The Python-killer, as from his keen eye
The lightning darted, 'Me wouldst thou deceive
With such a wretched tale! Hence, hence! begone!
Black as thy falsehood fly through shuddering air,
A bird of lonely night! Dumb be thy voice
Of sweetest melody: henceforth thy cry
Tell but of woes and horrors, a wild shriek
Of darkness and dismay.'"
Knight's Quarterly Magazine
Reference to the blackness of the Raven's plumage is made in the Song of Solomon. "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.