<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=409745" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Norman Baron</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">et plus profonde, ou l'interet et l'avarice parlent moins haut<br>que la raison, dans les instants de chagrin domestique, de<br>maladie, et de peril de mort, les nobles se repentirent de<br>posseder des serfs, comme d'une chose peu agreable a Dieu, qui<br>avait cree tous les hommes a son image.--THIERRY, Conquete de<br>l'Angleterre.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In his chamber, weak and dying,<br>Was the Norman baron lying;<br>Loud, without, the tempest thundered<br>And the castle-turret shook,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In this fight was Death the gainer,<br>Spite of vassal and retainer,<br>And the lands his sires had plundered,<br>Written in the Doomsday Book.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By his bed a monk was seated,<br>Who in humble voice repeated<br>Many a prayer and pater-noster,<br>From the missal on his knee;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And, amid the tempest pealing,<br>Sounds of bells came faintly stealing,<br>Bells, that from the neighboring kloster<br>Rang for the Nativity.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In the hall, the serf and vassal<br>Held, that night their Christmas wassail;<br>Many a carol, old and saintly,<br>Sang the minstrels and the waits;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And so loud these Saxon gleemen<br>Sang to slaves the songs of freemen,<br>That the storm was heard but faintly,<br>Knocking at the castle-gates.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Till at length the lays they chanted<br>Reached the chamber terror-haunted,<br>Where the monk, with accents holy,<br>Whispered at the baron's ear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Tears upon his eyelids glistened,<br>As he paused awhile and listened,<br>And the dying baron slowly<br>Turned his weary head to hear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;Wassail for the kingly stranger<br>Born and cradled in a manger!<br>King, like David, priest, like Aaron,<br>Christ is born to set us free!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And the lightning showed the sainted<br>Figures on the casement painted,<br>And exclaimed the shuddering baron,<br>&quot;Miserere, Domine!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In that hour of deep contrition<br>He beheld, with clearer vision,<br>Through all outward show and fashion,<br>Justice, the Avenger, rise.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All the pomp of earth had vanished,<br>Falsehood and deceit were banished,<br>Reason spake more loud than passion,<br>And the truth wore no disguise.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Every vassal of his banner,<br>Every serf born to his manor,<br>All those wronged and wretched creatures,<br>By his hand were freed again.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And, as on the sacred missal<br>He recorded their dismissal,<br>Death relaxed his iron features,<br>And the monk replied, &quot;Amen!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Many centuries have been numbered<br>Since in death the baron slumbered<br>By the convent's sculptured portal,<br>Mingling with the common dust:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But the good deed, through the ages<br>Living in historic pages,<br>Brighter grows and gleams immortal,<br>Unconsumed by moth or rust.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Henry+Wadsworth+Longfellow">Henry Wadsworth Longfellow</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=409745" data-title="The Norman Baron de Henry Wadsworth Longfellow" data-description="et plus profonde, ou l'interet et l'avarice parlent moins haut que la raison, dans les instants de chagrin domestique, de maladie, et de peril de mort, les nobles se repentirent de posseder des serfs, comme d'une chose peu agreable a Dieu, qui ava..."></div> </div> </div>

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