| |
(From Roderick and Siverian)
THUS they pursued | |
| Their journey, each from other gathering store | |
| For thought, with many a silent interval | |
| Of mournful meditation, till they saw | |
| The temples and the towers of Cordoba | 5 |
| Shining majestic in the light of eve. | |
| Before them Betis rolled his glittering stream, | |
| In many a silvery winding traced afar | |
| Amid the ample plain. Behind the walls | |
| And stately piles which crowned its margin, rich | 10 |
| With olives, and with sunny slope of vines, | |
| And many a lovely hamlet interspersed, | |
| Whose citron bowers were once the abode of peace, | |
| Height above height, receding hills were seen | |
| Imbued with evening hues; and over all | 15 |
| The summits of the dark sierra rose, | |
| Lifting their heads amid the silent sky. | |
| The traveller who with a heart at ease | |
| Had seen the goodly vision, would have loved | |
| To linger, seeking with insatiate sight | 20 |
| To treasure up its image, deep impressed, | |
| A joy for years to come. “O Cordoba,” | |
| Exclaimed the old man, “how princely are thy towers, | |
| How fair thy vales, thy hills how beautiful! | |
| The sun who sheds on thee his parting smiles | 25 |
| Sees not in all his wide career a scene | |
| Lovelier, nor more exuberantly blest | |
| By bounteous earth and heaven.” | |
| |
