‘Day after day I had gnawed my chain,
Till I sharpened the stubborn link;
But when I had pierced the swollen vein,
And was writhing in death’s last dreadful pain,
While just on eternity’s brink:
‘Even then the leech’s skill prevailed;
I was saved for a darker fate!
My very guards ’neath my stern glance quailed,
And with their cloaks their faces veiled
As they passed the fast-barred grate.