THE BELFRY OF BRUGES

THE BELFRY OF BRUGES
Situa- In the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry tion	old and brown ;
Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town.
As the summer morn was breaking, on that lofty tower I stood,.
And the world threw off the darkness, like the weeds of widowhood.
From their nests beneath the rafters sang the swallows wild and high ;
And the world, beneath me sleeping, seemed more distant than the sky.
Tran- Then most musical and solemn, bringing back
sition	the olden times,
With their strange, unearthly changes rang the melancholy chimes,
Like the psalms from some old cloister, when the nuns sing in the choir ;
And the great bell tolled among them, like the chanting of a friar.
Visions of the days departed, shadowy phantoms filled my brain;
They who live in history only seemed to walk the earth again ;
Retry- All the Foresters of Flanders,— mighty Bald 
spective	win Bras de Fer,
Narra- Lyderick du Bucq and Cressy, Philip, Guy de
tive	Dampierre.
I beheld the pageants splendid that adorned those days of old ;
Stately dames, like queens attended, knights who bore the Fleece of Gold ;
Lombard and Venetian merchants with deep- laden argosies ;
Ministers from twenty nations ; more than royal pomp and ease.
I beheld proud Maximilian, kneeling humbly on the ground ;
I beheld the gentle Mary, hunting with her hawk and hound ;
I beheld the Flemish weavers, with Namur and Juliers bold,
Marching homeward from the bloody battle of the Spurs of Gold ;
Saw the fight at Minnewater, saw the White Hoods moving west,
Saw the great Artevelde victorious scale the Golden Dragon's nest.
And again the whiskered Spaniard all the land with terror smote ;
And again the wild alarum sounded from the tocsin's throat ;
Till the bell of Ghent responded o'er lagoon and dike of sand,
"I am Roland ! I am Roland ! there is victory in the land !"
Conelu- Then the sound of drums aroused me. The sion	awakened city's roar
Chased the phantoms I had summoned back into their graves once more.
Hours had passed away like minutes; and, before I was aware,
Lo! the shadow of the belfry crossed the sun- illumined square.
- HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.