Dream-Land

Lyrics

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 newly From 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 discover For the tears that drip all over; Mountains toppling evermore Into seas without a shore; Seas that restlessly aspire, Surging, unto skies of fire; Lakes that endlessly outspread Their lone waters — lone and dead, — Their still waters — still and chilly With the snows of the lolling lily. By the lakes that thus outspread Their lone waters, lone and dead, — Their sad waters, sad and chilly With the snows of the lolling lily, — By the mountains — near the river Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever, — By the grey woods, — by the swamp Where the toad and the newt encamp — By the dismal tarns and pools Where dwell the Ghouls, — By each spot the most unholy — In each nook most melancholy — There the traveller meets aghast Sheeted Memories of the Past — Shrouded forms that start and sigh As 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 exposed To the weak human eye unclosed; So wills its King, who hath forbid The uplifting of the fringed lid; And thus the sad Soul that here passes Beholds 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 newly From this ultimate dim Thule.