BROKEN are the Palace windows: Rotting is the Palace floor. The damp wind lifts the arras, And swings the creaking door; But it only startles the white owl From his perch on a monarch's throne, And the rat that was gnawing the harp-strings A Queen once played upon. Dare you linger here at midnight Alone, when the wind is about, And the bat, and the newt, and the viper, And the creeping things come out? Beware of these ghostly chambers! Search not what my heart hath been, Lest you find a phantom sitting Where once there sat a Queen. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CALL TO THE COLORS by ARTHUR GUITERMAN OF BENEVOLENCE: AN EPISTLE TO EUMENES by JOHN ARMSTRONG THE OLD CAMP; WRITTEN IN A ROMAN FORTIFICATION IN BAVARIA by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN QUATORZAINS: 2. THOUGHTS by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THE KING OF YVETOT by PIERRE JEAN DE BERANGER |