Page:Carroll - Three Sunsets.djvu/34

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH. And now in death my soul is fain
 * To tell the tale of fear

That hidden in my breast hath lain
 * Through many a weary year:

Yet time would fail to utter all— The evil spells that held me thrall, And thrust my life from fall to fall,
 * Thou needest not to hear.

The spells that bound me with a chain,
 * Sin's stern behests to do,

Till Pleasure's self, invoked in vain,
 * A heavy burden grew—

Till from my spirit's fevered eye, A hunted thing, I seemed to fly Through the dark woods that underlie
 * Yon mountain-range of blue.

Deep in those woods I found a vale
 * No sunlight visiteth,

Nor star, nor wandering moonbeam pale;
 * Where never comes the breath

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