The bridal of Vaumond :: :: University of Virginia Library

No safety there—despair in flight!
Onward, onward went the knight;
Though frailer be that trembling span
Than sabre arch of mussulman,
While darker hell and fiercer death
Foam and roar and yawn beneath,
Onward, lo! he treads the arch—
He casts no look below,
To mark despair's unsteadied march,
The flame's unearthly glow;
But its dun vapours round him wreathe,
And fear, that bade him not to breathe
Preserv'd his life—that withering fire
He who would breathe again may not respire!