MAZEPPA.
39
“Relieved from that unwonted weight,
“From whence I could not extricate
“Nor him nor me—and there we lay,
“The dying on the dead!
“I little deem’d another day
“Would see my houseless, helpless head.
“And there from morn till twilight bound,
“I felt the heavy hours toil round,
“With just enough of life to see720
“My last of suns go down on me,
“In hopeless certainty of mind,
“That makes us feel at length resign’d
“To that which our foreboding years
“Presents the worst and last of fears
“Inevitable—even a boon,
“Nor more unkind for coming soon;
“Yet shunn’d and dreaded with such care,
“As if it only were a snare
“That prudence might escape:730
“At times both wish’d for and implored,
