And
I moaned and sighed, "Were I only safe
In my home that alas! so far is—
Free in the Faubourg-Poissonière,
Beside my wife in Paris!"
dt
text .
•
note.
•
•
11
Over
my brow I felt at times
A curious something stealing;
'Twas like the censor's chilly hand,
And set my poor brain reeling.
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text .
•
x
12
A
confused array of white gendarmes
In their shrouds my bed surrounded.
I seemed to hear the clank of chains—
How gruesomely it sounded!
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text .
•
x
13
And
ah! the spectres carried me off—
In their clutch they held me surely.
On a steep and awful precipice
They tied me down securely.
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text .
•
x
14
And
there was that horrible tassel again,
To my dreams so detestably tethered!
But now it had changed to a vulture bold,
Sharp-clawed and sable-feathered.
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text .
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x
15
'Tis
the Prussian Eagle, woe is me!
It has gripped me and torn the liver
With its cruel claws from my bleeding breast.
In vain I groan and quiver.
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text .
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x
16
And
thus till cock-crow I struggled and writhed
In the dream-bonds fever wove me—
Till I waked in Minden, perspiring in bed
With only a tassel above me.
dt
text .
17
I
hardly dared to draw my breath
Till, posting on, I found me
Safe on the soil of Bückeburg
With the open country round me.
