Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.

Stratford-on-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon, January, 1837

By Henry Alford (1810–1871)

WE stood upon the tomb of him whose praise

Time, nor oblivious thrift, nor envy chill,

Nor war, nor ocean with her severing space,

Shall hinder from the peopled world to fill;

And thus, in fulness of our heart, we cried:

God’s works are wonderful,—the circling sky,

The rivers that with noiseless footing glide,

Man’s firm-built strength, and woman’s liquid eye;

But the high spirit that sleepeth here below,

More than all beautiful and stately things,

Glory to God the mighty Maker brings;

To whom alone ’t was given the bounds to know

Of human action, and the secret springs

Whence the deep streams of joy and sorrow flow.