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Before her stood fair Bregenz ;

Once more her towers arose; What were the friends beside her?

Only her country's foes! The faces of her kinsfolk,

The days of childhood flown, The echoes of her mountains,

Reclaimed her as their own!

Nothing she heard around her, (Though shouts rang forth again,)

Gone were the green Swiss valleys,

The pasture, and the plain; Before her eyes one vision,

And in her heart one cry, That said, "Go forth, save Bregenz,

And then, if need be, die!"

And plunges in the deep.

She strives to pierce the blackness, And looser throws the rein; Her steed must breast the waters

That dash above his mane. How gallantly, how nobly,

He struggles through the foam, And see in the far distance Shine out the lights of home! Up the steep banks he bears her, And now, they rush again Towards the heights of Bregenz,

That tower above the plain. They reach the gate of Bregenz,

Just as the midnight rings, And out come serf and soldier

To meet the news she brings.

Bregenz is saved! Ere daylight Her battlements are manned;