Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79. | | | | Belgium: Brussels | | Brussels | | Robert Southey (1774–1843) |
| | | WHERE might a gayer spectacle be found | |
| Than Brussels offered on that festive night, | |
| Her squares and palaces irradiate round | |
| To welcome the imperial Moscovite, | |
| Who now, the wrongs of Europe twice redressed, | 5 |
| Came there a welcome and a glorious guest? | |
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| Her mile-long avenue with lamps was hung, | |
| Innumerous, which diffused a light like day; | |
| Where through the line of splendor old and young | |
| Paraded all in festival array; | 10 |
| While fiery barges, plying to and fro, | |
| Illumined as they moved the liquid glass below. | |
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| By day with hurrying crowds the streets were thronged, | |
| To gain of this great Czar a passing sight; | |
| And music, dance, and banquetings prolonged | 15 |
| The various work of pleasure through the night. | |
| You might have deemed, to see that joyous town, | |
| That wretchedness and pain were there unknown. * * * * * | | | | |
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