Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/573

Rh 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,

To a mighty squadron grew.

Woe is me, Alhama!

7.

Out then spake an agéd Moor

In these words the king before,

"Wherefore call on us, oh King?

What may mean this gathering?"

Woe is me, Alhama!

8.

"Friends! ye have, alas! to know

Of a most disastrous blow—

That the Christians, stern and bold,

Have obtained Alhama's hold."

Woe is me, Alhama!

9.

Out then spake old Alfaqui,

With his beard so white to see,