Page:Wessex poems and other verses (IA wessexpoemsother00hard).pdf/87

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LEIPZIG

“One road to the rearward, and but one,
Did fitful Chance allow:
'Twas where the Piciss' and Elster run—
The Bridge of Lindenau.

"The nineteenth dawned. Down street and Platz
The wasted French sank back,
Stretching long lines across the Flats
And on the bridge-way track;

“When there surged on the sky an earthen wave,
And stones, and men, as though
Some rebel churchyard crew updrave
Their sepulchres from below.

"To Heaven is blown Bridge Lindenau;
Wrecked regiments reel therefrom;
And rank and file in masses plough
The sullen Elster-Strom.

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