The writings of Robert C. Sands in prose and verse with a memoir of the author |
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| 27. | XXVII. |
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 | The writings of Robert C. Sands |  |
XXVII.
Did the fiend hear and answer make?Above them loud the thunders break;
The livid lightning's pallid hue
Their dusky canopy shone through;
Then tenfold blackness gathering far
Presaged the elemental war.
While yet in air the descant rung,
Upward the listening priestess sprung,
273
The spirit of her youth survived,
As if from that lethargic state,
Quickened by power vouchsafed, she lived.
She tore the sable mats away,
And there Yamoyden's infant lay,
By potent opiates lulled to keep
The silence of the dreamless sleep,
O'er which that night should sink;
Swathed in the sacrificial vest,
Its bier the unconscious victim press'd.
The hag's long, shrivelled fingers clasp
The babe in their infernal grasp,
While o'er the fiery brink,
Rapidly, giddily she hurls
The child, as her withered form she whirls;
And chants, with accents hoarse and strong,
The last, the dedicating song.
| The writings of Robert C. Sands | |