ASPHODEL:

Down where skies are always dark, Where is ever heard the bark Of monstrous ebon hounds of hell, In a dreadful fearsome knell, Never fading, ever bright, With a weird and spectral light, Blooms a flower of ancient days, Shining in a crimson maze; When the black bat shrilly screams Asphodel, you haunt my dreams— From the lands of distant death Steals the perfume of your breath: Some night soon the wind will blow Saffron seeds to fall and grow By my casement window, where, Sleeps my loved one, still and fair; Then, the night you are to bloom I shall creep from out my room, From your blossom by the wall Shall I hear her dear voice call: Mournfully the wind will cry, And shadows cover all the sky— My lips will touch the loved dead When where you nod I lay my head....