For I'd seen it upon the door.
With a flickering, flaring candle,
That glimmered like sickly Hope,
I found out my way to the handle,
And I flung the portal ope,
When a gentleman—not to my thinking—
Was placed in the door upright;
It was evident he had been drinking,
For he hiccuped out in the night;
And he spoke in a language mighty,