elings torn
By a fierce conqueror's scorn;
The national gods o'erthrown--treasure and blood,
Once boundless as the flood,
That 'neath his fixed and unforgiving eye
Crept onward silently;
Scattered and squandered wantonly, by bands,
Leaguered in shame, the scum of foreign lands,
Sent forth to lengthen out their infamy,
With the wild banquet of a pampered mood.

Even as he swore, his eye
Grew kindled with a fierce and flaming blight,
Red-lowering like the sky,
When, heralding the tempest in his might,
The muttering clouds march forth and form on high.
With sable banners and grim majesty.
Beneath his frowning brow a shaft of fire,
That told the lurking ire,
Shot ever forth, outflashing through the gloom
It could not well illume,
Making the swarthy cheeks on which it fell
Seem trenched with scarred lines of hate and hell.
Then heaved his breast with all the deep delight
The warrior finds in promise of the fight,
Who seeks for vengeance in his victory.
For, in the sudden silence in the air,
He knew how gracious was the audience there:
He heard the wings unfolding at the close,
And the soft voice that cheered him once before
Now into utterance rose:
One whispered word,
One parting tone,
And then a fragrant flight of wings was heard
And she was gone, was gone--
Yet was he not alone! not all alone!

Thus, having sworn--the old and witnessing tree
Bent down, and in his branches registered
Each dark and passionate word;
And on the rocks, trenched in their shapeless sides,
The terrible oath abides;
And the dark waters, muttering to their waves,
Bore to their secret mansions and dim caves
The low of death they heard.
Thus were the dead appeased--the listening dead--
For, as the warrior paused, a cold breath came,
Wrapping with ice his frame,
A cold hand pressing on his heart and head;
Entranced and motionless,
Upon the earth he lies,
While a dread picture of the land's distress
Rose up before his eyes.
First came old Hilluah's shadow, with the ring
About his brow, the sceptre in his hand,
Ensigns of glorious and supreme command,
Proofs of the conqueror, honored in the king.
"Ilenovar! Ilenovar!" he cried:
Vainly the chief replied;--
He strove to rise