MAZEPPA.
33
“The waters broke my hollow trance,
“And with a temporary strength
“My stiffen’d limbs were rebaptized.
“My courser’s broad breast proudly braves,590
“And dashes off the ascending waves
“And onward we advance!
“We reach the slippery shore at length,
“A haven I but little prized,
“For all behind was dark and drear,
“And all before was night and fear.
“How many hours of night or day
“In those suspended pangs I lay,
“I could not tell; I scarcely knew
“If this were human breath I drew.600
XV.
“With glossy skin, and dripping mane,
“And reeling limbs, and reeking flank,
“The wild steed’s sinewy nerves still strain
“Up the repelling bank.
“We gain the top: a boundless plain
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