Zorayda

Inspired, from Washington Irving's tale, "Legend of the rose of the Alhambra".

Once upon a time in the distant Kingdom of Granada,
Within an Aidenn of Al Andalus and idyllic mountains, 
Liv'd this beautiful Moorish princess nam'd Zorayda,
Who wan'd in her drear solitude behind the fountains.

'Tis said in a lore of daring Gypsies who wander'd adrift, 
That in the surreptitious lofty palace of the royal mortals,
An alluring wraith reigns the nightly halls lively and swift,
By the cobwebs and a gild'd vault where roam immortals.

Hark to a gentle paean of her silver lute in the ante-chambre, 
As the weary wayfarers pass along a glen nearby the ravine,
Beside the ghosts of the maidens of gardens dim and sombre, 
With the haunt'd murmurs of dead sovereigns who intervene.

Hark the enchanting sounds in idle groves of the Alhambra,
Have raught the gates of the palace and the thickets of roses,
Stirring the ears of those ludic princesses Zayda, Zorahayda,
Strolling from beyond the ancient battlement that encloses.

Hark those obstreperous echoes from chambres of delight, 
Whence their voices are heard onto the edge of the tower,
Alongside the wide moats and sturdy ramparts forthright,
And left within the morning, is the lone rose, a token flower.

Her legend endures in the many admirers of the Alhambra,
Nestl'd within the soaring mountains of Andalusia hearing;
And her sempiternal breath and graceful eyes of Granada,
Alive fore'er in the ghost of a princess with a pearl earring.