Such was the hazard of the die[126]; 15
The wounded Charles was taught to fly
By day and night through field and flood,
Stain'd with his own and subjects' blood;
For thousands fell that flight to aid;
And not a voice was heard t' upbraid 20
Ambition in his humbled hour,
When truth had naught to dread from power.
His horse was slain, and Gieta[127] gave
His own--and died the Russians' slave.
This too sinks after many a league 25
Of well-sustain'd, but vain fatigue;
And in the depth of forests darkling,
The watch-fires in the distance sparkling--
The beacons of surrounding foes--
A king must lay his limbs at length. 30
Are these the laurels and repose
For which the nations strain their strength?
They laid him by a savage tree,
In outworn nature's agony;
His wounds were stiff--his limbs were stark-- 35
The heavy hour was chill and dark;
The fever in his blood forbade
a transient slumber's fitful aid:
And thus it was; but yet through all,
Kinglike the monarch bore his fall, 40
And made, in this extreme of ill,
His pangs the vassals of his will:
All silent and subdued were they,
As once the nations round him lay.