 | The poetical writings of the late Willis Gaylord Clark |  |
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THE HEXEN ZEE.
“How glumly sownes yon dirgy songe!
Night-ravens flappe the wing;
What bell doth slowly toll ding dong?
The psalms of death who sing?
Look up, look up! an airy crew
In roundel daunces reele:
The moon is bright, and blue the night—
Mayst see them dimly wheele.”—
Burger.
Night-ravens flappe the wing;
What bell doth slowly toll ding dong?
The psalms of death who sing?
Look up, look up! an airy crew
In roundel daunces reele:
The moon is bright, and blue the night—
Mayst see them dimly wheele.”—
Burger.
I.
'T was a sunset hour, and the waters playedLike living light on the golden sand:
The dark green trees by the gale were swayed
As their wings swept over the quiet land:
And as those wavelets kissed the shore
With a gush of delicate melody,
They seemed in a traveller's ear to pour
This marvellous tale of the Hexen Zee:
II.
“'T is a haunted place where thou art now,And when the west hath lost the sun,
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Where here the chasing billows run;
When fairy mists like spirits throng
About this undulating tide,
Then sweep the witches' trains along,
And charm the air whereon they ride.
III.
“And, as between the waning moonAnd Brocken's height their forms are seen,
While midnight's melancholy noon
Extend its thoughtful reign serene,
Their rustling folds are heard above,
The branches groan in every tree;
Till on the lake these spectres move,
And sing this song of the Hexen Zee:
IV.
“‘Our boat is strong, its oars are good,Of charnel bones itsribs are made;
From coffins old we carved the wood,
Beneath the gloomy cypress shade;
An ignis-fatuus lights the prow,
It is a felon's blood-shot e'e,
And it shineth forth from his skeleton brow,
To light our way o'er the Hexen Zee.
V.
“‘There 's a scream of dreaming birds afar,And a hollow blast in the old Hartz wood:
97
By the wakeful eagle's glance pursued;
The tree-toad moaned on the mossy limb,
And plunged in the pool 'neath the dark yew-tree,
But what care we for ‘the likes of him,’
While we sing and sail on the Hexen Zee?
VI.
“‘We have come over forest, and glen, and moor,We have ivy leaves from the castle wall;
We roved by the huts of the sleeping poor,
And we heard their faithful watch-dogs call;
Over cities and hamlets in haste we swept—
Over gardens and turrets—o'er hill and lea;
Our race now pauseth, our pledge we have kept,
And together we sail on the Hexen Zee.
VII.
“‘There 's a vapor of gray, and a crimson hue,In the wake of our bark as we haste along;
The sails are clothed in a flame of blue,
And our voices are hoarse with this elfin song:
The finny tribes as they cross our wake,
A-floating in lifeless throngs we see:
To Hecate an offering thus we make,
Who is fond of fish from the Hexen Zee.
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VIII.
“‘Look to the east! there the dawn is red,Through the cedar branches it 'gins to glow;
Our song must be ended—our spell is dead,
Away to our cloudy homes we go:
The charm is finished; the distant chime
Of bells are echoing one—two—three;
We will mount the blast—and depart in time,
Afar from the haunted Hexen Zee.’”
| The poetical writings of the late Willis Gaylord Clark | |