Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
The Scroll
By Robert Stephen Hawker (18031875)“B
Symeon el Siddekah his name:
With parchment skin, and pen in hand,
I would devise my Cornish land.
Stretch from the sea to Tamar side:
And Bien-aimé, my hall and bower,
Nestles beneath tall Stratton Tower.
By seal and signet, knife and sod:
I give and grant to church and poor,
In franc-almoign forevermore.
And bid them hold my lands in trust;
On Michael’s morn, and Mary’s day,
To deal the dole, and watch and pray.
Mid my own people I would sleep:
Their hearts shall melt, their prayers will breathe,
Where he who loved them rests beneath.
My face upturned to Syria’s sky:
Carve ye this good sword at my side,
And write the legend, ‘True and tried.’
And that sweet chime I loved be rung:
Those sounds along the northern wall
Shall thrill me like a trumpet-call.”
The bold Crusader’s race was run.
Seek ye his ruined hall and bower?
Then stand beneath tall Stratton Tower.