edger allen poe dreamland
By a route obscure and lonely,Haunted by ill angels only,Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,On a black throne reigns upright,I have reached these lands but newlyFrom an ultimate dim Thule-From a wild clime that lieth, sublime,Out of SPACE- out of TIME.Bottomless vales and boundless floods,And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods,With forms that no man can discoverFor the tears that drip all over;Mountains toppling evermoreInto seas without a shore;Seas that restlessly aspire,Surging, unto skies of fire;Lakes that endlessly outspreadTheir lone waters- lone and dead,-Their still waters- still and chillyWith the snows of the lolling lily.By the lakes that thus outspreadTheir lone waters, lone and dead,-Their sad waters, sad and chillyWith the snows of the lolling lily,-By the mountains- near the riverMurmuring lowly, murmuring ever,-By the grey woods,- by the swampWhere the toad and the newt encamp-By the dismal tarns and poolsWhere dwell the Ghouls,-By each spot the most unholy-In each nook most melancholy-There the traveller meets aghastSheeted Memories of the Past-Shrouded forms that start and sighAs they pass the wanderer by-White-robed forms of friends long given,In agony, to the Earth- and Heaven.For the heart whose woes are legion'Tis a peaceful, soothing region-For the spirit that walks in shadow'Tis- oh, 'tis an Eldorado!But the traveller, travelling through it,May not- dare not openly view it!Never its mysteries are exposedTo the weak human eye unclosed;So wills its King, who hath forbidThe uplifting of the fringed lid;And thus the sad Soul that here passesBeholds it but through darkened glasses.By a route obscure and lonely,Haunted by ill angels only,Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,On a black throne reigns upright,I have wandered home but newlyFrom this ultimate dim Thule.
