And the empire's banner then,
From its place of waving free,
Went down before the shepherd-men,
The men of the Forest-sea*[1].
With their pikes and massy clubs they brake
The cuirass and the shield,
And the war-horse dash'd to the reddening lake,
From the reapers of the field!
The field—but not of sheaves—
Proud crests and pennons lay,
Strewn o'er it thick as the birch-wood leaves,
In the autumn-tempest's way.
Oh! the sun in heaven fierce havoc view'd,
When the Austrian turn'd to fly,
And the brave, in the trampling multitude,
Had a fearful death to die!
And the leader of the war
At eve unhelm'd was seen,
With a hurrying step on the wilds afar,
And a pale and troubled mien.
- ↑ *Forest-sea, the lake of the four cantons is also so called.
