4.

When the Alhambra walls he gained,
On the moment he ordained

That the trumpet straight should sound
With the silver clarion round.

Woe is me, Alhama!

5.

And when the hollow drums of war
Beat the loud alarm afar,

That the Moors of town and plain
Might answer to the martial strain,
Woe is me, Alhama!

6.

Then the Moors by this aware

That bloody Mars recalled them there,
One by one, and two by two,
In increasing squadrons flew.
Woe is me, Alhama!

7.

Out then spake an aged Moor
In these words the king before,
Wherefore call on us, oh King!
What may mean this gathering? »

a Friends!

ye have, alas! to know

Of a most disastrous blow,

• That the Christians, stern and bold,

• Have obtained Alhama's hold.

9.

Out then spake old Alfaqui,
With his beard so white to see,
Good King! thou art justly served,
Good King! this thou hast deserved.
Woe is me, Alhama!

10.

By thee were slain, in evil hour,
"The Abencerrage, Granada's flower;
And strangers were received by thee
Of Cordova the chivalry.

་་

Woe is me, Alhama!

11.

And for this, oh King! is sent

On thee a double chastisement,

<< Thee and thine, thy crown and realm One last wreck shall overwhelm. Woe is me, Alhama!

Fire flashed from out the old Moor's eyes,

The Monarch's wrath began to rise,
Because he answered, and because
He spake exceeding well of laws.
Woe is me, Alhama!

14.

}} -

<< There is no law to say such things As may disgust the ear of kings: Thus, snorting with his choler, said

The Moorish King, and doomed him dead. Woe is me, Alhama!

15.

Moor Alfaqui! Moor Alfaqui!

Though thy beard so hoary be,

The King hath sent to have thee seized,
For Alhama's loss displeased.

Woe is me, Alhama!

16.

And to fix thy head upon

High Alhambra's loftiest stone;

That this for thee should be the law,
And others tremble when they saw.
Woe is me, Alhama!

17.

"Cavalier! and man of worth!

Let these words of mine go

forth;

Let the Moorish Monarch know,

That to him I nothing owe:
Woe is me, Alhama!

18.

But on my soul Alhama weighs, «And on my inmost spirit preys; « And if the King his land hath lost, «Yet others may have lost the most. Woe is me, Alhama!

19.

« Sires have lost their children, wives «Their lords, and valiant men their lives; "One what best his love might claim

་་

Hath lost, another wealth, or fame.
Woe is me, Alhama!

20.

I lost a damsel in that hour,

"Of all the land the loveliest flower; «Doubloons a hundred I would pay, "And think her ransom cheap that day. Woe is me, Alhama!

21.

And as these things the old Moor said,
They severed from the trunk his head;
And to the Alhambra's wall with speed
'Twas carried, as the King decreed.
Woe is me, Alhama!

And from the windows o'er the walls

The sable web of mourning falls;
The King weeps as a woman o'er
His loss, for it is much and sore.
Woe is me, Alhama!

STANZAS

Written in passing the Ambracian Gulph,
November 14th, 1809.

THROUGH cloudless skies, in silvery sheen, Full beams the moon on Actium's coast : And on these waves, for Egypt's Queen, The ancient world was won and lost.

And now upon the scene I look,

The azure grave of many a Roman; Where stern Ambition once forsook

His wavering crown to follow woman.

Florence! whom I will love as well
As ever yet was said or sung,
(Since Orpheus sang his spouse from hell)
Whilst thou art fair and I am young ;

Sweet Florence! those were pleasant times,
When worlds were staked for ladies' eyes :
Had bards as many realms as rhymes,
Thy charms might raise new Anthonies,

Though fate forbids such things to be,
Yet, by thine eyes and ringlets curled,
I cannot lose a world for thee,

But would not lose thee for a world.