Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79. | | | | Spain: Albuera | | Albuera | | Capel Lofft (1751–1824) |
| | On the Advanced Guard of Four Thousand Spaniards nearly Destroyed at the Battle of Albuera, May 16, 1811 |
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XERXES, when the Three Hundred he beheld | |
| Who drove his myriads, broke his tented pride, | |
| And with Leonidas at Pylæ died, | |
| With venerating awe his heart was quelled. | |
| Philip, thy stern breast ’gainst itself rebelled | 5 |
| At Chæronea, as thy victor stride | |
| Passed by the Theban band; who, side by side, | |
| Like brothers fell, nor one his comrades knelled. | |
| Does not the dread Napoleon think of these, | |
| These “sons of glory, these sure heirs of fame,” | 10 |
| At Albuera who have left a name, | |
| True Spaniards, which oblivion ne’er shall seize? | |
| Glory to them eternity decrees: | |
| Does not his inmost heart revere their hallowed flame? | | | |
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