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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  The Rhyme of Saint Anno

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.

Miscellaneous

The Rhyme of Saint Anno

By From the German

Translated by W. Taylor

BEFORE Saint Anno

Six were sainted

Of our holy bishops;

Like the seven stars,

They shall shine from heaven.

Purer and brighter

Is the light of Anno

Than a hyacinth set in a golden ring.

This darling man

We will have for a pattern;

And those that would grow

In virtue and trustiness

Shall dress by him as at a mirror.

As the sun in the air,

Which goes between heaven and earth,

Glitters to both:

So went Bishop Anno

Between God and man.

Such was his virtue in the palace,

That the empire obeyed him.

He behaved with honor to both sides,

And was counted among the first barons.

At worship, in his gestures,

He was awful as an angel.

Many a man knew his goodness;

Hear what were his manners:

His words were frank and open;

He spoke truth, fearing no man.

Like a lion he sat among princes,

Like a lamb he walked among the needy.

To the unruly he was sharp,

Tq the gentle he was mild.

Widows and orphans

Praised him always.

Preaching and praying

Nobody could do better.

Happy was Cologne

To be worthy of such a bishop.