Impressions: A Book of Verse/El Mihrab: The Holy of Holies of the Mosque at Cordova

by Lilla Cabot Perry

 

EL MIHRAB: THE HOLY OF HOLIES OF THE MOSQUE AT CORDOVA

HERE have men prayed a thousand years and more,
Hastening from beggar's hut and kingly throne,
Moslems and Christians kneeling on this stone
Have furrowed it; as anguished tears that pour
Down smooth fair cheeks slow hollow path- ways score,
Here have they brought their grief, here made their moan
And here each seeking heart has found its own
If "Allah" or if "God" they did implore.

Down the long pillared aisles the organ's chaunt
Rolls soft and distant, as through forests vast
The wind at night makes solemn melodies,
Borne on its rhythmic waves what visions haunt
The dreamer's fancy of the storied past,
What pageants, pathos, anguish, victories!