Page:The city of dreadful night - and other poems (IA cityofdreadfulni00thomrich).pdf/31

 When he awakes from slumbering so sweetly That all the world is changed for him completely, And he is verily as if new-born.

He scarcely can believe the blissful change, He weeps perchance who wept not while accurst; Never again will he approach the range Infected by that evil spell now burst: Poor wretch!who once hath paced that dolent city Shall pace it often, doomed beyond all pity, With horror ever deepening from the first.

Though he possess sweet babes and loving wife, A home of peace by loyal friendships cheered, And love them more than death or happy life, They shall avail not; he must dree his weird; Renounce all blessings for that imprecation, Steal forth and haunt that builded desolation, Of woe and terrors and thick darkness reared.

I sat forlornly by the river-side, And watched the bridge-lamps glow like golden stars Above the blackness of the swelling tide, Down which they struck rough gold in ruddier bars;