Page:The Siege of Valencia.pdf/303

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And the empire's banner then, From its place of waving free, Went down before the shepherd-men, The men of the Forest-sea*.

With their pikes and massy clubs they brake The cuirass and the shield, And the war-horse dash'd to the reddening lake, From the reapers of the field! The field—but not of sheaves— Proud crests and pennons lay, Strewn o'er it thick as the birch-wood leaves, In the autumn-tempest's way.

Oh! the sun in heaven fierce havoc view'd,   When the Austrian turn'd to fly, And the brave, in the trampling multitude, Had a fearful death to die! And the leader of the war At eve unhelm'd was seen, With a hurrying step on the wilds afar, And a pale and troubled mien.