Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 39.djvu/14

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On one side marshes met the snarling sea,

And on the other, three gaunt mountain peaks

Shot up mid screaming eagles; and between,

Beetling above an inky tarn, upclomb

That hostelry.

Cloud-high it loomed and dark

As Amazonian forests. Far overhead

Its shadowy roof, sometimes was spindrift dim,

Sometimes was heaven, with lucent twilight skies

Besprent with stars; and round each echoing hall

From carven ambrys quaint, old storied arms

Blazoned the walls. There on Goliath's blade

Goliath's blood still rusted; there sea-born

Excalibur flaunted his wizard hilt.

And Soldan's yataghan and Richard's brand

Hung with the baton that in Caesar's grasp

Dispeopled nations.

But the loftiest nave

In that strange house was hung with broken swords,

Whereof the chiefest three had shields beneath,

Scrolled each with shining names. One shield was his

Who long time humbled Rome, and one. blood-red.

Recalled the Corsican; and last, a shield

Now wet with old men's tears, proclaimed the chief

Whose ramparts moulder mid Virginian pines.

Untenanted the place, to casual eyes.

And silent; but anon began afar

Onset of armed feet, and thunders rolled,

(Thunders or battle), and a hand unseen