By a route obscure and lonely,



Haunted by ill angels only,



Where an Eidolon, named N IGHT ,



On a black throne reigns upright,



I have reached these lands but newly



From an ultimate dim Thule—



From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,



Out of S PACE —Out of T IME .







Bottomless vales and boundless floods,



And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods,



With forms that no man can discover



For the tears that drip all over;



Mountains toppling evermore



Into seas without a shore;



Seas that restlessly aspire,



Surging, unto skies of fire;



Lakes that endlessly outspread



Their lone waters—lone and dead,—



Their still waters—still and chilly



With the snows of the lolling lily.







By the lakes that thus outspread



Their lone waters, lone and dead,—



Their sad waters, sad and chilly



With the snows of the lolling lily,—



By the mountains—near the river



Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever,—



By the grey woods,—by the swamp



Where the toad and the newt encamp,—



By the dismal tarns and pools



Where dwell the Ghouls,—



By each spot the most unholy—



In each nook most melancholy,—



There the traveller meets, aghast,



Sheeted Memories of the Past—



Shrouded forms that start and sigh



As they pass the wanderer by—



White-robed forms of friends long given,



In agony, to the Earth—and Heaven.







For the heart whose woes are legion



’T is a peaceful, soothing region—



For the spirit that walks in shadow



’T is—oh, ’t is an Eldorado!



But the traveller, travelling through it,



May not—dare not openly view it;



Never its mysteries are exposed



To the weak human eye unclosed;



So wills its King, who hath forbid



The uplifting of the fring'd lid;



And thus the sad Soul that here passes



Beholds it but through darkened glasses.







By a route obscure and lonely,



Haunted by ill angels only,



Where an Eidolon, named N IGHT ,



On a black throne reigns upright,



I have wandered home but newly



From this ultimate dim Thule.





