s gospel call,
Brown’s Baptist zeal, and Penn’s meek moral frame,
All vowed to guard the faith against the fall,
Their lamps aflame with Truth’s eternal name.
Yet reason’s dawn eclipsed their sacred trust,
Enlightenment unbound their holy chains,
From orthodoxy’s clasp they turned to dust,
Embracing doubt where once the Spirit reigned.
Apostasy now crowns their vaunted lore,
God’s light forsaken on a godless shore.