OH! did you not hear a voice of death? And did you not mark the paly form Which rode on the silver mist of the heath, And sung a ghostly dirge in the storm? Was it a wailing bird of the gloom, Which shrieks on the house of woe all night? Or a shivering fiend that flew to a tomb, To howl and to feed till the glance of light? 'Twas @3not@1 the death-bird's cry from the wood, Nor shivering fiend that hung in the blast; 'Twas the shade of Helderic -- man of blood -- It screams for the guilt of days that are past! See! how the red, red lightning strays, And scares the gliding ghosts of the heath! Now on the leafless yew it plays, Where hangs the shield of this son of death! That shield is blushing with murderous stains; Long has it hung from the cold yew's spray; It is blown by storms and wash'd by rains, But neither can take the blood away! Oft by that yew, on the blasted field, Demons dance to the red moon's light; While the damp boughs creak, and the swinging shield Sings to the raving spirit of night! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS [OR VILLERS] (2) by THOMAS CAREW THE GOAT PATHS by JAMES STEPHENS ADAM'S CURSE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS WRITTEN IN IRELAND by MARY (CUMBERLAND) ALCOCK TO A. E. HOUSMAN by MARGARET ASH PSALM 141 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE ON THE VIRGINITY OF THE VIRGIN MARY AND JOHANNA SOUTHCOTT by WILLIAM BLAKE |