Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.
The Death of Don Pedro
By Spanish BalladH
Hold in straining arms each other;
Tugging hard, and closely grasping,
Brother proves his strength with brother.
Blends not thus their limbs in strife;
Either aims, with rage infernal,
Naked dagger, sharpened knife.
Pedro holds Don Henry strait,
Breathing, this, triumphant fury,
That, despair and mortal hate.
Stands Don Henry’s page afar,
In the chase who bore his bugle,
And who bore his sword in war.
Down upon the earth they go,
Fierce King Pedro has the vantage,
Stout Don Henry falls below.
Up the page of Henry ran,
By the waist he caught Don Pedro,
Aiding thus the fallen man.
Dwelleth not in my desire,
But the duty which he owes him,
To his master pays the squire.”
Now King Pedro lies beneath,
In his heart his brother’s poniard
Instant finds its bloody sheath.
While the blood in bubbles welled,
Fled the fiercest soul that ever
In a Christian bosom dwelled.