Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Russia: Vol. XX. 1876–79.
Alma
By Richard Chenevix Trench (18071886)T
Alma, roll those waters proudly, proudly roll them to the sea!
Now thou art a voice forever, to the world’s four corners blown.
And a star forever shining in their firmament of fame.
Little streamlet, knows no magic, boasts no potency, like thine;
Cannot lend the light thou lendest to the memories of the dead.
When the first strong burst of anguish shall have wept itself away:—
By the Alma, at the winning of that terrible hillside!”
Who beneath thy vines and willows on their hero-beds repose,
Shalt, where other fields are winning, wave above the brave and bold;
By that twentieth of September, when the Alma’s heights were won.
Alma, roll thy waters proudly, proudly roll them to the sea.