By a route
obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill
angels only,
Where an Eidolon,
named NIGHT,
On a black throne
reigns upright,
I have reached
these lands but newly
From an ultimate
dim Thule-
From a wild clime
that lieth, sublime,
Out
of SPACE- out of TIME.
Bottomless vales
and boundless floods,
And chasms, and
caves, and Titan woods,
With forms that
no man can discover
For the tears
that drip all over;
Mountains
toppling evermore
Into seas without
a shore;
Seas that
restlessly aspire,
Surging, unto
skies of fire;
Lakes that
endlessly outspread
Their lone
waters- lone and dead,-
Their still
waters- still and chilly
With the snows of
the lolling lily.
By the lakes that
thus outspread
Their lone
waters, lone and dead,-
Their sad waters,
sad and chilly
With the snows of
the lolling lily,-
By the mountains-
near the river
Murmuring lowly,
murmuring ever,-
By the grey
woods,- by the swamp
Where the toad
and the newt encamp-
By the dismal
tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls,-
By each spot the
most unholy-
In each nook most
melancholy-
There the
traveller meets aghast
Sheeted Memories
of the Past-
Shrouded forms
that start and sigh
As they pass the
wanderer by-
White-robed forms
of friends long given,
In agony, to the
Earth- and Heaven.
For the heart
whose woes are legion
'Tis a peaceful,
soothing region-
For the spirit
that walks in shadow
'Tis- oh, 'tis an
Eldorado!
But the
traveller, travelling through it,
May not- dare not
openly view it!
Never its
mysteries are exposed
To the weak human
eye unclosed;
So wills its
King, who hath forbid
The uplifting of
the fringed lid;
And thus the sad
Soul that here passes
Beholds it but
through darkened glasses.
By a route
obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill
angels only,
Where an Eidolon,
named NIGHT,
On a black throne
reigns upright,
I have wandered
home but newly
From this
ultimate dim Thule.
(1844)