To utter reproaches? Come, come, do not shrink;
You find the air stifling? Why, now only think,
You’re here but a moment and quite lose your breath;
Yet many will dwell here from birth unto death.
You cannot return, though chilling the gloom,
For in this dark building we’ll find a dark room;
This stairway leads to it—come, let us ascend;
I’ll show you the model I spoke of, my friend.
’Tis long after midnight;—we reach very soon,
Up by the dark stairway, the room through the gloom;