That rake each skull-blown vale and dell. Where syrt sucks jargling javels mad, And carcants cast a luring light From mildewed screes and mounts that scyle Veiled augueries of battling Hell, A charnel shard assails the damn'd Thro' vapours green and siffling night; Monastic caverns rasp each isle; A poisoned skink croaks from a well. And mournful wraiths sob hard and loud, A smotheréd sigh proclaims more woe, The lounging imps grasp tomes of old And rant therefrom each damn'd one's name. And horrors, snarling at each crowd, Assail each kingdom with its show: A noctivagous dragon bold, Hastes thro' the aisles of death and shame And haunts the cajons of the dead, There fungus-tapers gleam like gold Before a ghoul-king's jeweled throne: There, too, upon a Temple's arch, Bivouacs a witch who scans the bed Of buried kings and queens struck cold And lifts her voice to splinter'd dome To stem the brooding Djinnee march, And with the dusk that meteors split, She tries the figgum of her lust, And throws her voice at portals dark, Past burning pyres, where moaning airs Call the help of Conjury's script; And, ere cyphers burn in the dust The names of new souls in this ark, The ghosts of the dead prance in pairs. This is the sphere of Dust and Tomb! Where Trojans struck with palsied Death As Satan smote each cavern's fold, And whistling heat swirl'd Circe around The coffined slabs of Aeæa's womb, When kingdoms fought with rasping breath As stellar domes grew black and cold, Auric oriflammes storm'd the mount As bristling lances smote giant hordes; Then gorey devils fought with lust As vulpine cries smote each jinn's ear, Black Dragons swore beneath their breath And murdered all rebellious Lords; Strong hands that knew each axe's trust, Escutcheons that all princes fear, Hurl'd swift destruction and black death. Where Titans storm'd a Monarch's throne, There sleeps a Ruler carved in stone; Where vultures guard a serpent's home, A quarteréd warrior tells its tale. Perturbéd at dews that drip from dome As wattling apes their horrors groan, The witch forsakes each glozing gnome, Affrighted at this gurgling vale.