An undeciphered solemn signal of help or hurt.’
‘Oh, what is that glides quickly where the velvet flowers grow thickly,
Their scent comes rich and sickly?’ ‘A scaled and hooded worm.’
‘Oh, what’s that in the hollow, so pale I quake to follow?’
‘Oh, that’s a thin dead body which waits the eternal term.’
‘Turn again, O my sweetest,—turn again, false and fleetest:
This way whereof thou weetest, I fear is hell’s own track.’
‘Nay, too steep for hill-mounting; nay, too late for cost-counting:
This downhill path is easy, but there’s no turning back.’