Poetry · Dreamland

Dreamland

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 weird 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 dews 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 gray 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 fringèd 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.