The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme The witch of Shiloh, the last of the Wampanoags, the gentle earl, the enchanted voyage |
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 | The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme |  |
III
Mid levin gleam and thunder rattle
Our hero fought his parlous battle;
He routed Satan's hideous minions
And strowed the ways with demon-pinions,
With mangled goat and broomstick broken,
Chaldean scroll and wizard token;
He chased the myriad mongrel muddle
Through dripping wold and splashing puddle
Till not an imp could raise a bellow
And not a warlock find his fellow;
In short, he quelled the magian revel
And spoiled the picnic of the devil.
Our hero fought his parlous battle;
He routed Satan's hideous minions
And strowed the ways with demon-pinions,
With mangled goat and broomstick broken,
Chaldean scroll and wizard token;
He chased the myriad mongrel muddle
Through dripping wold and splashing puddle
Till not an imp could raise a bellow
And not a warlock find his fellow;
In short, he quelled the magian revel
And spoiled the picnic of the devil.
6
Then, panting from his godlike labor,
He sheathed his yard or two of sabre
And homeward through the darkness stumbled.
Rude march! The thunder-billows rumbled;
The lightning shot demoniac flashes,
As though 'twould scorch the skies to ashes;
The sheeted flurries hissed and rattled
Like volleys poured by ranks embattled;
The earth was mud, the air was water,
And Downing streaming like an otter.
He sheathed his yard or two of sabre
And homeward through the darkness stumbled.
Rude march! The thunder-billows rumbled;
The lightning shot demoniac flashes,
As though 'twould scorch the skies to ashes;
The sheeted flurries hissed and rattled
Like volleys poured by ranks embattled;
The earth was mud, the air was water,
And Downing streaming like an otter.
But while he toiled through mud and mystery,
The dampest hero known to history,
He chanced to spy beneath a thicket
A damsel crouching like a cricket,
A lassie weird in garb and feature,
Who seemed to him a wizard creature.
One leap! a panther leap! He caught her,
And homeward on his shoulder brought her.
The dampest hero known to history,
He chanced to spy beneath a thicket
A damsel crouching like a cricket,
A lassie weird in garb and feature,
Who seemed to him a wizard creature.
One leap! a panther leap! He caught her,
And homeward on his shoulder brought her.
| The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme | |