Who above all in valor's list is champion paramount.
Thy beauty's sway should be unchecked as death's prevailing might,
But, ah, how many worlds would then sink into endless night!
But come, fair Zaida, quickly come to these expectant arms,
And let me win at last the prize of victory o'er thy charms.
It is a debt thou owest me, oh, let the debt be paid."
Then Zaida rose and showed herself in beauty's robe arrayed,
And the Moor cried: "May Allah grant thy sun may ever shine,
To light with its full splendor this lonely life of mine!
And tho' my stammering tongue be dumb, and like a broken lute,