Hush'd are the voices, that, in years gone by, Have mourn'd, exulted, menaced, through thy towers;
Within thy pillar'd courts the grass waves high, And all uncultured bloom thy fairy bowers.
Unheeded there the flowering myrtle blows, Through tall arcades unmark'd the sunbeam smiles,
And many a tint of soften'd brilliance throws, O'er fretted walls, and shining peristyles.
And well might Fancy deem thy fabrics lone, So vast, so silent, and so wildly fair, Some charm'd abode of beings all unknown, Powerful and viewless, children of the air.
For there no footstep treads the enchanted ground, There not a sound the deep repose pervades, Save winds and founts diffusing freshness round, Through the light domes and graceful colonnades.
Far other tones have swell'd those courts along, In days romance yet fondly loves to trace; The clash of arms, the voice of choral song, The revels, combats, of a vanish'd race.
And yet awhile, at Fancy's potent call,
Shall rise that race, the chivalrous, the bold! Peopling once more each fair, forsaken hall,
With stately forms, the knights and chiefs of old.
-The sun declines-upon Nevada's height There dwells a mellow flush of rosy light; Each soaring pinnacle of mountain snow Smiles in the richness of that parting glow, And Darro's wave reflects each passing dye That melts and mingles in th' empurpled sky. Fragrance, exhaled from rose and citron bower, Blends with the dewy freshness of the hour: Hush'd are the winds, and Nature seems to sleep, In light and stillness; wood, and tower, and steep, Are dyed with tints of glory, only given
To the rich evening of a southern heaven; Tints of the sun, whose bright farewell is fraught, With all that art hath dreamt, but never caught. -Yes, Nature sleeps; but not with her at rest The fiery passions of the human breast.
Hark! from the Alhambra's towers what stormy sound, Each moment deepening, wildly swells around? Those are no tumults of a festal throng,
Not the light zambra, (1) nor the choral song; The combat rages 'tis the shout of war, 'Tis the loud clash of shield and scymetar. Within the Hall of Lions, (2) where the rays Of eve, yet lingering, on the fountain blaze; There, girt and guarded by his Zegri bands, And stern in wrath, the Moorish monarch stands, There the strife centres swords around him wave, There bleed the fallen, there contend the brave, While echoing domes return the battle-cry, "Revenge and Freedom!-let the tyrant die!" And onward rushing, and prevailing still, Court, hall, and tower the fierce avengers fill. VOL. II.
But first and bravest of that gallant train, Where foes are mightiest, charging ne'er in vain ; In his red hand the sabre glancing bright, His dark eye flashing with a fiercer light, Ardent, untired, scarce conscious that he bleeds, His Aben-Zurrahs (3) there young Hamet leads; While swells his voice that wild acclaim on high, "Revenge and freedom!-let the tyrant die !"
Yes, trace the footsteps of the warrior's wrath, By helm and corslet shatter'd in his path; And by the thickest harvest of the slain, And by the marble's deepest crimson stain; Search through the serried fight, where loudest cries From triumph, anguish, or despair arise;
And brightest where the shivering falchions glare, And where the ground is reddest - he is there. Yes, that young arm, amidst the Zegri host, Hath well avenged a sire, a brother, lost. They perish'd-not as heroes should have died, On the red field in victory's hour of pride, In all the glow and sunshine of their fame, And proudly smiling as the death-pang came; Oh! had they thus expired, a warrior's tear Had flow'd almost in triumph o'er their bier. For thus alone the brave should weep for those Who brightly pass in glory to repose.
Not such their fate a tyrant's stern command Doom'd them to fall by some ignoble hand, As with the flower of all their high-born race, Summon'd Abdallah's royal feast to grace, Fearless in heart, no dream of danger nigh, They sought the banquet's gilded hall- to die.
Betray'd, unarm'd, they fell the fountain wave Flow'd crimson with the life-blood of the brave, Till far the fearful tidings of their fate
Through the wide city rung from gate to gate, And of that lineage each surviving son
Rushed to the scene where vengeance might be won.
For this young Hamet mingles in the strife, Leader of battle, prodigal of life,
Urging his followers, till their foes, beset, Stand faint and breathless, but undaunted yet. Brave Aben-Zurrahs, on! one effort more, Yours is the triumph, and the conflict o'er. But lo! descending o'er the darken'd hall, The twilight shadows fast and deeply fall, Nor yet the strife hath ceased-tho' scarce they know, Through that thick gloom, the brother from the foe, Till the moon rises with her cloudless ray,
The peaceful moon, and gives them light to slay.
Where lurks Abdallah ?— 'midst his yielding train They seek the guilty monarch, but in vain: He lies not number'd with the valiant dead, His champions round him have not vainly bled; But when the twilight spread her shadowy veil, And his last warriors found each effort fail, In wild despair he fled-a trusted few, Kindred in time, are still in danger true; And o'er the scene of many a martial deed, The Vega's (4) green expanse, his flying footsteps lead. He passed the Alhambra's calm and lovely bowers, Where slept the glistening leaves and folded flowers In dew and starlight-there from grot and cave, Gush'd in wild music many a sparkling wave;
There, on each breeze, the breath of fragrance rose, And all was freshness, beauty, and repose.
But thou, dark monarch! in thy bosom reign Storms that, once roused, shall never sleep again. Oh! vainly bright is nature in the course Of him who flies from terror or remorse! A spell is round him which obscures her bloom, And dims her skies with shadows of the tomb; There smiles no Paradise on earth so fair, But guilt will raise avenging phantoms there. Abdallah heeds not though the light gale roves Fraught with rich odour, stolen from orange-groves, Hears not the sounds from wood and brook that rise, Wild notes of Nature's vesper melodies; Marks not, how lovely, on the mountain's head, Moonlight and snow their mingling lustre spread; But urges onward, till his weary band, Worn with their toil, a moment's pause demand. He stops, and turning, on Granada's fanes In silence gazing, fix'd awhile remains,
In stern, deep silence-o'er his feverish brow, And burning cheek, pure breezes freshly blow, But waft in fitful murmurs from afar, Sounds, indistinctly fearful-as of war, What meteor bursts, with sudden blaze, on high, O'er the blue clearness of the starry sky? Awful it rises, like some Genie-form,
Seen 'midst the redness of the desert storm, (5) Magnificently dread-above, below,
Spreads the wild splendour of its deepening glow. Lo! from the Alhambra's towers the vivid glare Streams through the still transparence of the air;
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