Until I came to where the waters

Narrowed, raging through a gorge,

Nigh the threshold of my home:

And across the thunderous flood,

From crag to crag I leapt:

And then I climbed a cedar,

From whose close ambush I could watch

Who came or went about the cavern-mouth.

I lay along a level branch:

And, through the thick, dark screen,

I peered with eager eyes:

But no one crossed my sight.

The whole land lay before me, drowsing

In deepest noonday slumber:

No twig stirred in the breathless blaze;

And underneath the boughs no serpent rustled:

And, in the earth and air,

Naught waked, save one lone eagle, nigh the sun,

With wings, unbaffled, beating

Up the blue, unclouded heavens.

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