Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.
Ultima ThulePoems. Old St. Davids at Radnor
W
Is this little church among its graves!
All is so quiet; the troubled breast,
The wounded spirit, the heart oppressed,
Here may find the repose it craves.
Over this humble hermitage,
And seems to caress with its little hands
The rough, gray stones, as a child that stands
Caressing the wrinkled cheeks of age!
Is the space that serves for the Shepherd’s Fold;
The narrow aisle, the bare, white wall,
The pews, and the pulpit quaint and tall,
Whisper and say: “Alas! we are old.”
Hardly more spacious is than this;
But poet and pastor, blent in one,
Clothed with a splendor, as of the sun,
That lowly and holy edifice.
That makes the building small or great,
But the soul’s light shining round about,
And the faith that overcometh doubt,
And the love that stronger is than hate.
Were I a pastor of Holy Church,
More than a Bishop’s diocese
Should I prize this place of rest and release
From further longing and further search.
With its distant thunder roar and roll;
Storms do not rend the sail that is furled;
Nor like a dead leaf, tossed and whirled
In an eddy of wind, is the anchored soul.