Page:Konradwallenrod00mickgoog.djvu/74

To Kowno bears a mighty army's shouts,
The clang of armour and the neigh of steeds.
Like mist the camp descends, o'erflows the plain,
And here and there the leaders' standards gleam
Like lightning ere the storm. The Germans stood
Upon the shore, threw bridges o'er the Niemen,
And day by day the walls and bastions fall
With shock of battering-ram, and night by night
The storming mines work underground like moles;
Beneath the heavens the bomb in fiery flight
Rises, and swoops upon the city roofs,
As falls the falcon on the lesser fowl.
Kowno is fallen in ruins. Then the Litwin
Retires to Kiejdan; Kiejdan falls in ruin.
Then Litwa makes defence in woods and hills;
The Germans march on farther, robbing, burning;
Kiejstut and Walter first in battle, last
Retreating. Kiejstut was untroubled still,
From childhood used to combat with his foe,
To attack, to conquer, or to fly. He knew
His forefathers warred ever with the Germans;
He, following in their footsteps, ever fought.
And cared not for the future. Other were
The thoughts of Walter. Nurtured 'mid the Germans,