Page:Modern poets and poetry of Spain.djvu/172

126 As by conflicting winds close driven,

The dark clouds o'er the vault of heaven

Across each other fly;

And troubling mortals with the roar,

The electric fluids flashing o'er

Dispute the sway on high,

So from both sides the battle roll'd,

The sails their wings of flame unfold,

And ship to ship they close;

Combined, O! day of hapless fame,

Four elements with man proclaim

The unequal war that rose.

Who in the whirlwind of dense smoke,

To Mars that in fit incense woke,

From hollow ordnance sent,

With iron flames, a countless host,

Sounds that unhinging shaking cross'd

The eternal firmament,—

Who in that lake of fire and blood,

Midst crashing masts and raging flood

Of havoc and its train,—

Who by the light the picture shows,

May not your blood-stain'd brows disclose,

O! noble chiefs of Spain?