Page:The Corsair (Byron).djvu/59

Rh Far from his band, and battling with a host

That deem right dearly won the field he lost,

Fell'd—bleeding—baffled of the death he sought,

And snatch'd to expiate all the ills he wrought;

Preserved to linger and to live in vain,

While Vengeance ponder'd o'er new plans of pain,

And staunch'd the blood she saves to shed again—

But drop by drop, for Seyd's unglutted eye

Would doom him ever dying—ne'er to die!

Can this be he? triumphant late she saw,

When his red hand's wild gesture waved, a law!

'Tis he indeed—disarmed but undeprest,

His sole regret the life he still possest;

His wounds too slight, though taken with that will,

Which would have kissed the hand that then could kill.

Oh were there none, of all the many given,

To send his soul—he scarcely asked to heaven?

Must he alone of all retain his breath,

Who more than all had striv'n and struck for death?

He deeply felt—what mortal hearts must feel,

When thus revers'd on faithless fortune's wheel,