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

Spain: Malaga

Malaga,—The Rest

By Martha Perry Lowe (1829–1902)

MALAGA, thou noiseless haven sweet,

Offering thy blessed, kind retreat

Gently to the weary, languid feet!—

How thou drawest thy blue curtain there,

Shutting from the wildered eye the glare,

And the cold and chilling northern air!

Golden is the lamp which thou dost trim:

Never for the sufferer is it dim;

Shedding mellow, pensive light on him.

Beautiful, caressing, airy room!

Castles on thy sky for pictures loom,

Cheering oft his spirit’s sickly gloom;

Stretching out, as flowing tapestry,

Yonder rainbow-tinted, velvet sea,

Folding round his footsteps coolingly!

Hush! how still the air around his rest,

Smoothing down the ripples in his breast,

Where the swift disturber, Pain, hath prest!

They are waiting in thy beauteous hall,

When the flowers open,—when they fall;

Waiting for one lovely presence, all.

And perchance she comes with dimpled cheek,

Roses blushing soft when she doth speak,

Bounding rapturous to the sufferer meek.

Ah! she oftener steals anear with eye

Pitiful; then turns her silently,

Shakes her head, and says a kind good-by.