A Very Mournful Ballad on the Siege and Conquest of Alhama

1. 1The Moorish King rides up and down.
2. 2Through Granada's royal town:
3. 3From Elvira's gates to those
4. 4Of Bivarambla on he goes.
5. 5Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 6Letters to the Monarch tell
2. 7How Alhama's city fell:
3. 8In the fire the scroll he threw,
4. 9And the messenger he slew.
5. 10Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 11He quits his mule, and mounts his horse,
2. 12And through the street directs his course;
3. 13Through the street of Zacatin
4. 14To the Alhambra spurring in.
5. 15Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 16When the Alhambra walls he gained,
2. 17On the moment he ordained
3. 18That the trumpet straight should sound
4. 19With the silver clarion round.
5. 20Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 21And when the hollow drums of war
2. 22Beat the loud alarm afar,
3. 23That the Moors of town and plain
4. 24Might answer to the martial strain.
5. 25Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 26Then the Moors, by this aware,
2. 27That bloody Mars recalled them there,
3. 28One by one, and two by two,
4. 29To a mighty squadron grew.
5. 30Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 31Out then spake an aged Moor
2. 32In these words the king before,
3. 33"Wherefore call on us, oh King?
4. 34What may mean this gathering?"
5. 35Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 36"Friends! ye have, alas! to know
2. 37Of a most disastrous blow--
3. 38That the Christians, stern and bold,
4. 39Have obtained Alhama's hold."
5. 40Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 41Out then spake old Alfaqui,
2. 42With his beard so white to see,
3. 43"Good King! thou art justly served,
4. 44Good King! this thou hast deserved.
5. 45Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 46"By thee were slain, in evil hour,
2. 47The Abencerrage, Granada's flower;
3. 48And strangers were received by thee,
4. 49Of Cordova the Chivalry.
5. 50Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 51"And for this, oh King! is sent
2. 52On thee a double chastisement;
3. 53Thee and thine, thy crown and realm,
4. 54One last wreck shall overwhelm.
5. 55Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 56"He who holds no laws in awe,
2. 57He must perish by the law;
3. 58And Granada must be won,
4. 59And thyself with her undone."
5. 60Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 61Fire flashed from out the old Moor's eyes,
2. 62The Monarch's wrath began to rise,
3. 63Because he answered, and because
4. 64He spake exceeding well of laws.
5. 65Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 66"There is no law to say such things
2. 67As may disgust the ear of kings:"--
3. 68Thus, snorting with his choler, said
4. 69The Moorish King, and doomed him dead.
5. 70Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 71Moor Alfaqui! Moor Alfaqui!
2. 72Though thy beard so hoary be,
3. 73The King hath sent to have thee seized,
4. 74For Alhama's loss displeased.
5. 75Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 76And to fix thy head upon
2. 77High Alhambra's loftiest stone;
3. 78That this for thee should be the law,
4. 79And others tremble when they saw.
5. 80Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 81"Cavalier, and man of worth!
2. 82Let these words of mine go forth;
3. 83Let the Moorish Monarch know,
4. 84That to him I nothing owe.
5. 85Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 86"But on my soul Alhama weighs,
2. 87And on my inmost spirit preys;
3. 88And if the King his land hath lost,
4. 89Yet others may have lost the most.
5. 90Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 91"Sires have lost their children, wives
2. 92Their lords, and valiant men their lives!
3. 93One what best his love might claim
4. 94Hath lost, another wealth, or fame.
5. 95Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 96"I lost a damsel in that hour,
2. 97Of all the land the loveliest flower;
3. 98Doubloons a hundred I would pay,
4. 99And think her ransom cheap that day."
5. 100Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 101And as these things the old Moor said,
2. 102They severed from the trunk his head;
3. 103And to the Alhambra's wall with speed
4. 104'Twas carried, as the King decreed.
5. 105Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 106And men and infants therein weep
2. 107Their loss, so heavy and so deep;
3. 108Granada's ladies, all she rears
4. 109Within her walls, burst into tears.
5. 110Woe is me, Alhama!

1. 111And from the windows o'er the walls
2. 112The sable web of mourning falls;
3. 113The King weeps as a woman o'er
4. 114His loss, for it is much and sore.
5. 115Woe is me, Alhama!