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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  Potsdam and Sansouci

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.

Potsdam

Potsdam and Sansouci

By Arthur von Rapp

POTSDAM, thou cradle of a line of kings,

Quiet in thy greatness, a historic crown

Rests well upon thee and on Sansouci,

The home of him whom sternly gained Renown

Calls “Great” forever. Let us backward turn

The page of history in our mental eye

From the imperial glory of to-day,

And rest upon a bygone century.

Now see we, walking in the royal park

Of his loved Sansouci, a bended form,

And though the fire of youth may yet flash forth

Defiance from his eye ’gainst every storm,

Yet is he old. His work is nearly done.

A youthful prince attentive by his side,

His favorite, destined to be also great,

He is in all the aged monarch’s pride.

Thus walking side by side, “Old Fritz” has plied

The prince with questions ’bout his daily task

Of lessons. Quiet pride does rest upon

The old king’s face. He may no question ask

But what is answered promptly, truthfully,

With grace and ken beyond the prince’s years;

And the king knows that Prussia in such hands,

Though all around be dark, need have no fears.

They stand, to part, beside the obelisk

That guards the entrance. “Look!” the monarch says;

“Here is a lesson. Sermons rest in stones:

This obelisk does speak from point to base.

Its airy form may reach into the blue,

But from below comes all its strength and power.

Thus with your people. Their love be your strength

In future. Farewell! Don’t forget this hour!”

And he remembered! When the wings of Time

Pressed Prussia’s crown upon the prince’s head,

King Frederic William, third one of his name,

Fellow he proved of the illustrious dead

In wisdom and in justice. Though for years

His ashes mingle with ancestral dust,

The grateful hearts of his loved people keep

His memory green. Still is he named: “The Just!”