Among the gaunt Earl's followers, swarthy men,

Ate in the wild hall. Then a damsel led,

With flaring torch, the tired King to bed,

Down lonely labyrinths of that corridored keep.

And soon he rested, sunk in heavy sleep.

Then suddenly he woke; it seemed, 'mid groans

And dolorous sighs: and round him lay the bones

Of many men, and bodies mouldering.

And he could hear the wind-swept ocean swing

Its sighing surge above. And so he thought,