Eldorado

    Gaily bedight,
    A gallant knight,
  In sunshine and in shadow,
    Had journeyed long,
    Singing a song,
  In search of Eldorado.
    But he grew old--
    This knight so bold--
  And o'er his heart a shadow
    Fell as he found
    No spot of ground
  That looked like Eldorado.

  And, as his strength
    Failed him at length,
  He met a pilgrim shadow--
    "Shadow," said he,
    "Where can it be--
  This land of Eldorado?"

    "Over the Mountains
    Of the Moon,
  Down the Valley of the Shadow,
    Ride, boldly ride,"
    The shade replied,
  "If you seek for Eldorado!"


1849.





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        Edgar Allan Poe