Page:Betelguese, a trip through hell.djvu/72

64 A daughter cursed within this Inn.

And witches long for ease, so,

Erelong they peer at waters green

That pour in forges dank and cold,

Whence glare the eyes of Hell in lust

As Cyclops stem the pyre's glow,

'Mid haunts of sin and purple sheen

Of shales and husks of monsters told

As vultures to both scale and dust.

Then wing they for the western strands

Of boweréd vales and lulling dells,

Where silence holds the winds at bay,

And myrtles stir the sylvan air.

There tow'rs and the russet sands

Make fine the tunes of ringing bells

That echo to the skies of gray,

Where phosphorescent lanterns flare.

And twilights of the lofty aisles,

Thro' silver mists and streaks of blood,

Crucifixion looms cold and white;

Oaths of prurient blasphemy