For blood has left upon their souls Its everlasting stain ! “And well,” quoth he, “I know, for truth, Their pangs must be extreme, – Woe, woe, unutterable woe, — Who spill life's sacred stream' For why? Methought, last night I wrought A murder, in a dream! "One that had never done me wrong, A feeble man and old; I led him to a lonely field, The moon shone clear and cold: Now here, said I, this man shall die, "Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, 66 'Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone, That could not do me ill; And yet I feared him all the more, For lying there so still : There was a manhood in his look, "And, lo! the universal air “O God! it made me quake to see "My head was like an ardent coal, My heart as solid ice; My wretched, wretched soul, I knew Was at the Devil's price. A dozen times I groaned; the dead Had never groaned but twice. "And now, from forth the frowning sky, From the heaven's topmost height, I heard a voice - the awful voice Of the blood-avenging sprite :'Thou guilty man! take up thy dead And hide it from my sight!' “I took the dreary body up, "Down went the corse with a hollow plunge. And vanished in the pool; And washed my forehead cool, "O Heaven! to think of their white souls, And mine so black and grim! I could not share in childish prayer, Like a devil of the pit I seemed, Mid holy cherubim ! "And Peace went with them, one and all, And drew my midnight curtains round, With fingers bloody red! "All night I lay in agony, In anguish dark and deep; My fevered eyes I dared not close, "All night I lay in agony, "One stern tyrannic thought, that made All other thoughts its slave; Stronger and stronger every pulse "Heavily I rose up, as soon And I saw the dead in the river-bed, "Merrily rose the lark, and shook Under the horrid thing. "With breathless speed, like a soul in chase, I took him up and ran; There was no time to dig a grave Before the day began: In a lonesome wood, with heaps of leaves, I hid the murdered man! |