"But 'tis my Katie's love lives in my breast--
"Stand back, I say! my axe is heavy, and
"Might chance to cleave a liar's brittle skull.
"Your Kate! your Kate! your Kate!--hark, how the woods
"Mock at your lie with all their woody tongues,
"O, silence, ye false echoes! not his Kate
"But mine--I'm certain I will have your life!"
All the blue heav'n was dead in Max's eyes;
Doubt-wounded lay Kate's image in his heart,
And could not rise to pluck the sharp spear out.
"Well, strike, mad fool," said Alfred, somewhat pale;
"I have no weapon but these naked hands."
"Aye, but," said Max, "you smote my naked heart!
"O shall I slay him?--Satan, answer me--
"I cannot call on God for answer here.
"O Kate--!"
A voice from God came thro' the silent woods
And answer'd him--for suddenly a wind
Caught the great tree-tops, coned with high-pil'd snow,
And smote them to and fro, while all the air
Was sudden fill'd with busy drifts, and high
White pillars whirl'd amid the naked trunks,
And harsh, loud groans, and smiting, sapless boughs
Made hellish clamour in the quiet place.
With a shrill shriek of tearing fibres, rock'd
The half-hewn tree above his fated head;
And, tott'ring, asked the sudden blast, "Which way?"
And, answ'ring its windy arms, crash'd and broke
Thro' other lacing boughs, with one loud roar
Of woody thunder; all its pointed boughs