The Siege of Valencia.pdf/58

Exported from Wikisource on October 19, 2024

54

THE LAST CONSTANTINE.

CII.

Bright land, with glory mantled o'er by song!

Land of the vision-peopled hills and streams,

And fountains, whose deserted banks along,

Still the soft air with inspiration teems;

Land of the graves, whose dwellers shall be themes

To verse for ever; and of ruin'd shrines,

That scarce look desolate beneath such beams,

As bathe in gold thine ancient rocks and pines!

—When shall thy sons repose in peace beneath their vines?

CIII.

Thou wert not made for bonds, nor shame, nor fear!

—Do the hoar oaks and dark-green laurels wave

O'er Mantinea's earth?—doth Pindus rear

His snows, the sunbeam and the storm to brave?

And is there yet on Marathon a grave?

And doth Eurotas lead his silvery line

By Sparta's ruins?—And shall man, a slave,

Bow'd to the dust, amid such scenes repine?

—If e'er a soil was mark'd for Freedom's step—'tis thine!

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Table of Contents

Title page

The Siege of Valencia.pdf/58

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