Page:The Queens Court Manuscript with Other Ancient Bohemian Poems, 1852, Cambridge edition.djvu/44

 The crash of spears like thunder roll’d,
 * The swords like lightning gleam’d,

And either host in youthful might
 * To urge the other seem’d.

The num’rous Christians pressed the foe,
 * And ended were the war,

Had not th’ enchanters come anew,
 * Bearing the cloven bar.

Inflam’d, the Tatars rushing charge
 * The Christians savagely,

So savagely, that panic-struck,
 * Like deer, they turn and fly.

Here lies a shield upon the ground,
 * A costly helm struck down;

There by the stirrups trailing drags
 * A horse his rider thrown.

Here one doth bravely all in vain
 * The Tatars strive to meet,

Another there for heaven’s sake
 * For mercy doth intreat.

The Tatars tax the Christians sore,
 * And spread on ev’ry side,

Subdue two kingdoms, Kiew old,
 * And Novgorod the wide.