A Thaumaturgist, cursed and damn'd, Raps skulls from which a venom pours, And shakes his fists where opals burn, Whence figgum that his hands control Is charged with life; and on the sand Two witches sate their thirst in gores, Flit Fancy's wings unto a urn, (Within whose tomb there writhes a soul) And with Courage that Dawn hath bred In rivers, to whispers of the night, As wracks are dyed a crimson red, Feasts upon Doom's abhorrent shape, That fires bright, toss to each bed, And flees to realms where shadows light; Whilst Thought, in horror of the dead, Wings in mourning veils, dark as crepe, And feasts on afterglow of Trust, On cauldrons tossed to crafty Death That froths dank pomp and guidons bright, Unto a height, where falt'ring eyes, Betrayed by crystals numb in dust, Gasps at the sight with startled breath As vapours green, war with the light, Faint as the sunset's golden dyes. All mounts of bone are tombs of weal, Each scree, a temple of king Doom; And runnels that the suns do shun, Are pools where offal reeks most strong And thro' the air giant wasps do reel; On barriers bleak, reptiles soom; A Vulture that no shard can stun Gawks at the multitudes gone wrong. Where waters with the venom crawls To oriels, where banners float Beside a dome-thrown surf of blood T'ward letters large, that Hell hath wrought, Worm-like vapours skirr thro' the halls And reach a distant, lurid moat, Where sighs and groans upon a flood Ascend to heights of a grey ghaut-- Satellites to Destiny's crypt! And Vespers that the Twilight brought-- More dooms that prayers nor sighs can break-- Leer at each thought to Fancy's flight; And to the dais whereunder sit A demon-quire that Circe taught, Songs that echo to the isles in lake And valley deep, ravage the night Until Idols pall at the scene. And stationed Mounts toward the West Whose bones portray a ghastly lust; And skulls that glare at the soulless night, Point, weeping, where the foam-waves dream: All battle-wrecks and imps haste forth Unto the phosphorescent dust And pyramidal shoals of light.