Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Russia: Vol. XX. 1876–79. | | | | Moscow | | The Shrines of Moscow | | Edna Dean Proctor (1829–1923) |
| | | ABOVE each gate a blessed saint | |
| Asks favor of the skies, | |
| And the hosts of the foe do fail and faint | |
| At the gleam of their watchful eyes; | |
| And Pole and Tartar and haughty Gaul | 5 |
| Flee, dismayed, from the Kremlin wall. | |
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| Here lie our ancient czars, asleep,— | |
| Ivan and Feodor,— | |
| While loving angels round them keep | |
| Sweet peace forevermore! | 10 |
| Only when Easter bells ring loud, | |
| They sign the cross beneath the shroud. | |
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| O, Troitsa’s altar is divine,— | |
| St. Sergius! hear our prayers! | |
| And Kiëff, Olga’s lofty shrine, | 15 |
| The name of “The Holy” bears; | |
| But Moscow blends all rays in one,— | |
| They are the stars, and she the sun! | | | | |
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