Page:The poems of Emma Lazarus volume 1.djvu/164

150 Of myriad dusky, gold-winged dreams arise, Throng toward the gates of sense, and so possess The soul, and lull it to forgetfulness. O strange, dim other-world revealed to us, Beginning there where ends reality, Lying twixt life and death, and populous With souls from either sphere ! now enter we Thy twisted paths. Barred is the silver gate, But the wild-carven doors of ivory Spring noiselessly apart : between them straight Flies forth a cloud of nameless shadowy things, With harpies, imps, and monsters, small and great, Blurring the thick air with their darkening wings. All humors of the blood and brain take shape, And fright us with our own imaginings. A trouble weighs upon us : no escape From this unnatural region can there be. Fixed eyes stare on us, wide mouths grin and gape, Familiar faces out of reach we see. Fain would we scream, to shatter with a cry The tangled woof of hideous fantasy,