Anon, although alone, I whispered, “Hark!
What lifeless laughter, crackling thorny-thin?”
Then grew to sight what first I failed to mark
When from the accustomed light I entered in,—
A group that pleasured by that barren wall
As Hell some delicate-blossomed close had been:
One, gesturing, spake; the rest attended all.
“Declare, ye circled shades, your home on earth!
Declare the names your kindred used to call!”
I cried, much marveling at their mirthless mirth.