Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
The Squires Pew
By Jane Taylor (17831824)A
Shoots through the yellow pane;
It makes the faded crimson bright,
And gilds the fringe again:
The window’s Gothic frame-work falls
In oblique shadow on the walls.
How many a cloudless day,
To rob the velvet of its hue,
Has come and passed away!
How many a setting sun hath made
That curious lattice-work of shade!
The cunning hand must be,
That carved this fretted door, I ween,
Acorn, and fleur-de-lis;
And now the worm hath done her part
In mimicking the chisel’s art.
When the first James was king,
The courtly knight from yonder hall
Hither his train did bring;
All seated round in order due,
With broidered suit and buckled shoe.
All reverently they knelt;
Prayer-books, with brazen hasp and hinge,
In ancient English spelt,
Each holding in a lily hand,
Responsive at the priest’s command,
The sunbeam, long and lone,
Illumes the characters awhile
Of their inscription stone;
And there, in marble hard and cold,
The knight and all his train behold.
He and my lady fair;
With hands uplifted on the breast,
In attitude of prayer;
Long visaged, clad in armor, he,—
With ruffled arm and bodice, she.
The numerous offspring bend;
Devoutly kneeling side by side,
As though they did intend
For past omissions to atone,
By saying endless prayers in stone.
But generations new,
In regular descent from him,
Have filled the stately pew,
And in the same succession go,
To occupy the vault below.
And his gay train appear,
Who duly to the hall retire,
A season, every year,
And fill the seats with belle and beau,
As ’t was so many years ago.
The hollow sounding floor
Of that dark house of kindred dead,
Which shall, as heretofore,
In turn, receive, to silent rest,
Another and another guest,—
In all its wonted state,
Shall wind along the village lane,
And stand before the gate;
Brought many a distant county through,
To join the final rendezvous.
All to their dusty beds,
Still shall the mellow evening ray
Shine gayly o’er their heads;
While other faces, fresh and new,
Shall occupy the squire’s pew.