Mazeppa.

A poem by Victor Marie Hugo

("Ainsi, lorsqu'un mortel!")

[XXXIV., May, 1828.]

As when a mortal - Genius' prize, alack!
Is, living, bound upon thy fatal back,
Thou reinless racing steed!
In vain he writhes, mere cloud upon a star,
Thou bearest him as went Mazeppa, far
Out of the flow'ry mead, -
So - though thou speed'st implacable, (like him,
Spent, pallid, torn, bruised, weary, sore and dim,
As if each stride the nearer bring
Him to the grave) - when comes the time,
After the fall, he rises - KING!

H.L. WILLIAMS