And many an hour fared patiently,
Beneath the parching sun,
That eyed him through his riven wall
Before the day was done.

The shattered casements gaped and stared;

Black charcoal paved the floor; Up rose his hunger-maddened hound, And bit him in the door.

He climbed the scathed and tottering stair

Unto the sooty tower;
His rifled coffers upside down
Lay in his secret bower.

With heavy heart and tread he trod
The banquet-hall below;
The hollow-voiced echoes chid
Each other, to and fro.

A jeering face peeped in; he heard
A titter and a shout;
In rushed his rabble rout of hinds,
And round him danced about:

"Ho, worthy master, welcome home! Where hast thou left thy sword, Thy kingly port, and lusty blows? We serve another lord."

They strove to trip him as he went;
They drove him from his door:
"Now fare ye well, my fathers' halls!
We part to meet no more.

"Farewell my pride and pomp and power!

Farewell, my slippery wealth, That bought my soul's sore malady, Nor stayed to buy my health!

"Farewell, my sturdy strength, that did

The Devil's work so well,
All blasted by God's thunderbolts,
That on my spirit fell!

"And thou, O brave and loyal Christ,
Who, 'mid the sordid Jews,
By love, not fear, constrained couldst
At Satan's hands refuse

"The crown and sceptre of the world, And choose the cross and rod, Thy more than earthly manhood in Its glory unto God