In the dead of the night a spirit came: Her moon-white face and her eyes of flame Were known to me: -- I called her name -- The name that shall not be spoken at all Till Death hath this body of mine in thrall! And she laughed to see me lying there, Wrapped in the living-corpse bloody and fair, And my soul 'mid its thin films shining bare -- And I rose and followed her glance so sweet And passed from the house with noiseless feet. I know not myself what I knew, what I saw! I know that it filled me with trouble and awe, With pain that still at my heart doth gnaw: That she with her wild eyes witched my soul And whispered the name of the Unknown Goal. O, wild was her laugh, and wild was my cry When with one long flash and a weary sigh awoke as from sleep bewilderingly: Her voice, her eyes, they are with me still, O Spirit-Enchantress, O Demon-Will! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN EXPOSTULATION by ISAAC BICKERSTAFFE THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION (B) by WILLIAM BLAKE THE INEVITABLE by SARAH KNOWLES BOLTON ON THE BIRTH OF HIS SON by SU SHIH POPULARITY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |