Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Tintern Abbey | | Tintern Abbey | | Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885) |
| | | THE MEN who called their passion piety, | |
| And wrecked this noble argosy of faith,— | |
| They little thought how beauteous could be death, | |
| How fair the face of time’s aye-deepening sea! | |
| Nor arms that desolate, nor years that flee, | 5 |
| Nor hearts that fail, can utterly deflower | |
| This grassy floor of sacramental power, | |
| Where we now stand communicants,—even we, | |
| We of this latter, still protéstant age, | |
| With priestly ministrations of the sun | 10 |
| And moon and multitudinous quire of stars, | |
| Maintain this consecration, and assuage | |
| With tender thoughts the past of weary wars, | |
| Masking with good that ill which cannot be undone. | | | | |
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