Chapter I

Ruello, Ruello, devour the way!
On your breath bear us with you, O winds, as ye swell!
My darling, she lies near her death to-day,--
Gallop, gallop, gallop, Ruel!

That my spurs have torn open thy flanks, alas!
With thy long, sad neighing, thou need'st not tell;
We have many a league yet of desert to pass,--
Gallop, gallop, gallop, Ruel!

Hear'st that mocking laugh overhead in space?
Hear'st the shriek of the storm, as it drives, swift and fell?
A scent as of graves is blown into my face,--
Gallop, gallop, gallop, Ruel!

Ah, God! and if that be the sound I hear
Of the mourner's song and the passing-bell!
O heaven! What see I? The cross and the bier?--
Gallop, gallop, gallop, Ruel!

Thou falt'rest, Ruello? Oh, courage, my steed!
Wilt fail me, O traitor I trusted so well?
The tempest roars over us,--halt not, nor heed!--
Gallop, gallop, gallop, Ruel!

Gallop, Ruello, oh, faster yet!
Good God, that flash! O God! I am chill,--
Something hangs on my eyelids heavy as death,--
Gallop, gallop, gallop, Ruel!

II.

Smitten with the lightning stroke,
From his seat the cavalier
Fell, and forth the charger broke,
Rider-free and mad with fear,--
Through the tempest and the night,
Like a winged thing in flight.

In the wind his mane blown back,
With a frantic plunge and neigh,--
In the shadow a shadow black,
Ever wilder he flies away,--
Through the tempest and the night,
Like a winged thing in flight.

From his throbbing flanks arise
Smokes of fever and of sweat,--
Over him the pebble flies
From his swift feet swifter yet,--
Through the tempest and the night,
Like a winged thing in flight.

From the cliff unto the wood,
Twenty leagues he passed in all;
Soaked with bloody foam and blood,
Blind he struck against the wall:
Death is in the seat; no more
Stirs the steed that flew before.