Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.
Toledo
By Sir Walter Scott (17711832)R
And darkly clustering in the pale moonlight,
Toledo’s holy towers and spires arise,
As from a trembling lake of silver white.
Their mingled shadows intercept the sight
Of the broad burial-ground outstretched below,
And naught disturbs the silence of the night;
All sleeps in sullen shade or silver glow,
All save the heavy swell of Teio’s ceaseless flow.
Or distant heard a courser’s neigh or tramp,
Their changing rounds as watchful horsemen ride,
To guard the limits of King Roderick’s camp.
For through the river’s night-fog rolling damp
Was many a proud pavilion dimly seen,
Which glimmered back, against the moon’s fair lamp,
Tissues of silk and silver-twisted sheen,
And standards proudly pitched, and warders armed between.