Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Russia: Vol. XX. 1876–79.
Cemetery of the Smolensko Church
By Letitia Elizabeth Landon (18021838)T
The summer from their distant valleys bringing;
They gather round the church in pious bands,
With funeral array, and solemn singing.
Have passed since they were laid to their last slumber;
And in the hurry of life’s crowded ways
Small space has been for memory to cumber.
Asketh its mournful tribute of the living;
And memories that were garnered at the heart,
The treasures kept from busier hours are giving.
And sees one sweet face shining from beneath it;
She has brought all the early flowers that bloom
In the small garden round their home to wreathe it.
To that one moment of awakened feeling;
And prayers, such prayers as never rise in vain,
Call down the Heaven to which they are appealing.
Yet having with all higher things connection;
Prayers, tears, redeem a world so harsh and cold,
The future has its hope, the past its deep affection.