Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Rome, Churches of | | St. Peter’s by Moonlight | | Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814–1902) |
| | | LOW hung the moon when first I stood in Rome; | |
| Midway she seemed attracted from her sphere, | |
| On those twin fountains shining broad and clear | |
| Whose floods, not mindless of their mountain home, | |
| Rise there in clouds of rainbow mist and foam. | 5 |
| That hour fulfilled the dream of many a year: | |
| Through that thin mist, with joy akin to fear, | |
| The steps I saw, the pillars, last, the dome. | |
| A spiritual empire there embodied stood; | |
| The Roman Church there met me face to face: | 10 |
| Ages, sealed up, of evil and of good | |
| Slept in that circling colonnade’s embrace. | |
| Alone I stood, a stranger and alone, | |
| Changed by that stony miracle to stone. | | | | |
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