Page:Andromeda, and other poems - Kingsley (1858).djvu/41

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ANDROMEDA.
29
Winning with strokes of the sword such a prize, would so leave it behind him.'
Just as at first some colt, wild-eyed, with quivering nostril,
Plunges in fear of the curb, and the fluttering robes of the rider;
Soon, grown bold by despair, submits to the will of his master,
Tamer and tamer each hour, and at last, in the pride of obedience,
Answers the heel with a curvet, and arches his neck to be fondled,
Cowed by the need that maid grew tame; while the hero indignant
Tore at the fetters which held her: the brass, too cunningly tempered, 290
Held to the rock by the nails, deep wedged; till the boy, red with anger,
Drew from his ivory thigh, keen flashing, a falchion of diamond—