Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Russia: Vol. XX. 1876–79.
A Thousand Years
By Bayard Taylor (18251878)A
With varying fate, the work has grown,
Till Alexander crowns the spire,
Where Rurik laid the corner-stone.
But bright in constant battle grew,
Raised to the world a throne august,—
A nation grander than he knew.
Through faith or deed, an equal part:
The subtle brain of Yaroslav,
Vladimir’s arm and Nikon’s heart:
The work sublime which these began,
And up from base to pinnacle
Wrought out the Empire’s mighty plan.
And rule in splendor where they trod,
While Russia’s children throng to view
Her holy cradle, Novgorod.
From pine-clad Ural, dark and long;
Or where the foaming Terek’s tide
Leaps down from Kasbek, bright with song:
Mongolian deserts, far and free;
And lands that bind, through changing zones,
The Eastern and the Western sea!
And creeds and laws enjoy her shade,
Till, far beyond the dreams of Rome,
Her Cæsar’s mandate is obeyed.
And holds, within her life combined,
The patient faith of Asia’s heart,—
The force of Europe’s restless mind.
She binds the wild marauder fast;
Her ploughshares turn to homes of peace
The battle-fields of ages past.
Her future’s task, nor knows in vain;
But strikes at once the generous blow
That makes her millions men again!
Nor yet has seen its crowning hour,—
Still teaching to the struggling lands
That Peace the offspring is of Power.
The steps whereby this height she trod,—
The thousand years that chronicle
The toil of man, the help of God!
The future ages, wise and free—
Still see her flag, and hear her drum
Across the world, from sea to sea!
Her ancient eagle’s wings unshorn:
One head to watch the Western land,
And one to guard the land of morn!