Thy daughter that the Prophet's holy law Forbids compulsion. Give thine errand now; The messenger is here.
Go to Pelayo, and from him entreat Admittance to my child, where'er she be. Say to her, that her father solemnly Annuls the covenant with Orpas pledged, Nor with solicitations, nor with threats, Will urge her more, nor from that liberty Of faith restrain her, which the Prophet's law, Liberal as Heaven from whence it came, to all Indulges. Tell her that her father says His days are numbered, and beseeches her By that dear love, which from her infancy Still he hath borne her, growing as she grew, Nursed in our weal and strengthened in our woe, She will not in the evening of his life
Leave him forsaken and alone. Enough Of sorrow, tell her, have her injuries
Brought on her father's head; let not her act Thus aggravate the burden. Tell her too, That when he prayed her to return, he wept
Profusely as a child; but bitterer tears
Than ever fell from childhood's eyes, were those Which traced his hardy cheeks.
He spake, and after he had ceased from speech His lip was quivering still. The Moorish chief Then to the messenger his bidding gave. Say, cried he, to these rebel infidels, Thus Abulcacem in the Caliph's name Exhorteth them: Repent and be forgiven! Nor think to stop the dreadful storm of war, Which conquering and to conquer must fulfil Its destined circle, rolling eastward now Back from the subjugated west, to sweep Thrones and dominions down, till in the bond Of unity all nations join, and Earth Acknowledge, as she sees one sun in heaven, One God, one Chief, one Prophet, and one Law. Jerusalem, the holy City, bows
To holier Mecca's creed; the crescent shines Triumphant o'er the eternal pyramids :
On the cold altars of the worshippers
Of fire moss grows, and reptiles leave their slime;
The African idolatries are fallen,
And Europe's senseless gods of stone and wood Have had their day. Tell these misguided men, A moment for repentance yet is left,
And mercy the submitted neck will spare Before the sword is drawn; but once unsheathed, Let Auria witness how that dreadful sword Accomplishes its work! They little know The Moors who hope in battle to withstand Their valour, or in flight escape their rage! Amid our deserts we hunt down the birds
Of heaven,..wings do not save them! Nor shall rocks, And holds, and fastnesses, avail to save
These mountaineers. Is not the Earth the Lord's? And we, his chosen people, whom he sends
To conquer and possess it in his name?
THE second eve had closed upon their march Within the Asturian border, and the Moors Had pitched their tents amid an open wood Upon the mountain side. As day grew dim, Their scattered fires shone with distincter light Among the trees, above whose top the smoke Diffused itself, and stained the evening sky. Ere long the stir of occupation ceased, And all the murmur of the busy host Subsiding died away, as through the camp The crier from a knoll proclaimed the hour For prayer appointed, and with sonorous voice, Thrice in melodious modulation full, Pronounced the highest name. There is no God But God, he cried; there is no God but God!
Mahommed is the Prophet of the Lord!
Come ye to prayer! to prayer! The Lord is great! There is no God but God!.. Thus he pronounced His ritual form, mingling with holiest truth The audacious name accurst. The multitude Made their ablutions in the mountain stream Obedient, then their faces to the earth Bent in formality of easy prayer.
An arrow's flight above that mountain stream There was a little glade, where underneath A long smooth mossy stone a fountain rose. An oak grew near, and with its ample boughs O'ercanopied the spring; its fretted roots Embossed the bank, and on their tufted bark Grew plants which love the moisture and the shade.. Short ferns, and longer leaves of wrinkled green Which bent toward the spring, and when the wind Made itself felt, just touched with gentle dip The glassy surface, ruffled ne'er but then, Save when a bubble rising from the depth Burst, and with faintest circles marked its place, Or if an insect skimmed it with its wing,
Or when in heavier drops the gathered rain
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