On the heights peals the thunder, and trembles the bridge, The huntsman bounds on by the dizzying ridge, Undaunted he hies him O'er ice-covered wild, Where leaf never budded, Nor spring ever smiled And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye NO longer the dwellings of man can espy; Through the parting clouds only The earth can be seen, Far down 'neath the vapor The meadows of green.