Page:The city of dreadful night - and other poems (IA cityofdreadfulni00thomrich).pdf/29

 And she came on, and never turned aside, Between such sun and moon and roaring tide: And as she came more near My soul grew mad with fear.

As I came through the desert thus it was, As I came through the desert: Hell is mild And piteous matched with that accursed wild; A large black sign was on her breast that bowed, A broad black band ran down her snow-white shroud; That lamp she held was her own burning heart, Whose blood-drops trickled step by step apart: The mystery was clear; Mad rage had swallowed fear.

As I came through the desert thus it was, As I came through the desert: By the sea She knelt and bent above that senseless me; Those lamp-drops fell upon my white brow there, She tried to cleanse them with her tears and hair; She murmured words of pity, love, and woe, She heeded not the level rushing flow: And mad with rage and fear, I stood stonebound so near.