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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  The Council of Clermont

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

Clermont

The Council of Clermont

By Sir Aubrey de Vere (1788–1846)

AMID the throng the Hermit stood; so wan,

Careworn, and travel-soiled; with genius high

Throned on his brow, shrined in his spiritual eye.

The Hermit spake, and through the council ran

A tremor, not of fear; as in the van,

Chafing before embattled chivalry,

A proud steed listens for the clarion’s cry,

So sprang they to their feet: and every man,

Pontiff and prince, prelate and peer, caught up

Their swords, and kissed the crosiered hilts, and swore,

As though their lips the sacramental cup

Had touched, Christ’s sepulchre to free! The shore

Of Asia heard that sound, in thunder hurled,—

“Deus id vult,”—from Clermont through the world!