Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79. | | | | Introductory to Holland | | Holland | | Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774) |
| | (From The Traveller)
TO men of other minds my fancy flies, | |
| Embosomed in the deep where Holland lies. | |
| Methinks her patient sons before me stand, | |
| Where the broad ocean leans against the land, | |
| And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, | 5 |
| Lift the tall rampire’s artificial pride. | |
| Onward, methinks, and diligently slow, | |
| The firm connected bulwark seems to grow; | |
| Spreads its long arms amidst the watery roar, | |
| Scoops out an empire, and usurps the shore: | 10 |
| While the pent ocean, rising o’er the pile, | |
| Sees an amphibious world beneath him smile: | |
| The slow canal, the yellow-blossomed vale, | |
| The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail, | |
| The crowded mart, the cultivated plain, | 15 |
| A new creation rescued from his reign. | | | | |
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