Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79. | | | | Spain: Sierra Nevada | | The Last Sigh of the Moor | | Théophile Gautier (1811–1872) |
| | Translated by C. F. Bates
THE CAVALIER who hastes the height to gain | |
| Pale and with trembling knees, | |
| Is Boabdil, king of the Moors of Spain, | |
| Who could have died, yet flees. | |
| To Spaniards now Granada is restored, | 5 |
| Crescent doth yield to cross, | |
| By Boabdil, with tears not blood deplored, | |
| Is his dear city’s loss. | |
| Upon a rock, Sigh of the Moor, they call, | |
| Boabdil sat, and cast | 10 |
| On far Granada and Alhambra’s wall | |
| A long look and the last. | |
| |
| “There I was caliph yesterday, | |
| Lived like a very god below; | |
| The Generalife wooed my stay, | 15 |
| And then the Alhambra’s blazing glow. | |
| Clear, floating baths were mine, and there | |
| Sultanas, my three hundred fair, | |
| Bathed, all secure from impious stare. | |
| My name on all the world cast fear. | 20 |
| Alas! my power is now brought low, | |
| My valiant army flies the foe, | |
| With none to follow me I go | |
| Save my own shadow, ever near. | |
| Dissolve, dissolve in tears, my eyes! | 25 |
| Up from my armor heave the steel, | |
| Ye deep heart-sighs that now arise! | |
| He conquers to whom Christians kneel! | |
| I go; adieu, fair sky of Spain, | |
| Darro, Jénil, the verdant plain, | 30 |
| The snowy peaks with rosy stain; | |
| Farewell, Granada! loves, adieu! | |
| Sunny Alhambra, vermeil towers, | |
| Fresh gardens filled with wondrous flowers, | |
| In vigils and in dreaming hours, | 35 |
| Absent, I still shall look on you!” | | | | |
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