Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.
The Vaudois Valleys
By Felicia Hemans (1793–1835)Y
From the haunted hills of Rome;
By many a bright Ægean isle
Thou hast seen the billows foam.
Thou hast watched the solemn flow
Of the Nile, that with its waters hid
The ancient realm below.
Some wild and warlike strain,
Where the Moorish horn once proudly rung
Through the pealing hills of Spain.
Thou hast heard the laurels moan,
With a sound yet murmuring in thy dreams
Of the glory that is gone.
Of the Alpine mountains old,
If thou wouldst hear immortal tales
By the wind’s deep whispers told!
Where man hath nobly striven,
And life, like incense, hath been shed,
An offering unto Heaven.
Hath swept a noble flood;
The nurture of the peasant’s vines
Hath been the martyr’s blood!
And loftier than despair,
Through all the heroic region poured,
Breathes in the generous air.
Of long-enduring faith,
And the sounding streams glad record keep
Of courage unto death.
For truth and freedom bled;
Ask where were lit the torturing fires,
Where lay the holy dead;
On fount and turf and stone,
Far as the chamois’ foot can bound,
Their ashes have been sown!
Up through the wilds to float,
When the dark old woods and caves are stirred
To gladness by the note;
The mountain people come,
Join thou their worship on those hills
Of glorious martyrdom.
And while the torrent’s voice,
Like the swell of many an organ, blends,
Then let thy soul rejoice.
Through shame, through death, made strong,
Before the rocks and heavens have borne
Witness of God so long!