Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79.
The Camp
By Count Anton Alexander von Auersperg (Anastasius Grün) (1806–1876)F
The beautiful St. Omer;
Here the young green of the meadows,
The silver river there;
Near by, a lake like a mirror,
Where emerald islands swim,
Where herds of cattle drifting
Crop the grass at the water’s brim.
In polished marble drest,
Looks like the Angel of Peace
On the land that it has blest.
The little word War! O, never
Was it heard on her fertile plains,
And writ in her cloister’s chronicle
Only half the word remains.
From the earliest time to dwell;
Was ever heard sound of iron,
It was only the tinkling bell;
Did any one cry for succor,
’T was at most but a sheep astray;
Was any one angry, ’t was only
A priest in a pastoral way.