SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETHY
And then he turn'd and sternly spake aloud: —
"Rise! wherefore dost thou vainly question thus 365
Of Rustum? I am here, whom thou hast called
By challenge forth; make good thy vaunt, or yield !
Is it with Rustum only thou wouldst fight?
Rash boy, men look on Rustum Js face and flee!
For well I know, that did great Rustum stand 370
Before thy face this day, and were reveal'd.
There would be then no talk of lighting more.
But being what I am, I tell thee this—
Do thou record it in thine inmost soul:
Either thou shalt renounce thy vaunt and yield, 375
Or else thy bones shall strew this sand, till winds
Bleach them, or Oxus with his summer-floods,
Oxus in summer wash them all away/'
He spoke; and Sohrab answer'd on his feet: —
44Art thou so fierce? Thou wilt not fright me so! 380
I am no girl, to be made pale by words.
Yet this thou hast said well, did Rustum stand
Here on this field, there were no fighting then.
But Rustum is far hence, and \ve stand here.
Begin ! thou art more vast, more dread than I, 3^5
And thou art proved, I know, and I am young—
But yet success sways with the breath of heaven.
And though thou thinkest that thou knowest sure
Thy victory, yet thou canst not surely know.
For we are all like swimmers in the sea, 390
Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate,
Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall.
And whether it will heave us up to land,
Or whether it will roll us out to sea,
Back out to sea, to the deep waves of death, 395
We know not, and no search will make us know;
Only the event will teach us in its hour."
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