Red ashes round; they fall like drifted snows, The Tempest is abroad. Fierce from the North A wind uptears the lake, whose lowest depths Rock, while convulsions shake the solid earth. Where is Patamba? where the multitudes Who throng'd her level shores? The mighty Lake Hath burst its bounds, and yon wide valley roars, A troubled sea, before the rolling storm. XXVII. THE MIGRATION OF THE AZTECAS. THE storm hath ceased; but still the lava-tides But the storm hath ceased; What man is he On yonder crag, all dripping from the flood crags Which verge the northern shore, upon the heights Eastward, how few have refuged! Then the King Almost repented him of life preserved, And wished the waves had whelmed him, or the sword Fallen on him, ere this ill, this wretchedness, This desolation. Spirit-troubled thus, He call'd to mind how, from the first, his heart Spake to the Azteca. The King look'd up; Hover'd above him. Lo! toward the rock, Oaring with feeble arms his difficult way, A warrior struggles: he hath reach'd the rock, Hath graspt it, but his strength, exhausted, fails To lift him from the depth. The King descends Timely in aid; he holds the feeble one By his long locks, and on the safety-place Lands him. He, panting, from his clotted hair The sun came forth, it shone upon the rock; They felt the kindly beams; their strengthen'd blood Flow'd with a freer action. They arose, And look'd around, if aught of hope might meet Their prospect. On the lake the galleys plied Their toil successfully, ever to the shore Bearing their rescued charge: the eastern heights, Rightward and leftward of the fiery mount, Were throng'd with fugitives, whose growing crowds Speckled the ascent. Then Tlalala took hope, And his young heart, reviving, re-assumed When they behold thy countenance, the sight Will cheer them in their woe, and they will bless The Gods of Aztlan. To the heights they went; And when the remnant of the people saw Yuhidthiton preserved, such comfort then They felt, as utter wretchedness can feel, That only gives grief utterance, only speaks In groans and recollections of the past. He look'd around; a multitude was there,.. But where the strength of Aztlan ? ¡where her hosts ? Her marshall'd myriads where, whom yester Sun Had seen in arms array'd, in spirit high, Meantime, amid the crowd, doth Tlalala The King look'd up, .. It is determined, Tlalala! the Gods Have crush'd us. Who can stand against their wrath? Have we not life and strength? the Tyger cried. Disperse these women to the towns which stand Beyond the ruinous waters; against them The White Men will not war. Ourselves are few, Too few to root the invaders from our land, Or meet them with the hope of equal fight; Yet may we shelter in the woods, and share The Lion's liberty; and man by man |