THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM. (THOMAS HOOD.) 'Twas in the prime of summer time, 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, To a level mead they came, and there Like sportive deer they coursed about, But the Usher sat remote from all, His hat was off, his vest apart, To catch heaven's blessed breeze; For a burning thought was in his brow, And his bosom ill at ease: 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 In the golden eventide : Much study had made him very lean, And pale, and leaden-eyed. At last he shut the ponderous tome, Then leaping on his feet upright, Now up the mead, then down the mead, And, lo! he saw a little boy That pored upon a book ! "My gentle lad, what is't Romance or fairy fable? Or is it some historic page, you 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, 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 He told how murderers walked 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 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, "Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone, There was a manhood in his look, L "And, lo! the universal air Seem'd lit with ghastly flame :— "O God! it made me quake to see "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, "Oh, 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, But Guilt was my grim Chamberlain And drew my midnight curtains round, "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 The Dead Man in his grave! |