Tremendous causeway ! on they pass. What hope was left for you? for you, Is smoking in their vengeful eyes— Whose swords how keen, how fierce they knew, And burn with shame to find how few. Crush'd down by that vast multitude, Some found their graves where first they stood; And still fought on by HAFED's side, By sudden swell of JORDAN's pride 2 Long battles with th' o'erwhelming tide, 2 "In this thicket upon the banks of the Jordan several sorts of wild beasts are wont to harbour themselves, whose being washed out of the covert by the overflowings of the river gave occasion to that allusion of Jeremiah, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan.". - Maundrell's Aleppo. 4 So fought he back with fierce delay, And kept both foes and fate at bay. But whither now? their track is lost, The scatter'd crowd rush blindly on - They rush, more desperate as more wrong: Till, wilder'd by the far-off lights, Yet glittering up those gloomy heights, Their footing, maz'd and lost, they miss, And down the darkling precipice Are dash'd into the deep abyss; Or midway hang, impal'd on rocks, A banquet, yet alive, for flocks Of ravening vultures, while the dell Re-echoes with each horrible yell. Those sounds the last, to vengeance dear, That e'er shall ring in HAFED's ear, And IRAN's self could claim no more. When all life's other lights were set. Her image such enchantment wore. It seem'd as if each thought that stain'd, Each fear that chill'd their loves was past, And not one cloud of earth remain'd Between him and her glory cast; — As if to charms, before so bright, New grace from other worlds was given, And his soul saw her by the light Now breaking o'er itself from heaven! A voice spoke near him -'twas the tone Of a lov'd friend, the only one Of all his warriors, left with life From that short night's tremendous strife. 66 Of life within him "what! not yet Beyond the reach of Moslem chains !" The thought could make ev'n Death forget He springs, all bleeding, from the ground, grasps And up the painful pathway leads, Death gaining on each step he treads. Speed them, thou God, who heard'st their vow! They mount they bleed oh save them now The crags are red they've clamber'd o'er, Come near and nearer from below. One effort more thank Heav'n! 'tis past, They've gain'd the topmost steep at last. Now HAFED sees the Fire divine When, lo! - his weak, worn comrade falls Dead on the threshold of the Shrine. "Alas, brave soul, too quickly fled! "And must I leave thee withering here, "The sport of every ruffian's tread, "The mark for every coward's spear? "No, by yon altar's sacred beams !" He cries, and, with a strength that seems Not of this world, uplifts the frame Of the fall'n Chief, and tow'rds the flame Bears him along; with death-damp hand The corpse upon the pyre he lays, Then lights the consecrated brand, And fires the pile, whose sudden blaze Like lightning bursts o'er OMAN's Sea. "Now, Freedom's God! I come to Thee," The youth exclaims, and with a smile In that last effort, ere the fires Have harm'd one glorious limb, expires! |