Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — The Siege of Kazan

Black are the moors before Kazan,        &nbsp And their stagnant waters smell of blood: I said in my heart, with horse and man,        &nbsp I will swim across this shallow flood. Under the feet of Argamack,        &nbsp Like new moons were the shoes he bare, Silken trappings hung on his back,        &nbsp In a talisman on his neck, a prayer. My warriors, thought I, are following me;        &nbsp But when I looked behind, alas! Not one of all the band could I see,        &nbsp All had sunk in the black morass! Where are our shallow fords? and where        &nbsp The power of Kazan with its fourfold gates? From the prison windows our maidens fair        &nbsp Talk of us still through the iron grates. We cannot hear them; for horse and man        &nbsp Lie buried deep in the dark abyss! Ah! the black day hath come down on Kazan!        &nbsp Ah! was ever a grief like this?