‘For thou art mine, and I am thine,
‘Till the dreaded judgement day,
I am thine, and thou art mine— _95
Night is past—I must away.’
Still I gazed, and still the form
Pressed upon my aching sight,
Still I braved the howling storm,
When the ghost dissolved in night.— _100
Restless, sleepless fled the night,
Sleepless as a sick man’s bed,
When he sighs for morning light,
When he turns his aching head,—
Slow and painful passed the day. _105
Melancholy seized my brain,
Lingering fled the hours away,
Lingering to a wretch in pain.—
At last came night, ah! horrid hour,
Ah! chilling time that wakes the dead, _110
When demons ride the clouds that lower,
—The phantom sat upon my bed.
In hollow voice, low as the sound
Which in some charnel makes its moan,
What floats along the burying ground, _115
The phantom claimed me as her own.
Her chilling finger on my head,
With coldest touch congealed my soul—
Cold as the finger of the dead,
Or damps which round a tombstone roll— _120
Months are passed in lingering round,
Every night the spectre comes,
With thrilling step it shakes the ground,
With thrilling step it round me roams—
Stranger! I have told to thee, _125
All the tale I have to tell—
Stranger! canst thou tell to me,
How to ‘scape the powers of Hell?—
STRANGER:
Warrior! I can ease thy woes,
Wilt thou, wilt thou, come with me— _130
Warrior! I can all disclose,
Follow, follow, follow me.