XXXIX. "Sit fast-dost fear?-The moon shines clear Fleet goes my barb-keep hold! Fear'st thou?"-"O no!" she faintly said; "But why so stern and cold? XL. "What yonder rings? what yonder sings? Why shrieks the owlet gray ?' ""Tis death-bells' clang, 'tis funeral song, The body to the clay. XLI. "With song and clang, at morrow's dawn, Ye may inter the dead: To-night I ride, with my young bride, To deck our bridal bed. XLII. "Come with thy choir, thou coffin'd guest, To swell our nuptial song! Come, priest, to bless our marriage feast! Come all, come all along!" XLIII. Ceased clang and song; down sunk the bier; The shrouded corpse arose: And, hurry! hurry! all the train The thundering steed pursues. XLIV. And, forward! forward! on they go; XLV. "O William, why this savage haste? XLVI. "No room for me?"-" Enough for both ;— XLVII. Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode, XLVIII. Fled past on right and left how fast XLIX. "Dost fear? dost fear? The moon shines clear, Dost fear to ride with me?— Hurrah! hurrah! the dead can ride!" "O William, let them be!— L. "See there, see there ! What yonder swings And creaks 'mid whistling rain?""Gibbet and steel, th' accursed wheel; A murderer in his chain.— LI. "Hollo! thou felon, follow here: To bridal bed we ride; And thou shalt prance a fetter dance LII. And, hurry! hurry! clash, clash, clash! And fleet as wind through hazel bush The wild career attends. LIII. Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode, The scourge is red, the spur drops blood, LIV. How fled what moonshine faintly show'd! How fled what darkness hid! How fled the earth beneath their feet, LV. "Dost fear? dost fear? The moon shines clear, And well the dead can ride; Does faithful Helen fear for them?". "Barb! Barb! methinks I hear the cock; The sand will soon be run: Barb! Barb! I smell the morning air; LVII. Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode, The scourge is red, the spur drops blood, LVIII. "Hurrah! hurrah! well ride the dead; For, Helen, here's my home." LIX. Reluctant on its rusty hinge Revolved an iron door, And by the pale moon's setting beam LX. With many a shriek and cry whiz round LXI. O'er many a tomb and fombstone pale Till sudden at an open grave He check'd the wondrous course. LXII. The falling gauntlet quits the rein, LXIII. The eyes desert the naked skull, The mould'ring flesh the bone, Till Helen's lily arms entwine A ghastly skeleton. |