The Corsair by Lord Byron

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"Conosceste i dubbiosi desiri? " / Dante, Inferno, v, 120.

In Coron's bay floats many a galley light, / Through Coron's lattices the lamps are bright, / For Seyd, the Pacha, makes a feast to-night: / A feast for promised triumph yet to come, / When he shall drag the fettered Rovers home; / This hath he sworn by Allah and his sword, / And faithful to his firman and his word, / His summoned prows collect along the coast, / And great the gathering crews, and loud the boast; / Already shared the captives and the prize, / Though far the distant foe they thus despise; / 'Tis but to sail - no doubt to-morrow's Sun / Will see the Pirates bound - their haven won! / Meantime the watch may slumber, if they will, / Nor only wake to war, but dreaming kill.

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