Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/287

 262 THE RETURN OF NAPOLEON.

And the noble war-horse, led

Caparisoned along, Seems fiercely for his lord to ask,

As his red eye scans the throng.

&quot;Who rideth on yon car ?

The incense flameth high, Comes there some demi-god of old ?

No answer I no reply ! Who rideth on yon car ?

No shout his minions raise, But by a lofty chapel dome

The muffled hero stays.

A king is standing there,

And with uncovered head Receives him in the name of France,

Receiveth whom ? the Dead ! Was he not buried deep

In island-cavern drear, Girt by the sounding ocean surge ?

How came that sleeper here ?

Was there no rest for him

Beneath a peaceful pall, That thus he breaks his stony tomb,

Ere the strong angel s call ? Hark ! hark ! the requiem swells,

A deep, soul-thrilling strain ! An echo, never to be heard

By mortal ear again.

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