86
The tower of lahneck.
And yet they lingered. Margaret had crept
Close to the edge, and Ida, on her shoulder
Resting a light hand, forward leant with looks
Piercing the distance downward.
A strange dread
Thrilled each alike. Both from the parapet
Shrank with one impulse. From the vaults beneath
Crept a light, silent shudder. Was it time
For the roused earth to jostle from her breast
This sepulchre of crime? The turret rocked
Under their feet, and a loud thunderous roar
Rushed upward like the swift flame shot to heaven
Out of a crater! When it died away
In a deep trembling, all the ruin seemed
Alive with swarming echoes, but these dropped
Into their nooks, and from below again
Welled the deep silence.
Then the German rose,
And, tottering to the stairway, shrieked to see
Its last rude vestige, loosened by her tread,
Plunge through the void, and Ida, at the cry,
Close to the edge, and Ida, on her shoulder
Resting a light hand, forward leant with looks
Piercing the distance downward.
A strange dread
Thrilled each alike. Both from the parapet
Shrank with one impulse. From the vaults beneath
Crept a light, silent shudder. Was it time
For the roused earth to jostle from her breast
This sepulchre of crime? The turret rocked
Under their feet, and a loud thunderous roar
Rushed upward like the swift flame shot to heaven
Out of a crater! When it died away
In a deep trembling, all the ruin seemed
Alive with swarming echoes, but these dropped
Into their nooks, and from below again
Welled the deep silence.
Then the German rose,
And, tottering to the stairway, shrieked to see
Its last rude vestige, loosened by her tread,
Plunge through the void, and Ida, at the cry,
