 | Historical Odes and Other Poems |  |
74
Legion.
He had come back from Christ:
His neighbours watched him sitting there
Quiet and clothed; but if perchance
Upon him fell a doubtful glance,
He rose and sat away, or shook
With troubled look.
His neighbours watched him sitting there
Quiet and clothed; but if perchance
Upon him fell a doubtful glance,
He rose and sat away, or shook
With troubled look.
Beside the door he sat;
The household tasks within were plied;
The Galilean sea and shore
In the deep distance purpled o'er,
Before him rose in prospect wide
At eventide.
The household tasks within were plied;
The Galilean sea and shore
In the deep distance purpled o'er,
Before him rose in prospect wide
At eventide.
The tombs in terraces
Rock-hewn beyond the lake arose;
The creeping waters came more near,
A light mist wrapped the surface clear
Wherein the swine were choked, with those
His demon foes.
Rock-hewn beyond the lake arose;
The creeping waters came more near,
A light mist wrapped the surface clear
Wherein the swine were choked, with those
His demon foes.
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Beyond the water's edge
Gleamed one white lintel of a tomb;
Beneath it yawned a deadly gap
Of shade that did the entrance wrap;
Upon no eye save his might loom
That gleam and gloom.
Gleamed one white lintel of a tomb;
Beneath it yawned a deadly gap
Of shade that did the entrance wrap;
Upon no eye save his might loom
That gleam and gloom.
'Twas there that he had been
When he could take no note of time,
But felt the pressure pant on pant
Of all earth's bars of adamant
About him, nor could leap and climb,
But lay in slime.
When he could take no note of time,
But felt the pressure pant on pant
Of all earth's bars of adamant
About him, nor could leap and climb,
But lay in slime.
The while they kept him cold,
Senseless and dumb and deaf and blind;
Nor tasted he, nor heard, nor smelt,
Nor light nor warmth of nature felt;
For all the fiends had so combined
Against his mind.
Senseless and dumb and deaf and blind;
Nor tasted he, nor heard, nor smelt,
Nor light nor warmth of nature felt;
For all the fiends had so combined
Against his mind.
'Twas there that first he found
In pain the sense of life, a spark
Of manhood, a resisting spot,
A thought which could aver that not
For ever should his world be dark:
And he did mark
In pain the sense of life, a spark
Of manhood, a resisting spot,
A thought which could aver that not
For ever should his world be dark:
And he did mark
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The wicked work of fiends;
And maniacally struggled then;
And in that little light of dawn
He grew to loathe the hellish spawn,
And ghastly from his lonesome den
Leaped forth on men
And maniacally struggled then;
And in that little light of dawn
He grew to loathe the hellish spawn,
And ghastly from his lonesome den
Leaped forth on men
A madman by a tomb,
A snake among the rocks he was
To wriggle down the fissures there,
And nakedly to strut and stare,
And spring on whosoe'er should pass,
Though bound with brass.
A snake among the rocks he was
To wriggle down the fissures there,
And nakedly to strut and stare,
And spring on whosoe'er should pass,
Though bound with brass.
'Twas there that he had seen
A second self beside him clash
The brazen fetters on him bound,
And laugh and shriek and leap around,
And sharp stones in his own flesh dash,
Pitiless, rash.
A second self beside him clash
The brazen fetters on him bound,
And laugh and shriek and leap around,
And sharp stones in his own flesh dash,
Pitiless, rash.
Upon that countenance
He saw malicious fiends enact
Their furies, twist a human form
As it had been a tortured worm;
Yell blasphemies through organs racked
In the foul fact.
He saw malicious fiends enact
Their furies, twist a human form
As it had been a tortured worm;
Yell blasphemies through organs racked
In the foul fact.
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'Twas there that he had met
His Healer coming from the ship
After the tempest on the lake:
Though no man there his way might take,
The Twelve were there: he thought to leap
Like wolf on sheep.
His Healer coming from the ship
After the tempest on the lake:
Though no man there his way might take,
The Twelve were there: he thought to leap
Like wolf on sheep.
All fear surprised him then;
For madness turned to terror there;
Peered horribly his head erect
A moment, and the step he checked
Still held his limbs, and in the air
His strong hands bare.
For madness turned to terror there;
Peered horribly his head erect
A moment, and the step he checked
Still held his limbs, and in the air
His strong hands bare.
Held out his shattered chains:
A mighty spasm his body tore;
His eyes shot out a bursting glare;
His voice died out, and wide his hair
Flamed upward, ere the damp could soar
From each wide pore.
A mighty spasm his body tore;
His eyes shot out a bursting glare;
His voice died out, and wide his hair
Flamed upward, ere the damp could soar
From each wide pore.
For what had happened then?
What pang convulsed each furious limb?
Christ spake; and with His voice did pierce
That maddened heart exceeding fierce;
And at the word came forth from him
The Satanim.
What pang convulsed each furious limb?
Christ spake; and with His voice did pierce
That maddened heart exceeding fierce;
And at the word came forth from him
The Satanim.
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