"To save or slay, as these require, "Through rending steel, and rolling fire; 1020 "Nor need'st thou doubt this speech from one "Who would but do-what he hath done. "Death is but what the haughty brave, "The weak must bear, the wretch must crave; "Then let Life go to him who gave: “I have not quailed to danger's brow "When high and happy-need I now? 1026 I loved her, friar! nay, adored "But these are words that all can use "I proved it more in deed than word; 1031 "There's blood upon that dinted sword, "A stain its steel can never lose: ""Twas shed for her, who died for me, 1034 66 "It warmed the heart of one abhorred: Nay, start not-no-nor bend thy knee, "Nor midst my sins such act record; "Thou wilt absolve me from the deed, "For he was hostile to thy creed! "The very name of Nazarene "Was wormwood to his Paynim spleen. 66 Ungrateful fool! since but for brands "Well wielded in some hardy hands, "And wounds by Galileans given, "The surest pass to Turkish heaven, "For him his Houris still might wait "Impatient at the prophet's gate. "I loved her-love will find its way 1040 1045 “Through paths where wolves would fear to prey, "And if it dares enough, 'twere hard "She died-I dare not tell thee how; 1050 1055 "There read of Cain the curse and crime, "In characters unworn by time: "Still, ere thou dost condemn me, pause; "Not mine the act, though I the cause. 1061 "Yet did he but what I had done "Had she been false to more than one. "Faithless to him, he gave the blow; "But true to me, I laid him low: 1065 "Howe'er deserved her doom might be, "Her treachery was truth to me; "To me she gave her heart, that all 1070 —what thou well may'st hate. "His doom was sealed-he knew it well, 1075 "Warned by the voice of stern Taheer, "Deep in whose darkly boding ear “The deathshot pealed of murder near, "As filed the troop to where they fell! "He died too in the battle broil, “A time that heeds nor pain nor toil; 1080 "One cry to Mahomet for aid, "One prayer to Alla all he made: "He knew and crossed me in the fray— "I gazed upon him where he lay, "And watched his spirit ebb away: 1085 "Though pierced like Pard by hunters' steel, I searched, but vainly searched, to find "The workings of a wounded mind; "Each feature of that sullen corse 66 Betrayed his rage, but no remorse. 1090 "Oh, what had Vengeance given to trace 66 Despair upon his dying face! "The late repentance of that hour, "When Penitence hath lost her power To tear one terror from the grave, "And will not soothe, and can not save. 1095 |