Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/330

292 Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven, of the saintly days of yore;

Not the least obeisance made he, not a minute stopped or stayed he;

But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—

Perched above a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door—

Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore;

"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure, no craven;

Ghastly, grim, and ancient Raven, wandering from the nightly shore,

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the night's Plutonian shore?"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer, little meaning, little relevancy bore;

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—