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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79.

St. Omer

The Camp

By Count Anton Alexander von Auersperg (Anastasius Grün) (1806–1876)

Translated by John Osborne Sargent

FORSOOTH, a peaceful city!

The beautiful St. Omer;

Here the young green of the meadows,

The silver river there;

Near by, a lake like a mirror,

Where emerald islands swim,

Where herds of cattle drifting

Crop the grass at the water’s brim.

The Abbey of St. Andomar

In polished marble drest,

Looks like the Angel of Peace

On the land that it has blest.

The little word War! O, never

Was it heard on her fertile plains,

And writ in her cloister’s chronicle

Only half the word remains.

Here seemed peace and content

From the earliest time to dwell;

Was ever heard sound of iron,

It was only the tinkling bell;

Did any one cry for succor,

’T was at most but a sheep astray;

Was any one angry, ’t was only

A priest in a pastoral way.