In a weird passage to the Under-World, Where demon shades sit with their pinions furled Along the cavern's walls with poisonous breath, In rows here mark the labyrinths of Death. The King with torch upraised, the pathway finds, Along the way of mortal souls he winds, Where shades sepulchral, soundless rise amid Dark gulfs that yawn, and in the blackness hide Their depths beneath the waves of gloomy lakes And streams that sleep beneath the sulphurous flakes That drift o'er waters bottomless, and chasms; Where moveless depths receive Life's dying spasms. Here Silence sits supreme on a drear throne Of ebon hue, and joyless reigns alone O'er a wide waste of blackness,--solitude Black, at her feet, there sleeps the awful flood Of mystery which grasps all mortal souls, Where grisly horrors sit with crests of ghouls, And hateless welcome with their eyes of fire Each soul;--remorseless lead to terrors dire; And ever, ever crown the god of Fate; And there, upon her ebon throne she sate The awful fiend, dark goddess Mam-mitu, Who reigns through all these realms of La-Atzu.[1] But hark! what are these sounds within the gloom? And see! long lines of torches nearer come! And now within a recess they have gone; The King must pass their door! perhaps some one Of them may see him! turn the hags of gloom Upon him, as he goes by yonder room! He nearer comes, and peers within; and see! A greenish glare fills all the cave! and he Beholds a blaze beneath a cauldron there; Coiled, yonder lie the Dragons of Despair; And lo! from every recess springs a form Of shapeless horror! now with dread alarm He sees the flitting forms wild whirling there, And awful wailings come of wild despair: But hark! the _dal-khis'_ song rings on the air! With groans and cries they shriek their mad despair: Oh, fling on earth, ye demons dark, Your madness, hate, and fell despair, And fling your darts at each we mark, That we may welcome victims here. Then sing your song of hate, ye fiends, And hurl your pestilential breath, Till every soul before us bends, And worship here the god of Death. In error still for e'er and aye, They see not, hear not many things; The unseen forces do not weigh, And each an unknown mystery brings. In error still for e'er and aye, They delve for phantom shapes that ride Across their minds alone,--and they But mock the folly of man's pride. In error still for e'er and aye! They learn but little all their lives, And Wisdom ever wings her way, Evading ever,--while man strives! But hark! another song rings through the gloom, And, oh, how sweet the music far doth come! Oh, hear it, all ye souls in your despair, For joy it brings to sorrowing ones e'en here! "There is a Deep Unknown beyond, That all things hidden well doth weigh! On man's blind vision rests the bond Of error still for e'er and aye!