Page:Edgar Allan Poe - how to know him.djvu/247

 THE POET 227 ���We noted not the dim lake of Auber �(Though once we had journeyed down here) �Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber, Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. �And now, as the night was senescent �And star-dials pointed to morn �As the star-dials hinted of morn At the end of our path a liquescent �And nebulous lustre was born, Out of which a miraculous crescent �Arose with a duplicate horn Astarte's bediamonded crescent �Distinct with its duplicate horn. �And I said "She is warmer than Dian: �She rolls through an ether of sighs �She revels in a region of sighs : She has seen that the tears are not dry on �These cheeks, where the worm never dies, And has come past the stars of the Lion �To point us the path to the skies �To the Lethean peace of the skies Come up, in despite of the Lion, �To shine on us with her bright eyes Come up through the lair of the Lion, �With love in her luminous eyes." �But Psyche, uplifting her finger, �Said "Sadly this star I mistrust �Her pallor I strangely mistrust: Oh, hasten ! oh, let us not linger ! �Oh, fly ! let us fly ! for we must." In terror she spoke, letting sink her �Wings until they trailed in the dust In agony sobbed, letting sink her �Plumes till they trailed in the dust �Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust. �I replied "This is nothing but dreaming: �Let us on by this tremulous light ! �Let us bathe in this crystalline light ! Its Sibyllic splendour is beaming �With Hope and in Beauty to-night : �See! it flickers up the sky through the night! Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming, �And be sure it will lead vis aright We safely may trust to a gleaming �That cannot but guide us aright, �Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night." ��� �