Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.
The Bridge of Alcantara
By William Julius Mickle (17341788)O
Where Lisboa’s Maro, old and suppliant stood,
Fancy his injured eld and sorrows rude
Brought to my view. ’T was night; with cheerless look
Methought he bowed the head in languid mood,
As pale with penury in darkling nook
Forlorn he watched. Sudden the skies partook
A mantling blaze, and warlike forms intrude.
Here Gama’s semblance braves the boiling main,
And Lusitania’s warriors hurl the spear;
But whence that flood of light that bids them rear
Their lofty brows! From thy neglected strain,
Camoens, unseen by vulgar eye it flows,
That glorious blaze to thee thy thankless country owes.