Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/41

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POEMS.
Memories of the Middle Ages, when the emperors, rough and bold,
Had their dwelling in thy castle, time-defying, centuries old;

And thy brave and thrifty burghers boasted, in their uncouth rhyme,
That their great imperial city stretched its hand through every clime.

In the court-yard of the castle, bound with many an iron band,
Stands the mighty linden planted by Queen Cunigunde's band;

In the square the oriel window, where in old heroic days
Sat the poet Melchior singing Kaiser Maximilian's praise.