Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Russia: Vol. XX. 1876–79.

Moscow

The Shrines of Moscow

By 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

Flee, dismayed, from the Kremlin wall.

Here lie our ancient czars, asleep,—

Ivan and Feodor,—

While loving angels round them keep

Sweet peace forevermore!

Only when Easter bells ring loud,

They sign the cross beneath the shroud.

O, Troitsa’s altar is divine,—

St. Sergius! hear our prayers!

And Kiëff, Olga’s lofty shrine,

The name of “The Holy” bears;

But Moscow blends all rays in one,—

They are the stars, and she the sun!