Page:Betelguese, a trip through hell.djvu/83

Rh This tale on ghastly Vellum's writ,

More sypher'd woes the walls proclaim;

Where goblins fondle crumbling bones,

There lies a death-thrown monster cold.

Perturbéd at writings on yon script

As moaning airs gaunt Sorrows name,

Each ape attests in faffling tones—

Flight to the Dragons' haunted fold.

Affrighted at this fearful gaze

As coals blaze like twinkling jewels,

Night-hawks that croak at bat-faced owls

Gledge at each gnome that digged a bone

From some bleak pool, and pierce the haze

Where censers blaze. Unconqueréd ghouls

Who laugh and leer at demon howls,

Make signs unto the hell-lashed foam— Japes that the damn'd fear in each knell!

Where jargling javels stab a toad,

And mutter swift, as vypers swear;

And spectres that the cauldrons wrought,