| This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing, To the fowl whore fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining, On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore! Then metought the air grew denser, prefumed by some unseen censer, Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor. "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee-- by these angels he hath sent thee, Respite-- respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!-- prophet still if bird of devil!-- Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted-- On this home by horror haunted-- tell me truth, I implore-- Is there-- is there balm in Gilead?-- tell me-- tell me, I implore!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!-- prophet still if bird of devil!-- By that Heaven that bends above us-- by that God we both adore-- Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-- Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." "Be that word our sign of parting, bird of fiend," I shrieked, upstarting-- Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken!-- quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting, On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamplight o'er him streaming his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, Shall be lifted-- nevermore! |
 |
 |