Undertones Part 8

On the waste road through the plain, As I rode, At my back he whirled like rain; On the tempest-blackened plain, As I rode.

Four fierce hoofs shod red with fire, As I rode, Woke the wild rocks, dark and dire; Eyes and nostrils streamed with fire, As I rode.

On the deep road through the rocks, As I rode, I could reach his horse's locks; Through the echo-hurling rocks, As I rode.

And again I looked behind, As I rode,-- Dark as night and swift as wind, Towering, he rode behind, As I rode.

On the steep road down the dell, As I rode, In the night I heard a bell, In the village in the dell, As I rode.

And my soul called out in prayer, As I rode,-- Lo! the demon went in air, Leaving me alone in prayer, As I rode.

THE WERE-WOLF

SHE.

Nay; still amort, my love? Why dost thou lag?

HE.

The strix-owl cried.

SHE.

Nay! yon wild stream that leaps Hoa.r.s.e from the black pines of the Hakel steeps, A moon-tipped water, down a glittering crag.-- Why so aghast, sweetheart? Why dost thou stop?

HE.

The demon-huntsman pa.s.sed with hooting horn!

SHE.

Nay! 't was the blind wind sweeping through the thorn Around the ruins of the Dumburg's top.

HE.

My limbs are cold.

SHE.

Come! warm thee in mine arms.

HE.

Mine eyes are weary.

SHE.

Rest them, love, on mine.

HE.

I am athirst.

SHE.

Quench on my lips thy thirst.-- O dear beloved, how thy last kiss warms My blood again!

HE.

Off!... How thy eyeb.a.l.l.s s.h.i.+ne!

Thy face!... thy form!... So do I die accursed!

THE TROGLODYTE

In ages dead, a troglodyte, At the hollow roots of a monster height,-- That grew from the heart of the world to light,-- I dwelt in caverns: over me Were mountains older than the moon; And forests vaster than the sea, And gulfs, that the earthquake's hand had hewn, Hung under me. And late and soon I heard the daemon of change that sighed A cosmic language of mystery; While life sat silent, primeval-eyed, With the infant spirit of prophecy.

Gaunt stars glared down on the t.i.tan peaks; And the gaunter glare of the cratered streaks Of the sunset's ruin heard condor shrieks.

The roar of cataracts hurled in air, And the hurricane laying his thunders bare, And rush of battling beasts,--whose lair Was the antechamber of nadir-gloom,-- Were my outworld joys. But who shall tell The awe of the depths that heard the boom Of the iron rivers that fas.h.i.+oned h.e.l.l!

THE CITY OF DARKNESS

Wide-walled it stands in heathen lands Beside a mystic sea, With streets strange-trod of many a G.o.d, And templed blasphemy.

Far in the night, a rose of light It s.h.i.+nes beside the sea; But overhead an unknown dread Impends eternally.

There is a sound above, around Of music by the sea; And weird and wide the torches glide Of pagan revelry.

There is a noise as of a voice That calls beneath the sea; And all the deep grows pale with sleep And vague expectancy.

Then slowly up--as from a cup Seethes poison--lifts the sea; Wild ma.s.s on ma.s.s, as in black gla.s.s, The town glows fiery.

Red-lit it glowers like h.e.l.l's dark towers Set in the iron sea; And monster swarms with awful forms Roll though it cloudily.

Still overhead the unknown dread, Whose shadow dyes the sea, At wrath-winged wait behind its gate Till G.o.d shall set it free.