Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

*He’d heard for years
From all his peers,
That shadowed land existed.
“I’ll find the way,
Come yet what may,”
He determinedly insisted.

*He rode his horse
Through scrub and gorse,
While shadows dogged his trail.
And night and day
In sand and clay,
He ventured without fail.

*In towns so small,
On peaks so tall,
He travelled without end,
Through shadows dark
He saw no mark,
And never ceased to wend.

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!"