"Allah! il Allah!" rose the shout,--and starting with a bound, The dreadful Creature cleared at once a dozen yards of ground; And grasping at her mane with both my cold convulsive hands, Away we flew--away! away! across the shifting sands! My eyes were closed in utter dread of such a fearful race, But yet by certain signs I knew we went no earthly pace, For turn whichever way we might, the wind with equal force Rush'd like a horrid hurricane still adverse to our course-- One moment close at hand I heard the roaring Syrian Sea, The next is only murmur'd like the humming of a bee! And when I dared at last to glance across the wild immense, Oh ne'er shall I forget the whirl that met the dizzy sense! What seem'd a little sprig of fern, ere lips could reckon twain, A palm of forty cubits high, we passed it on the plain! What tongue could tell,--what pencil paint,--what pen describe the ride? Now off--now on--now up--now down,--and flung from side to side! I tried to speak, but had no voice, to soothe her with its tone-- My scanty breath was jolted out with many a sudden groan-- My joints were racked--my back was strained, so firmly I had clung-- My nostrils gush'd, and thrice my teeth had bitten through my tongue-- When lo!--farewell all hope of life!--she turn'd and faced the rocks, None but a flying horse could clear those monstrous granite blocks! So thought I,--but I little knew the desert pride and fire, Deriv'd from a most deer-like dam, and lion-hearted sire; Little I guess'd the energy of muscle, blood, and bone, Bound after bound, with eager springs, she clear'd each massive stone;-- Nine mortal leaps were pass'd before a huge gray rock at length Stood planted there as if to dare her utmost pitch of strength-- My time was come! that granite heap my monument of death! She paused, she snorted loud and long, and drew a fuller breath; Nine strides and then a louder beat that warn'd me of her spring, I felt her rising in the air like eagle on the wing-- But oh! the crash!--the hideous shock!--the million sparks around! Her hindmost hoofs had struck the crest of that prodigious mound! Wild shriek'd the headlong Desert-Born--or else 'twas demon's mirth, One second more, and Man and Mare roll'd breathless on the earth! * * * * *