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VII.

WHEN the last hope of trampled France had failed Like a brief dream of unremaining glory, From visions of despair I rose, and scaled The peak of an aërial promontory, Whose caverned base with the vexed surge was [hoary; And saw the golden dawn break forth, and waken Each cloud, and every wave:-but transitory The calm for sudden, the firm earth was shaken, As if by the last wreck its frame were overtaken.

II.

the ground.

III.

[thrown,

IV.

Around, around, in ceaseless circles wheeling
With clang of wings and scream, the eagle sailed
Incessantly-sometimes on high concealing
Its lessening orbs, sometimes as if it failed,
Drooped through the air; and still it shrieked and
wailed,

And casting back its eager head, with beak
And talon unremittingly assailed

The wreathed Serpent, who did ever seek Upon his enemy's heart a mortal wound to wreak.

What life, what power, was kindled and arose Within the sphere of that appalling fray! For, from the encounter of those wond'rous foes, A vapour like the sea's suspended spray Hung gathered: in the void air, far away, [leap, Floated the shattered plumes; bright scales did Where'er the Eagle's talons made their way, Like sparks into the darkness;-as they sweep, Blood stains the snowy foam of the tumultuous deep.

XII.

Swift chances in that combat-many a check, And many a change, a dark and wild turmoil; Sometimes the Snake around his enemy's neck Locked in stiff rings his admantine coil, Until the Eagle, faint with pain and toil, Remitted his strong flight, and near the sea Languidly fluttered, hopeless so to foil His adversary, who then reared on high His red and burning crest, radiant with victory.

XIII.

Then on the white edge of the bursting surge, Where they had sunk together, would the Snake Relax his suffocating grasp, and scourge

The wind with his wild writhings; for to break That chain of torment, the vast bird would shake The strength of his unconquerable wings As in despair, and with his sinewy neck Dissolve in sudden shock those linked rings Then soar as swift as smoke from a volcano springs.

XIV

Wile baffled wile, and strength encountered strength,

Thus long, but unprevailing :—the event Of that portentous fight appeared at length: Until the lamp of day was almost spent It had endured, when lifeless, stark, and rent, Hung high that mighty Serpent, and at last Fell to the sea, while o'er the continent, With clang of wings and scream the Eagle past, Heavily borne away on the exhausted blast.

XV.

And with it fled the tempest, so that ocean And earth and sky shone through the atmosphere

Only, it was strange to see the red commotion Of waves like mountains o'er the sinking sphere Of sunset sweep, and their fierce roar to hear Amid the calm down the steep path I wound To the sea-shore-the evening was most clear And beautiful, and there the sea I found Calm as a cradled child in dreamless slumber bound.

XVI.

There was a Woman, beautiful as morning, Sitting beneath the rocks upon the sand Of the waste sea-fair as one flower adorning An icy wilderness each delicate hand Lay crossed upon her bosom, and the band Of her dark hair had fallen, and so she sate Looking upon the waves; on the bare strand Upon the sea-mark a small boat did wait, Fair as herself like Love by Hope left desolate.