Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79.

British America: Quebec, Canada

On the Taking of Quebec

By Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774)

AMIDST the clamor of exulting joys,

Which triumph forces from the patriot heart,

Grief dares to mingle her soul-piercing voice,

And quells the raptures which from pleasure start.

O Wolfe! to thee a streaming flood of woe,

Sighing we pay, and think e’en conquest dear;

Quebec in vain shall teach our breast to glow,

Whilst thy sad fate extorts the heart-wrung tear.

Alive, the foe thy dreadful vigor fled,

And saw thee fall with joy-pronouncing eyes;

Yet they shall know thou conquerest, though dead!

Since from thy tomb a thousand heroes rise.