Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI. 1876–79.

Austria: Prague, Bohemia

Marshal Schwerin’s Grave

By Felicia Hemans (1793–1835)

THOU didst fall in the field with thy silver hair,

And a banner in thy hand;

Thou wert laid to rest from thy battles there

By a proudly mournful band.

In the camp, on the steed, to the bugle’s blast,

Thy long bright years had sped;

And a warrior’s bier was thine at last,

When the snows had crowned thy head.

Many had fallen by thy side, old chief!

Brothers and friends, perchance;

But thou wert yet as the fadeless leaf,

And light was in thy glance.

The soldier’s heart at thy step leaped high,

And thy voice the war-horse knew;

And the first to arm, when the foe was nigh,

Wert thou, the bold and true.

Now mayest thou slumber,—thy work is done,—

Thou of the well-worn sword!

From the stormy fight in thy fame thou ’rt gone,

But not to the festal board.

The corn-sheaves whisper thy grave around,

Where fiery blood hath flowed;

O, lover of battle and trumpet-sound!

Thou art couched in a still abode!

A quiet home from the noonday’s glare,

And the breath of the wintry blast,—

Didst thou toil through the days of thy silvery hair

To win thee but this at last?