sadly gazes back again upon those bastions high,
The towers and fretted battlements that soar into the sky;
And Celin, whom the King in wrath has from Granada banned
Weeps as he turns to leave for aye his own dear native land;
No hope has he his footsteps from exile to retrace;
No hope again to look upon his lady's lovely face.
Then sighing deep he went his way, and as he went he said:
"I see thee shining from afar,
As in heaven's arch some radiant star.
Granada, queen and crown of loveliness,
Listen to my lament, and mourn for my distress.

"I see outstretched before my eyes thy green and beauteous shore,
Those meadow-lands and gardens that with flowers are dappled o'er.
The wind that lingers o'er those glades received the tribute given
By many a trembling calyx, wet with the dews of heaven.
From Genil's banks full many a bough down to the water bends,
Yon vega's green and fertile line from flood to wall extends;
There laughing ladies seek the shade that yields to them delight,
And the velvet turf is printed deep by many a mounted knight.
I see thee shining from afar,
As in heaven's arch some radiant star.
Granada, queen and town of loveliness,
Listen to my lament, and mourn for my distress.

"Ye springs and founts that sparkling well from yonder mountain-side,
And flow with dimpling torrent o'er mead and garden wide,
If e'er the tears that from my breast to these sad eyes ascend
Should with your happy waters their floods of sadness blend,
Oh, take them to your bosom with love, for love has bidden
These drops to tell the wasting woe that in my heart is hidden.
I see thee shining from afar,
As in heaven's arch some radiant star.
Granada, queen and crown of loveliness,
Listen to my lament, and mourn for my distress.

"Ye balmy winds of heaven, whose sound is in the rippling trees,
Whose scented breath brings back to me a thousand memories,
Ye sweep beneath the arch of heaven like to the ocean surge
That beats from Guadalquivir's bay to earth's extremest verge.
Oh, when ye to Granada come (and may great Allah send
His guardian host to guide you to that sweet journey's end!),
Carry my sighs along with you, and breathe them in the ear
Of foes who do me deadly wrong, of her who holds me dear.
Oh, tell them all the agony I bear in banishment,
That she may share my sorrow, and my foe the