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Anonymous translation
THOU chivalrous Toledo,—hail! | |
| Thou quaint old town of bygone days; | |
| Where the Moorish sword-blades shone, | |
| Which all the world had learned to praise. | |
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| Here naught but solitude now reigns: | 5 |
| Decayed—deserted—silent all! | |
| While Alcazar’s windows and doors | |
| From their old rusty hinges fall. | |
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| A lordly castle once, is now | |
| A common inn, in vulgar hands, | 10 |
| Yet still the ancient coat of arms | |
| Over the open portal stands. | |
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| These naked, gray-green, gloomy rocks | |
| That from the banks of Tagus rise, | |
| They know the buoyant, stirring past, | 15 |
| Where now but desolation lies. | |
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| Where once Mohammed’s name was pealed, | |
| And to Jehovah hymns were sung, | |
| The locomotive’s noise alone | |
| Is heard these solitudes among. | 20 |
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| It passes,—all is still again! | |
| Still as where death its dark shade flings; | |
| But gayly smiles the lovely vine | |
| That round the ancient gateway clings. | |
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| And here, behind that latticed window | 25 |
| A lovely face looked down on me; | |
| Its beauteous coal-black, speaking eyes, | |
| In fancy oft again I ’ll see! | |
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