Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Fountain’s Abbey | | Fountain’s Abbey | | Anonymous |
| | | ALAS, alas! those ancient towers, | |
| Where never now the vespers ring, | |
| But lonely at the midnight hours | |
| Flits by the bat on dusky wing. | |
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| No more beneath the moonlight dim, | 5 |
| No more beneath the planet ray, | |
| Those arches echo with the hymn | |
| That bears life’s meaner cares away. | |
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| No more within some cloistered cell, | |
| With windows of the sculptured stone, | 10 |
| By sign of cross and sound of bell, | |
| The world-worn heart can beat alone. | |
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| How needful some such tranquil place, | |
| Let many a weary one attest, | |
| Who turns from life’s impatient race, | 15 |
| And asks for nothing but for rest. | |
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| How many, too heart-sick to roam | |
| Still longer o’er the troubled wave, | |
| Would thankful turn to such a home,— | |
| A home already half a grave. | 20 | | | |
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