Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
The Warden of the Cinque PortsHenry Wadsworth Longfellow (18071882)
A
The day was just begun;
And through the window-panes, on floor and panel,
Streamed the red autumn sun.
And the white sails of ships;
And, from the frowning rampart, the black cannon
Hailed it with feverish lips.
Were all alert that day,
To see the French war-steamers speeding over
When the fog cleared away.
Their cannon, through the night,
Holding their breath, had watched in grim defiance
The seacoast opposite;
On every citadel;
Each answering each, with morning salutations,
That all was well!
Replied the distant forts—
As if to summon from his sleep the warden
And lord of the Cinque Ports.
No drum-beat from the wall,
No morning gun from the black forts’ embrasure,
Awaken with their call!
The long line of the coast,
Shall the gaunt figure of the old field-marshal
Be seen upon his post!
In sombre harness mailed,
Dreaded of man, and surnamed the Destroyer,
The rampart wall has scaled!
The dark and silent room;
And, as he entered, darker grew, and deeper
The silence and the gloom.
But smote the warden hoar—
Ah! what a blow! that made all England tremble
And groan from shore to shore.
The sun rose bright o’erhead,—
Nothing in Nature’s aspect intimated
That a great man was dead!