Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Ely | | Canute | | William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | | A PLEASANT music floats along the mere, | |
| From monks in Ely chanting service high, | |
| While-as Canute the king is rowing by. | |
| “My oarsmen,” quoth the mighty king, “draw near, | |
| That we the sweet song of the monks may hear!” | 5 |
| He listens (all past conquests and all schemes | |
| Of future vanishing like empty dreams) | |
| Heart-touched, and haply not without a tear. | |
| The royal minstrel, ere the choir is still, | |
| While his free barge skims the smooth flood along, | 10 |
| Gives to that rapture an accordant rhyme. | |
| O suffering Earth! be thankful; sternest clime | |
| And rudest age are subject to the thrill | |
| Of heaven-descended piety and song. | | | | |
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