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Home  »  A Library of American Literature  »  At the Hacienda

Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889

At the Hacienda

By Bret Harte (1836–1902)

KNOW I not whom thou mayst be

Carved upon this olive-tree,—

“Manuela of La Torre,”

For, around on broken walls

Summer sun and Spring rain falls,

And in vain the low wind calls

“Manuela of La Torre.”

Of that song no words remain

But the musical refrain:

“Manuela of La Torre.”

Yet at night, when winds are still,

Tinkles on the distant hill

A guitar, and words that thrill

Tell to me the old, old story,—

Old when first thy charms were sung,

Old when these old walls were young,

“Manuela of La Torre.”