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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.

Spain: Saragossa (Zaragoza; Sansueña)

Zaragoza

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

HAIL, Zaragoza! If with unwet eye

We can approach, thy sorrow to behold,

Yet is the heart not pitiless nor cold;

Such spectacle demands not tear or sigh.

Those desolate remains are trophies high

Of more than martial courage in the breast

Of peaceful civic virtue: they attest

Thy matchless worth to all posterity.

Blood flowed before thy sight without remorse;

Disease consumed thy vitals; war upheaved

The ground beneath thee with volcanic force:

Dread trials! yet encountered and sustained

Till not a wreck of help or hope remained,

And law was from necessity received.