The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme The witch of Shiloh, the last of the Wampanoags, the gentle earl, the enchanted voyage |
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| 38. | XXXVIII |
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 | The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme |  |
43
XXXVIII
The story goes (who now receives
What ancient men affirmed on oath?)
That underneath the oaken leaves,
And sheltered by a laurel's blowth,
Two lated urchins, cold with fright,
Beheld the Stygian revellings,
The wood a hell of lurid light,
The air a hell of goblin wings;
Beheld their pastor madly whirl
With Yesebel in Belial's dance,
While all around a wizard swirl
Revolved with stormy song and prance;
Till lastly came a fearful shape,
Beyond the ghastliest thought of man,
A formless form as black as crape,
With pinions reaching many a span;
Whereon these younkers, all agape,
Displayed what spryness younkers can,
And trundled off their trembling meat
To pious Shiloh's drowsy street.
What ancient men affirmed on oath?)
That underneath the oaken leaves,
And sheltered by a laurel's blowth,
Two lated urchins, cold with fright,
Beheld the Stygian revellings,
The wood a hell of lurid light,
The air a hell of goblin wings;
Beheld their pastor madly whirl
With Yesebel in Belial's dance,
While all around a wizard swirl
Revolved with stormy song and prance;
Till lastly came a fearful shape,
Beyond the ghastliest thought of man,
A formless form as black as crape,
With pinions reaching many a span;
Whereon these younkers, all agape,
Displayed what spryness younkers can,
And trundled off their trembling meat
To pious Shiloh's drowsy street.
The village won, they yelled amain
Till nightcaps blanched each window pane,
Till lovely woman poured her shriek
And infants made the echoes speak,
While strident goodman, plangent squire
Responded, “Murder! witches! fire!”
At last, when every soul was hoarse,
At last the case was understood,
And Shiloh mustered all its force
To march against the wicked wood,
Resolved to dye its steel in gore
Of wizard throngs, and furthermore
To capture Tophet's sooty peers
And bind them for a thousand years.
Till nightcaps blanched each window pane,
Till lovely woman poured her shriek
And infants made the echoes speak,
While strident goodman, plangent squire
Responded, “Murder! witches! fire!”
At last, when every soul was hoarse,
At last the case was understood,
And Shiloh mustered all its force
44
Resolved to dye its steel in gore
Of wizard throngs, and furthermore
To capture Tophet's sooty peers
And bind them for a thousand years.
| The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme | |