Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Old Sleepy Hollow Church and Irving’s Grave
By Stephen Henry Thayer (1839–1919)T
Upon yon ancient pile of weathered stone.
Triumphant church! It stands alone!
Militant no more, nor of the present race.
Its elder saints, called to celestial grace,
No longer now their sins bemoan.
Nor modern beauty frets its artless mould;
The truth is plain, ’t is very old;
And as I enter through its silent hall,
From faded recollection I recall
The names its history has told.
Around its homely porch and narrow walk,
The sturdy youth in rustic frock;
And decked in quaintest fashion, as of yore
Are grouped the maidens round the outer door;
I hear the ancient people talk.
Betray the lusty blood of Fatherland.
A stern and pious little band,
Their simple parson leads to pray and preach.
They know by heart the lesson he will teach,
And crave a blessing from his hand.
Are dreamy echoes of the silent ones;
I read the churchyard’s dingy stones,
The very names sound agéd to the ear,
And half the rude memorials disappear
Where’er the sere gray lichen runs.
And trace the In Memoriam, by the dust
Of one whose pure disdain of lust,
Whose famed yet gentle life no marble urn
Nor bronze recites; but only hedge and fern
Are wreathed about a nation’s trust.
Is better left to memory alone;
No need of praise on mocking stone
Where every passing eye in wonder stares;
Or, richly blazoned in the city squares,
Forsooth to claim what men disown.
Time has no hour in which to knell the fame
Upborne by an immortal claim.
For it a bridge ethereal shall span
The ages; nor the wisest critic’s ban,
Nor aught despoil the deathless name.