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15
THE IGNIS FATUUS.
Come, traveller, come! the lady moon
Has veiled her changing face;
The blinking stars that blazed aboon
Are quenched, or in disgrace.
The murky night is drear and damp,
On hill, and vale, and lea;
And I will serve thee as a lamp,—
Come, follow, follow me!
Has veiled her changing face;
The blinking stars that blazed aboon
Are quenched, or in disgrace.
The murky night is drear and damp,
On hill, and vale, and lea;
And I will serve thee as a lamp,—
Come, follow, follow me!
O'er caverns deep, and crumbling banks,
Dark stream, and dank lagune,
We play our jack-o'-lantern pranks,
And dance to whimsy's tune.
And where we hold our merry rout,
Through bramble, brake, and fen,
I to the dance will lead thee out,
But never back again!
Dark stream, and dank lagune,
We play our jack-o'-lantern pranks,
And dance to whimsy's tune.
And where we hold our merry rout,
Through bramble, brake, and fen,
I to the dance will lead thee out,
But never back again!
For men, we know, though none knows why,
Do love to be deceived;
And, with the true before their eye,
The false is first believed!
For swamp and pool they quit their way;
Or thorny paths pursue,
In chase, or dance, with feux-follêts,
Life's hurried journey through.
Do love to be deceived;
And, with the true before their eye,
The false is first believed!
For swamp and pool they quit their way;
Or thorny paths pursue,
In chase, or dance, with feux-follêts,
Life's hurried journey through.
16
On airy heights they reel and waltz,
Or, dazzled, speed them on:
Their heads are whirled,—their ground is false,—
They plunge,—they 're gone—they're gone!
They 're in the deep without a shore,
All fathomless! and then,
They bide the truth: we know no more,—
They 're never back again!
Or, dazzled, speed them on:
Their heads are whirled,—their ground is false,—
They plunge,—they 're gone—they're gone!
They 're in the deep without a shore,
All fathomless! and then,
They bide the truth: we know no more,—
They 're never back again!
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