And a white plume waving free?

With his proud quick-flashing eye,

And his mien of knightly state?

Doth he come from where the swords flash’d high

In the Roncesvalles’ Strait?”

“In the gloomy Roncesvalles’ Strait

I saw, and mark’d him well;

For nobly on his steed he sate,

When the pride of manhood fell!

But it is not youth which turns