 | Verses of varied life |  |
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TOLEDO IN 1879.
Toledo! what a mint of memories,
Of olden tale and legend, round the name
Are clustered! Mingled with such dreams as these
Come flashes of its brilliant blades of fame.
Of olden tale and legend, round the name
Are clustered! Mingled with such dreams as these
Come flashes of its brilliant blades of fame.
How proudly must old kings in joy have thought
Of their fair city fitted to be great,
Placed on a hill, by streams surrounded! Naught,
Deemed they, can alter now its high estate.
Of their fair city fitted to be great,
Placed on a hill, by streams surrounded! Naught,
Deemed they, can alter now its high estate.
Ah! most imperial it must once have seemed,
When capital of many a mighty power,
And Spanish sunshine in its fierceness gleamed
On lofty battlement and soaring tower.
When capital of many a mighty power,
And Spanish sunshine in its fierceness gleamed
On lofty battlement and soaring tower.
In days when from the ‘Sun-gate’
oft at morn
Issued a goodly Moorish martial train
Of turbaned knights, ere starting sternly sworn
To conquer for the Crescent more of Spain.
Issued a goodly Moorish martial train
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To conquer for the Crescent more of Spain.
With scimitars unsheathed swift rode they forth,
Not seldom causing terror all around
Among the peasants,—as towards the north
They rode, with Burgos as their utmost bound.
Not seldom causing terror all around
Among the peasants,—as towards the north
They rode, with Burgos as their utmost bound.
Then afterwards returning, Victory
Attendant on their standards, with what joy
Would comrades greet them who had come to see
Night's cooling wings Day's sultriness destroy!
Attendant on their standards, with what joy
Would comrades greet them who had come to see
Night's cooling wings Day's sultriness destroy!
And when the sixth Alonso
conquered it,
Forcing it back into the Christian fold,
Made statelier still, 'twas deemed the seat of wit,
Its people's speech the nation's purest mould.
Forcing it back into the Christian fold,
Made statelier still, 'twas deemed the seat of wit,
Its people's speech the nation's purest mould.
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When in more recent days the Spanish name
Had grown the most renowned of all the world,
St. Quentin and Lepanto knew the aim
Of keen Toledan darts at foemen hurl'd.
Had grown the most renowned of all the world,
St. Quentin and Lepanto knew the aim
Of keen Toledan darts at foemen hurl'd.
All these reflections come in ceaseless train,
While gazing sadly on its fell decay.
I feel not shame that it has given me pain
To think its relics soon must pass away.
While gazing sadly on its fell decay.
I feel not shame that it has given me pain
To think its relics soon must pass away.
Farewell, far-famed Toledo! I shall ne'er
Forget thy mien,—appearing as indeed
Plunged in the deepest sleep. Few could repair
Spain's ancient cities; Life is what they need.
Forget thy mien,—appearing as indeed
Plunged in the deepest sleep. Few could repair
Spain's ancient cities; Life is what they need.
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