Then leaping on his feet upright, Some moody turns he took; Now up the mead, then down the mead, And past a shady nook: And lo! he saw a little boy 66 That pored upon a book! 'My gentle lad, what is't you read Romance or fairy fable? Or is it some historic page, Of kings and crowns unstable ?" The young boy gave an upward glance"It is the Death of Abel." The usher took six hasty strides, And down he sat beside the lad, And, long since then, of bloody men, Of lonely folk cut off unseen, And how the sprites of injured men He told how murderers walk'd the earth With crimson clouds before their eyes, And flames about their brain : For blood has left upon their souls Its everlasting stain! "And well," quoth he, " I know, for truth, Their pangs must be extremeWo, wo, unutterable wo Who spill life's sacred stream! For why? Methought last night I wrought A murder in a 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, And I will have his gold! "Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, One hurried gash with a hasty knife- There was nothing lying at my foot, 66 Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone, And yet I fear'd him all the more, There was a manhood in his look, That murder could not kill! "And lo! the universal air Seem'd lit with ghastly flame Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes I took the dead man by the hand, "Oh God, it made me quake to see 66 'My head was like an ardent coal, My wretched, wretched soul, I knew, A dozen times I groan'd; the dead "And now from forth the frowning sky, I heard a voice-the awful voice "I took the dreary body up, "Down went the corse with a hollow plunge, And vanish'd in the pool; Anon I cleansed my bloody hands, And wash'd my forehead cool, And sat among the urchins young "O heaven, to think of their white souls, And mine so black and grim! I could not share in childish prayer, Nor join in evening hymn: Like a devil of the pit I seem'd, 'Mid holy cherubim! "And peace went with them one and all, And drew my midnight curtains round, "All night I lay in agony, In anguish dark and deep; For Sin had render'd unto her "All night I lay in agony, From weary chime to chime, With one besetting horrid hint, That rack'd me all the timeA mighty yearning, like the first Fierce impulse unto crime! “One stern, tyrannic thought, that made All other thoughts its slave; Stronger and stronger every pulse Did that temptation crave Still urging me to go and see "Heavily I rose up as soon As light was in the sky And sought the black accursed pool And I saw the dead in the river bed, 66 Merrily rose the lark, and shook But I never mark'd its morning flight, I never heard it sing: For I was stooping once again Under the horrid thing. "With breathless speed, like a soul in chase, I took him up and ran There was no time to dig a grave Before the day began: In a lonesome wood, with heaps of leaves, "And all that day I read in school, And a mighty wind had swept the leaves, "Then down I cast me on my face, And first began to weep, For I knew my secret then was one "So wills the fierce avenging sprite, Aye, though he's buried in a cave, |