When thronging foemen menace Spain,
She dares the deed and shares the danger;
And should her lover press the plain,
She hurls the spear, her love's avenger.
6.
And when, beneath the evening star,
She mingles in the gay Bolero,[decimal 1]
Or sings to her attuned guitar
Of Christian knight or Moorish hero,
Or counts her beads with fairy hand
Beneath the twinkling rays of Hesper,[lower-roman 1]
Or joins Devotion's choral band,
To chaunt the sweet and hallowed vesper;—
7.
In each her charms the heart must move
Of all who venture to behold her;
Then let not maids less fair reprove
Because her bosom is not colder:
Through many a clime 'tis mine to roam
Where many a soft and melting maid is,
But none abroad, and few at home,
May match the dark-eyed Girl of Cadiz.[lower-roman 2]
[First published, 1832.]
Variants
Notes
- ↑ [For "Bolero," see Poetical Works, 1898, i. 492, note 1.]
