And now with anxious eye thou look'st about,

While the relentless shade draws on its veil,

For some sure shelter from approaching dews,

And the insidious steps of nightly foes.

I fear imprisonment has dulled thy wit,

Or ingrained servitude extinguished it.

But no; dim memory of the days of yore,

By Brahmapootra and the Jumna's shore,

Where thy proud race flew swiftly o'er the heath,

And sought its food the jungle's shade beneath,