Haunted Island

By a route obscure and lonely, 

Haunted by I'll 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 it's mysteries are exposed

To the weak human eye unclosed; 

So wills it's 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 I'll angels only, 

Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT, 

On a black throne reigns upright, 

I have wandered home but newly

From this ultimate dim Thule.