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Its broken eminence in clouds; whose steeps Are dark with woods; where the receding rocks Are worn with torrents of dissolving snow; A wretched woman, pale and breathless, flies, And, gazing round her, listens to the sound Of hostile footsteps: — No! they die away — Nor noise remains, but of the cataract, Or surly breeze of night, that mutters low Among the thickets, where the trembling seeks A temporary shelter — Clasping close To her quick throbbing heart her sleeping child, 79 All she could rescue of the innocent groupThat yesterday surrounded her — Escaped Almost by miracle! — Fear, frantic Fear, Wing'd her weak feet; yet, half repenting now Her headlong haste, she wishes she had staid To die with those affrighted Fancy paints The lawless soldiers' victims — Hark! again The driving tempest bears the cry of Death; And with deep, sudden thunder, the dread found Of cannon vibrates on the tremulous earth; While, bursting in the air, the murderous bomb Glares o'er her mansion — Where the splinters fall Like scatter'd comets, its destructive path Is mark'd by wreaths of flame! — Then, overwhelm'd 80 Beneath accumulated horror, sinksThe desolate mourner! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The feudal Chief, whose Gothic battlements Frown on the plain beneath, returning home From distant lands, alone, and in disguise, Gains at the fall of night his castle walls, But at the silent gate no porter sits To wait his lord's admittance! — In the courts All is drear stillness! — Guessing but too well The fatal truth, he shudders as he goes Thro' the mute hall; where, by the blunted light 81 That the dim Moon thro' painted casement lends,He sees that devastation has been there; Then, while each hideous image to his mind Rises terrific, o'er a bleeding corpse Stumbling he falls; another intercepts His staggering feet — All, all who us'd to rush With joy to meet him, all his family Lie murder'd in his way! — And the day dawns On a wild raving Maniac, whom a fate So sudden and calmitous has robb'd Of reason; and who round his vacant walls Screams unregarded, and reproaches Heaven! |
