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Emily Jane Brontë: The Complete Poems

Edited by Janet Gezari
Brontë, Emily (1818-1848)
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expand sectionI. 
I. Poems Published in 1846
collapse sectionII. 
II. Dated Poems
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23. A. G. A. to A. E.
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27. Lines
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32. To a Wreath of Snow
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33. Song by Julius Angora
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46. Song to A. A.
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48. A. G. A. to A. S.
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49. Gleneden's Dream
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61. Douglas's Ride
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66. Song by Julius Brenzaida
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67. Song by J. Brenzaida to G. S.
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71. F. De Samara to A. G. A.
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82. Song
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84. To the Blue Bell
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87. Lines by Claudia
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89. Written on Returning to the P. of I. on the 10th of January 1827
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92. A Farewell to Alexandria
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112. Written in the Gaaldine Prison Caves to A. G. A.
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118. The Night-Wind
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125. Geraldine
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126. Rosina
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127. A. S. to G. S.
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128. H. A. and A. S.
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129. Written in Aspin Castle
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131. On the Fall of Zalona
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133. To A. S. 1830
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134. E. G. to M. R.
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136. To A. G. A.
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140. Rodric Lesley. 1830
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142. M. G. for the U. S.
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143. At Castle Wood
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148. The Death of A. G. A.
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154. From a Dungeon Wall in the Southern College
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162. A. E. and R. C.
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164. M. A. Written on the Dungeon Wall—N. C.
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165. Julian M. and A. G. Rochelle
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expand sectionIII. 
III. Undated Poems
expand sectionIV. 
IV. Poems of Doubtful Authorship

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25.

[A sudden chasm of ghastly light]

A sudden chasm of ghastly light
Yawned in the city's reeling wall
And a long thundering through the night
Proclaimed our triumph—Tyrdarum's fall—
The shrieking wind sank mute and mild
The smothering snow-clouds rolled away
And cold—how cold!—wan moonlight smiled
Where those black ruins smouldering lay
'Twas over—all the Battle's madness
The bursting fires the cannons' roar
The yells, the groans the frenzied gladness
The death the danger warmed no more
In plundered churches piled with dead
The heavy charger neighed for food
The wounded soldier laid his head
'Neath roofless chambers splashed with blood
I could not sleep through that wild siege
My heart had fiercely burned and bounded
The outward tumult seemed to assuage
The inward tempest it surrounded
52

But . . . cannot bear
And silence whets the tang of pain
I felt the full flood of despair
Returning to my breast again
My couch lay in a ruined Hall
Whose windows looked on the minster-yard
Where chill chill whiteness covered all
Both stone and urn and withered sward
The shattered glass let in the air
And with it came a wandering moan
A sound unutterably drear
That made me shrink to be alone
One black yew-tree grew just below
I thought its boughs so sad might wail
Their ghostly fingers flecked with snow
Rattled against an old vault's rail
I listened—no 'twas life that still
Lingered in some deserted heart
O God what caused that shuddering thrill?
That anguished agonizing start?
An undefined an awful dream
A dream of what had been before
A memory whose blighting beam
Was flitting o'er me ever more
A frightful feeling frenzy born—
I hurried down the dark oak stair
I reached the door whose hinges torn
Flung streaks of moonshine here and there
I pondered not I drew the bar
An icy glory [caught] mine eye
From that wide heaven where every star
Glared like a dying memory
53

And there the great cathedral rose
Discrowned but most majestic so
It looked down in [serene] repose
On its own realm of buried woe
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