Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/191

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Lay on the floor, trodden beneath his feet.
Sculpture a hollow form of cold, still stone,
Transparent, stern, immovable, and pale,
And kindle a wild, burning fire within—
So did the mighty pain burn in his heart,
And glow through his still features, as he stood
With folded arms and high, proud, pallid form.
His voice had died away 'mid shadows dim
In distant nooks of the luxurious room,
And silently the fire consumed within him.

Then spirits came to haunt the hollow void
Where once a great heart throbbed—pride and despair
Wrestled within his bosom, and his face
Grew fearfully contorted with their might.
Now Pride looked out from his deep, flashing eye,
And sat a moment on his haughty brow;
Anon Despair gleamed wildly in his glance.
And shrieked and quivered on his ashy lip.

Another spirit, wilder than the rest,
Then rose within him—Shadow of the Past—
And taunted him with hateful memories.
Moaning in bitterness, the proud man sank
Upon the floor in crouching agony,
And pleaded with those mocking shapes of sin
To leave him to the fearful punishment
Of his own hollow loneliness—in vain!
His brow lay on the letter he had cast
In madness 'neath his feet—his hands were pressed
Convulsively o'er his hot, tearless eyes—
There was no "angel presence" near him then!
The words his forehead touched had broke forever
The silvery chain that bound his wayward soul
To purity, and peace, and innocence!
Wildly he pleaded with rebuking shapes
That rose before the vision of his soul!
Insensible things, glittering in that gay room,