(Sunset in ‘my’ Eldorado in California)

ELDORADO

Gaily bedlight,

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.”

Edgar Allan Poe

(American poet, 1809-1849)