Of those belovèd fields she oft Had heard her Father tell In phrase that now with echoes soft 75 Haunted her lonely cell; She saw the hereditary bowers, She heard the ancestral stream; The Kremlin[662] and its haughty towers Forgotten like a dream! 80 PART IV The ever-changing Moon had traced Twelve times her monthly round, When through the unfrequented Waste Was heard a startling sound; A shout thrice sent from one who chased 5 At speed a wounded deer, Bounding through branches interlaced, And where the wood was clear. The fainting creature took the marsh, And toward the Island fled, 10 While plovers screamed with tumult harsh Above his antlered head; This, Ina saw; and, pale with fear, Shrunk to her citadel; The desperate deer rushed on, and near 15 The tangled covert fell. Across the marsh, the game in view, The Hunter followed fast, Nor paused, till o'er the stag he blew A death-proclaiming blast; 20 Then, resting on her upright mind, Came forth the Maid--"In me Behold," she said, "a stricken Hind Pursued by destiny! "From your deportment, Sir! I deem 25 That you have worn a sword, And will not hold in light esteem A suffering woman's word; There is my covert, there perchance I might have lain concealed, 30 My fortunes hid, my countenance Not even to you revealed. "Tears might be shed, and I might pray, Crouching and terrified, That what has been unveiled to-day, 35 You would in mystery hide; But I will not defile with dust The knee that bends to adore The God in heaven;--attend, be just; This ask I, and no more! 40 "I speak not of the winter's cold, For summer's heat exchanged, While I have lodged in this rough hold, From social life estranged; Nor yet of trouble and alarms: 45 High Heaven is my defence; And every season has soft arms For injured Innocence. "From Moscow to the Wilderness It was my choice to come, 50 Lest virtue should be harbourless, And honour want a home; And happy were I, if the Czar Retain his lawless will, To end life here like this poor deer, 55 Or a lamb on a green hill."