To the battles of the West.
The midnight bell, o’er the dim seas heard,
Like the roar of waters, the air had stirr’d;
The stars were shining o’er tower and wave,
And the camp lay hush’d as a wizard’s cave;
But the Christians woke that night.
They rear’d the Cid on his barded steed,
Like a warrior mail’d for the hour of need,
And they fix’d the sword in the cold right hand
Which had fought so well for his father’s land,