Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Russia: Vol. XX. 1876–79.
Saint Petersburg
By Edna Dean Proctor (1829–1923)S
’T is proud St. Isaac’s rears in air,
Pillar on pillar, that shining dome!
And, just beyond its glorious swell,
’T is the slender spire of the Citadel
Where great Czar Peter slumbers well
All by the Neva’s flood and foam,—
That lifts its cross till the golden bars
Gleam and burn with the midnight stars!
Looms the pillar of Alexander
Guarding the palace that fronts the square;
And, out where the mist o’er Okhta flies,
The towers of the Nevski Cloister rise,—
Shrine of the saint who, deathless, lies
Circled with silver, and jewels rare;
And Smolnoi’s wealth of spangled blue
Beams all the dusky distance through!