 | Poems of Paul Hamilton Hayne |  |
STORM-FRAGMENTS.
The storm had raved its furious soul away;
O'er its wild ruins Twilight, spectral, gray,
O'er its wild ruins Twilight, spectral, gray,
Stole like a nun, 'midst wounded men and slain,
Walking the bounds of some fierce battle-plain.
Walking the bounds of some fierce battle-plain.
The ghost of thunder muttered faintly by;
While down the uttermost spaces of the sky,
While down the uttermost spaces of the sky,
Just where the sunset's glimmering verge grew pale,
The baffled winds outbreathed their dying wail!
The baffled winds outbreathed their dying wail!
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The sombre clouds that thronged a shadowy west
Writhed, as if tortured monsters of unrest,
Writhed, as if tortured monsters of unrest,
Whose depths the keen sheet-lightnings rent apart,
To show what fiery torment throbbed at heart!
To show what fiery torment throbbed at heart!
Where raged of late the war of elements dread,
Brooded a solemn silence overhead,
Brooded a solemn silence overhead,
Through which, beyond the cloud-strewn, heavenly field,
The moon shone gory as a warrior's shield,
The moon shone gory as a warrior's shield,
Dipped in the veins of many a vanquished foe;
Blood-red, I marked the wandering vapors flow
Blood-red, I marked the wandering vapors flow
Vaguely about her, while her lurid light
Scared the vague vanguard of the shades of night;
Scared the vague vanguard of the shades of night;
Their banded hosts retreating, wild and dim,
In shattered cohorts o'er the horizon's rim:
In shattered cohorts o'er the horizon's rim:
Yet, the broad empire of those baleful beams
Heaved with strange shapes and hues of nightmare dreams!
Heaved with strange shapes and hues of nightmare dreams!
Here, as from cloud-born Himalayas rolled,
I saw what seemed a cataract's rush of gold,
I saw what seemed a cataract's rush of gold,
Hurled between shores of darkness, dense and dire,
Down to a seething mountain-lake of fire;
Down to a seething mountain-lake of fire;
There, dismal catacombs, whose nether glooms
Yawned, to reveal their loathsome place of tombs:
Yawned, to reveal their loathsome place of tombs:
Caverns of mystic depth, whence bubbling came
The blue-tinged horror of sulphureous flame;
The blue-tinged horror of sulphureous flame;
Fragments of castles, with fresh blood besprent,
Gaunt, ruined tower, and blasted battlement—
Gaunt, ruined tower, and blasted battlement—
On which, flame-clad, and tottering to their fall.
Dark eyes of frenzy flashed o'er cope and wall!
Dark eyes of frenzy flashed o'er cope and wall!
With awful ocean-spaces, limitless, grand.
Where spectral billows lashed a viewless land;
Where spectral billows lashed a viewless land;
Their mountainous floods a frowning zenith kissed,
But glimpsed, at times, 'twixt folds of phantom-mist,
But glimpsed, at times, 'twixt folds of phantom-mist,
I viewed, as faintly touched by muffled stars,
The semblance of dead forms, on ship-wrecked spars
The semblance of dead forms, on ship-wrecked spars
Whirled upward, and dead faces, a white spume
Smote to false life against that turbulent gloom,
Smote to false life against that turbulent gloom,
Where mournful birds, on pinions gray or dun,
Circled, methought, o'er some half-perished sun,
Circled, methought, o'er some half-perished sun,
Whose feeble lustre, faltering upward, flings
A sad-hued radiance round their pallid wings;
A sad-hued radiance round their pallid wings;
Yea! all fantastic shapes of terror, wrought
'Twixt errant fancy and dream-haunted thought,
'Twixt errant fancy and dream-haunted thought,
Until I seemed with Dante's soul to fly,
Through new Infernos, shifted to—the sky!
Through new Infernos, shifted to—the sky!
| Poems of Paul Hamilton Hayne | |