Page:The Story and Song of Black Roderick.djvu/55

Rh Ah no, ah no, it is repentant tears, By those let fall who make their direful flight, And drop by drop the anguish of their fears Comes down around us all the awful night.

They say that in the lightning-flash, and roar Of clashing clouds, the tempest is about; And draw their chairs the glowing hearth before, And casement close to shut the danger out.

Ah no! the doors of Paradise they swing A moment open for a soul nigh spent, Then come together till the thunder's ring Leaves us half blinded by God's element.

Now, the spirit of the young bride was not yet called upon to join their terrible flight, for until her body was laid beneath the clay the soul had power to stay beside it. So stayed the spirit of the young bride by her dead body till her ghostly eyes grew accustomed to the change which had come to her. And when she found she could see the brown earth again and the things thereon, she rose to her feet, and ran down the mountains to the