by Edgar Allan Poe
BY a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule �
From a wild weird clime, that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE � out of TIME.
Bottomless vales and boundless floods,
And chasms, and caves, and Titian woods,
With forms that no man can discover
For the dews that drip all over ;
Mountains toppling evermore
Into seas without a shore ;
Seas that restlessly aspire,
Surging, unto skies of fire;
Lakes that endlessly outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead, �
Their still waters, still and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily.
By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule.
By the lakes that thus outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead, �
Their sad waters, sad and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily, �
By the mountains � near the river
Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever, �
By the gray woods, � by the swamp
Where the toad and the newt encamp, �
By the dismal tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls, �
By each spot the most unholy �
In each nook most melancholy, �
There the traveller meets aghast
Sheeted Memories of the Past �
Shrouded forms that start and sigh
As they pass the wanderer by �
White-robed forms of friends long given,
In agony, to the worms, and Heaven.
By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule �
For the heart whose woes are legion
'T is a peaceful, soothing region �
For the spirit that walks in shadow
'T is � oh 't is an Eldorado!
But the traveler, traveling through it,
May not � dare not openly view it ;
Never its mysteries are exposed
To the weak human eye unclosed ;
So wills its King, who hath forbid
The uplifting of the fringed lid;
And thus the sad Soul that here passes
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.
By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have wandered home but newly
From this ultimate dim Thule.
