Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.
The Fall of Goa
By Mauoel Maria de Barbosa Du Bocage (1765–1805)Anonymous translation
F
That stern Alfonso’s arms in dread array
Erst from the Tartar despot tore away,
Shaming in war the god armipotent.
Goa lies low! that fortress eminent,
Dread of the haughty Nayre, the false Malay,
Of many a barbarous tribe. What faint dismay
In Lusian breasts the martial fire has spent?
O bygone age of heroes! days of glory!
Exalted men! ye, who, despite grim death,
Still in tradition live, still live in story,
Terrible Albuquerque, and Castro great,—
And you, their peers, your deeds in memory’s breath
Preserved, avenge the wrongs we bear from fate!