Page:The Statues in the Block and Other Poems (1881).djvu/33

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MULEY MALEK, THE KING.


THUNDER of guns, and cries—banners and spears and blood!
Troops have died where they stood holding the vantage points—
They have raced like waves at a wall, and dashed themselves to death.

Dawn the fight begin, and noon was red with its noon.
The armies stretch afar and the plain of Alcazar
Is drenched with Moorish blood.

On one side, Muley the King—Muley Malek the Strong.
He had seized the Moorish crown because it would fit his brows.
Hamet the Fair was king; but Muley pulled him down, because he was strong.