By heaven's decree in the cold grave was laid; And as in unrepented sin she died, Doomed to the same bad place, is punished for her pride, Because she deemed I well deserved to die, And made a merit of her cruelty. There, then, we met; both tried, and both were cast, And this irrevocable sentence passed; That she, whom I so long pursued in vain, Should suffer from my hands a lingering pain: Renewed to life, that she might daily die, I daily doomed to follow, she to fly; No more a lover, but a mortal foe, I seek her life (for love is none below;) As often as my dogs with better speed Arrest her flight, is she to death decreed: Then with this fatal sword, on which I died, I pierce her open back, or tender side, And tear that hardened heart from out her breast, Which, with her entrails, makes my hungry hounds a feast. Nor lies she long, but as her fates ordain, } Springs up to life, and, fresh to second pain, } Is saved to-day, to-morrow to be slain-- } This, versed in death, the infernal knight relates, And then for proof fulfilled their common fates; Her heart and bowels through her back he drew, And fed the hounds that helped him to pursue. Stern looked the fiend, as frustrate of his will, Not half sufficed, and greedy yet to kill. And now the soul expiring through the wound, Had left the body breathless on the ground, When thus the grisly spectre spoke again:-- Behold the fruit of ill-rewarded pain! As many months as I sustained her hate, So many years is she condemned by fate To daily death; and every several place, Conscious of her disdain, and my disgrace, Must witness her just punishment; and be A scene of triumph and revenge to me. As in this grove I took my last farewell, As on this very spot of earth I fell, As Friday saw me die, so she my prey Becomes even here, on this revolving day.-- Thus while he spoke, the virgin from the ground Upstarted fresh, already closed the wound, And, unconcerned for all she felt before, Precipitates her flight along the shore: The hell-hounds, as ungorged with flesh and blood, Pursue their prey, and seek their wonted food: The fiend remounts his courser, mends his pace, And all the vision vanished from the place. Long stood the noble youth oppressed with awe, } And stupid at the wondrous things he saw, } Surpassing common faith, transgressing nature's law: } He would have been asleep, and wished to wake, But dreams, he knew, no long impression make, Though strong at first; if vision, to what end, } But such as must his future state portend? } His love the damsel, and himself the fiend. } But yet reflecting that it could not be From heaven, which cannot impious acts decree, Resolved within himself to shun the snare, Which hell for his destruction did prepare; And as his better genius should direct,