Page:Mazeppa (1819).djvu/35

Rh “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 past— “Untired, 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.

“The wood was past; ’twas more than noon, “But chill the air, although in June; “Or it might be my veins ran cold— “Prolong’d endurance tames the bold;