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(From Granada)
COEVAL with Granada’s state | |
| The proud Alhambra hath its date; | |
| Founded by him, the first and best | |
| That there the royal name possessed: | |
| At once a palace and a fort,— | 5 |
| The monarch’s stronghold and his court, | |
| Though ruthless war and vandal hands | |
| And wasting time and Frankish bands | |
| Have done their wonted work, yet still | |
| It rises o’er Granada’s hill, | 10 |
| And from its height looks proudly down,— | |
| The guard and glory of the town. | |
| But there no more in splendor reign | |
| The sons of those who conquered Spain, | |
| And there no more do turbaned hosts | 15 |
| Ride forth to silence Christian boasts, | |
| And there no more at close of day | |
| The children of the prophet pray. | |
| The courts in which they knelt to God | |
| By Moslem feet are now untrod; | 20 |
| And from the battlements on high, | |
| No more doth Moslem standard fly, | |
| And proudly Christian strength defy. * * * * * | |
| Though high doth rise the Alhambra’s hill, | |
| A neighboring summit, higher still, | 25 |
| Adorned with terraces and bowers, | |
| Looks down upon its ruddy towers. * * * * * | |
| Above, a winding path doth creep | |
| To the high summit of the steep. | |
| O Heaven! how beautiful and fair | 30 |
| The scene that greets the eye from there! | |
| A lovely plain lies spread below, | |
| Girdled by mountains crowned with snow; | |
| Its surface like an emerald gleams, | |
| Bright with a thousand silver streams; | 35 |
| And countless gardens, groves, and bowers, | |
| And fields and foliage, fruits and flowers, | |
| Fill the beholder with delight, | |
| A very Eden to the sight. | |
| There the pomegranate, tinged with red, | 40 |
| Its flowering branches wide doth spread; | |
| The myrtle, fadeless there, perfumes | |
| The gardens where the almond blooms; | |
| Beside the olive’s dusky green, | |
| The citron and the fig are seen; | 45 |
| The golden orange scents the air, | |
| And vines their luscious clusters bear; | |
| And the rose, the queen of flowers, | |
| Flourishes amid the bowers: | |
| If earth contains a paradise, | 50 |
| It is beneath Granada’s skies. | |
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