XVI. And there he hung, till he was dead For though distress had cut him up, XVII. A dozen men sat on his corpse, To find out why he died— And they buried Ben in four cross-roads, With a stake in his inside! "TWAS in the prime of summer time, An evening calm and cool, And four-and-twenty happy boys Came bounding out of school: There were some that ran and some that leapt, Like troutlets in a pool. Away they sped with gamesome minds, And souls untouch'd by sin; To a level mead they came, and there Like sportive deer they coursed about, But the Usher sat remote from all A melancholy man! Z His hat was off, his vest apart, To catch heaven's blessed breeze; For a burning thought was in his brow, So he lean'd his head on his hands, and read The book between his knees! Leaf after leaf he turn'd it o'er, Nor ever glanced aside, For the peace of his soul he read that book Much study had made him very lean, At last he shut the ponderous tome, 66 Oh, God! could I so close my mind, Then leaping on his feet upright, Now up the mead, then down the mead, And, lo! he saw a little boy "My gentle lad, what is't you Romance or fairy fable? Or is it some historic page, read Of kings and crowns unstable?" The young boy gave an upward glance,— "It is "The Death of Abel.'" The Usher took six hasty strides, As smit with sudden pain,— And, long since then, of bloody men, Of lonely folk cut off unseen, And how the sprites of injured men And unknown facts of guilty acts Are seen in dreams from God! He told how murderers walk the earth With crimson clouds before their eyes, "And well," quoth he, "I know, for truth, Their pangs must be extreme, Woe, woe, unutterable woe, Who spill life's sacred stream! For why? Methought, last night, I wrought A murder, in my dream! "One that had never done me wrong A feeble man, and old; I led him to a lonely field,— The moon shone clear and cold: Now here, said I, this man shall die, "Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, And one with a heavy stone, One hurried gash with a hasty knife,- "Nothing but lifeless flesh and bonc, There was a manhood in his look, "And, lo! the universal air Seem'd lit with ghastly flame ;- "Oh, God! it made me quake to see Such sense within the slain ! But when I touch'd the lifeless clay, The blood gush'd out amain! For every clot, a burning spot Was scorching in my brain! |