Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
The Monks of Bangor’s March
By Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)W
Round beleaguered Chester rang,
Veiled nun and friar gray
Marched from Bangor’s fair Abbaye;
High their holy anthem sounds,
Cestria’s vale the hymn rebounds,
Floating down the sylvan Dee.
O miserere, Domine!
Glory round their crosses glows,
And the Virgin-mother mild
In their peaceful banner smiled;
Who could think such saintly band
Doomed to feel unhallowed hand!
Such was the Divine decree,
O miserere, Domine!
Hands that censers only swung,
Met the northern bow and bill,
Heard the war-cry wild and shrill;
Woe to Brockmael’s feeble hand,
Woe to Olfrid’s bloody brand,
Woe to Saxon cruelty,
O miserere, Domine!
Spurned by steeds with bloody mane,
Slaughtered down by heathen blade,
Bangor’s peaceful monks are laid;
Word of parting rest unspoke,
Mass unsung and bread unbroke;
For their souls for charity,
Sing, O miserere, Domine!
Long thy ruins told the tale,
Shattered towers and broken arch
Long recalled the woful march:
On thy shrine no tapers burn,
Never shall thy priests return;
The pilgrim sighs and sings for thee,
O miserere, Domine!