At intervals, I heard his cries, as loud he shrieked and screamed:
Until, upon the azure sky, a lessening spot he seemed.
“The vulture flapped his sail-like wings, though heavily he flew,
A mote upon the sun’s broad face he seemed unto my view:
But once I thought I saw him stoop, as if he would alight;
’Twas only a delusive thought, for all had vanished quite.
“All search was vain, and years had passed; that child was ne’er forgot,
When once a daring hunter climbed unto a lofty spot,
From whence, upon a rugged crag the chamois never reached,
He saw an infant’s fleshless bones the elements had bleached!