Page:Betelguese, a trip through hell.djvu/45

Rh And Cesspools vext with odours strong

From stifling shard and putrid dung,

'Mid caverns large and Cauldrons deep,

Vile squats in teeming pewter burn;

And shrieking vypers wield a prong

Above a monster, quarter'd hung.

The Tasmanian Devils keep

The sod turn'd in a gyre's urn

That no lost soul can undulate:

Hence seers and sages, tossed in sin,

Rant rubics to each reigning king,

Each glowing pyre is fed with oil

By afreets reared on bottled hate;

Infernal tapers light this Inn

As poisoned vapours to us cling;

Re-embered beacons on this soil

Flare spastic shadows to each tomb.

In vain we sigh for fleeing grace

Within the pale of turbid dyes!

In vain we look for hope, sweet rest,