Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/575

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A VERY MOURNFUL BALLAD.
533

Thus, snorting with his choler, said
The Moorish King, and doomed him dead.
Woe is me, Alhama!


15.

Moor Alfaqui! Moor Alfaqui![1]
Though thy beard so hoary be,[2]
The King hath sent to have thee seized,
For Alhama's loss displeased.
Woe is me, Alhama!


16.

And to fix thy head upon
High Alhambra's loftiest stone;
That this for thee should be the law,
And others tremble when they saw.
Woe is me, Alhama!


17.

"Cavalier, and man of worth!
Let these words of mine go forth;
Let the Moorish Monarch know,
That to him I nothing owe.
Woe is me, Alhama!


18.

"But on my soul Alhama weighs,
And on my inmost spirit preys;
And if the King his land hath lost,
Yet others may have lost the most.
Woe is me, Alhama!


19.

"Sires have lost their children, wives

Their lords, and valiant men their lives!
  1. The Alcaide or "governor" of the original ballad is converted into the Alfaqui of stanza 9. It was the "Alcaide," in whose absence Alhama was taken, and who lost children, wife, honour, and his own head in consequence (Notes and Queries, iv. i. 162).]
  2. —— so white to see.—[MS. M.]