In
the Midnight heaven's burning
Through
the ethereal deeps afar
Once
I watch'd with restless yearning
An
alluring aureate star;
Ev'ry
eve aloft returning
Gleaming
nigh the Arctic Car*.
...
.
Mystic
waves of beauty blended
With
the gorgeous golden rays
Phantasies
of bliss descended
In
a myrrh'd Elysian haze.
In
the lyre-born chords extended
Harmonies
of Lydian lays.
....
And
(thought I) lies scenes of pleasure,
Where
the free and blessed dwell,
And
each moment bears a treasure,
Freighted
with the lotos-spell,
And
there floats a liquid measure
From
the lute of Israfel.
...
There
(I told myself) were shining
Worlds
of happiness unknown,
Peace
and Innocence entwining
By
the Crowned Virtue's throne;
Men
of light, their thoughts refining
Purer,
fairer, than my own.
...
Thus
I mus'd when o'er the vision
Crept
a red delirious change;
Hope
dissolving to derision,
Beauty
to distortion strange;
Hymnic
chords in weird collision,
Spectral
sights in endless range....
Crimson
burn'd the star of madness
As
behind the beams I peer'd;
All
was woe that seem'd but gladness
Ere
my gaze with Truth was sear'd;
Cacodaemons,
mir'd with madness,
Through
the fever'd flick'ring leer'd....
Now
I know the fiendish fable
The
the golden glitter bore;
Now
I shun the spangled sable
That
I watch'd and lov'd before;
But
the horror, set and stable,
Haunts
my soul forevermore!
...
