Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
To an Old English Village
By Richard Howitt (17991869)W
Small village here among these elms?
The care that eats, the show that cheats,
The noise that overwhelms?
The whimple of the brook,
The woodman’s axe that distant sounds,
Dogs’ bay, or cawing rook.
Far off is heard the peasant’s tread.
How clothed with peace is human life!
How tranquil seem the dead!
The only strife that here is seen;
Whate’er decay has tinged with gray,
Has nature touched with green.
All quaintly carved, still lingers on,
And dreams, even in this hoary place,
Of ages longer gone.
Thou fondly dost retain as yet,
All good old pastimes of the land
Unwilling to forget.
And cottages low roofed with stone,
With waving grass and lichens all
Are grayly overgrown.
Some hermit long hath near thee dwelt,
And breathed his soul forth on the air
In quiet that is felt.
Some stately old monastic fane;
Nor should I start, were I to meet
The Norman or the Dane.
A sage seclusion dost thou keep;
And here Antiquity enjoys
A deep and mossy sleep.
Intent upon a glowing theme;
And here the first time round me look
Awake, as in a dream.
No common name would I be told:
Yet often shall I see thee now,
Thou village quaint and old.