་་ And through the night had heard their feet « Their stealing, rustling step repeat. "Oh! how I wish'd for spear or sword, «At least to die amidst the horde, "And perish-if it must be so«At bay, destroying many a foe. "When first my courser's race begun, "I wish'd the goal already won; "But now I doubted strength and speed. « Vain doubt! his swift and savage breed "Had nerved him like the mountain-roe; «Nor faster falls the blinding snow « Which whelms the peasant near the door "Whose threshold he shall cross no more, « Bewilder'd with the dazzling blast, « Than through the forest-paths he pastUntired, untamed, and worse than wild; ་ All furious as a favour'd child "Balk'd of its wish; or, fiercer still-→→ « A woman piqued-who has her will. XV. "The wood was past; 'twas more than noon, But chill the air although in June; ་་ ་་ Or it might be my veins ran coldProlong'd endurance tames the bold; « And I was then not what I seem, "But headlong as a wintry stream, «And wore my feelings out before « I well could count their causes o'er : « And what with fury, fear, and wrath, «The tortures which beset my path, « Cold, hunger, sorrow, shame, distress, Thus bound in nature's nakedness; Sprung from a race whose rising blood The rattle-snake's, in act to strike, << What marvel if this worn-out trunk «Beneath its woes a moment sunk? «The earth gave way, the skies roll'd round, « I seem'd to sink upon the ground; « But err'd, for I was fastly bound. ་་ My heart turn'd sick, my brain grew sore, «And throbb'd awhile, then beat no more: "The skies spun like a mighty wheel; « I saw the trees like drunkards rcel, ་ And a slight flash sprang o'er my eyes, « Which saw no farther: he who dies ་་ « I felt as on a plank at sea, << When all the waves that dash o'er thee, ་་ My undulating life was as The fancied lights that flitting pass << Our shut eyes in deep midnight, when ་་ Dying, to feel the same again; << Feel far more ere we turn to dust: "No matter; I have bared my brow " XVI. My thoughts came back; where was I? Cold, «And numb, and giddy: pulse by pulse " ་་ rang, «Life reassumed its lingering hold, «And throb by throb; till grown a pang "Which for a moment would convulse, My blood reflow'd though thick and chill; My ear with uncouth noises My heart began once more to thrill; My sight return'd, though dim, alas! « And thicken'd, as it were, with glass. Methought the dash of waves was nigh; «There was a gleam too of the sky, « Studded with stars ;-it is no dream; The wild horse swims the wilder stream! The bright broad river's gushing tide ་་ К ་་ Sweeps, winding onward, far and wide, yon unknown and silent shore. The waters broke my hollow trance, «And with a temporary strength ་ My stiffen❜d limbs were rebaptized. My courser's broad breast proudly braves, «And dashes off the ascending waves, «And onward we advance! « We reach the slippery shore at length, « A haven I but little prized, « For all behind was dark and drear, " And all before was night and fear. "How many hours of night or day In those suspended pangs I lay, "I could not tell; I scarcely knew « If this were human breath I drew. XVI. With glossy skin, and dripping mane, « The wild steed's sinewy nerves still strain Up the repelling bank. << We gain the top : a boundless plain Spreads through the shadow of the night, «And onward, onward, onward, seems « Like precipices in our dreams, «To stretch beyond the sight; «And here and there a speck of white, « Or scatter'd spot of dusky green, In masses broke into the light, « As rose the moon upon my right. "But nought distinctly seen "In the dim waste, would indicate "The omen of a cottage gate; No twinkling taper from afar "Stood like an hospitable star; Not even an ignis-fatuus rose To make him merry with my woes : << That very cheat had cheer'd me then! ་་ ་་ Although detected, welcome still, Reminding me, through every ill, "Of the abodes of men. XVIII. « Onward we went-but slack and slow; " A sickly infant had had power "To guide him forward in that hour; « But useless all to me. « His new-born tameness nought avail'd; ་ " My limbs were bound; my force had fail'd, "With feeble effort still I tried "To rend the bonds so starkly tied« But still it was in vain; My limbs were only wrung the more, «And soon the idle strife gave o'er, Which but prolong'd their pain: «The dizzy race seem'd almost done, ་ Although no goal was nearly won : . Some streaks announced the coming sun<< How slow, alas! he came ! " Methought that mist of dawning gray « Would never dapple into day; «How heavily it roll'd away— «Before the eastern flame Rose crimson, and deposed the stars, «And call'd the radiance from their cars, And fill'd the earth, from his deep throne," With lonely lustre, all his own. XIX. Up rose the sun; the mists were curl'd "Back from the solitary world « Which lay around-behind—before : "What booted it to traverse o'er « Plain, forest, river? Man nor brute, Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot, |