Written at Rouen. Thomas Kibble Hervey (1804-1859). Rouen. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. 1876-79. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. France: Vols. IX-X

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79.

Rouen

Written at Rouen

Thomas Kibble Hervey (1804–1859)


THE SEINE is like a belt of gold,
Beneath an autumn sky,
That floats, in many a crimson fold,
Like a banner hung on high!
The town hangs darkly o’er the stream,	5
Where lights and shadows play,
While wave on wave, like dream on dream,
Smile as they glide away!

And here I stand, as here I stood,
How many years ago!	10
When life danced onward, like the flood,
With music in its flow:
But now my breast, like yonder dome,
Where sleeps the Lion-heart,
Is half a temple, half a tomb,	15
But has no earthly part.

My spirit keeps the trace, like thee,
Of many a lost parade,—
Dreams of the soul’s young chivalry,
Of many a wild crusade!	20
Like thee, dark town, like thee, in all
But thy many gushing fountains,
Yet brightened still by lights that fall
From heaven,—like thy blue mountains!