The skies they were ashen and sober; |
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The leaves they were crispèd and sere, |
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The leaves they were withering and sere; |
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It was night in the lonesome October |
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Of my most immemorial year; |
5 |
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, |
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In the misty mid region of Weir: |
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It was down by the dank tarn of Auber, |
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In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. |
|
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Here once, through an alley Titanic |
10 |
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul |
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Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul. |
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These were days when my heart was volcanic |
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As the scoriac rivers that roll, |
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As the lavas that restlessly roll |
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Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek |
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In the ultimate climes of the pole, |
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That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek |
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In the realms of the boreal pole. |
|
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Our talk had been serious and sober, |
20 |
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere, |
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Our memories were treacherous and sere, |
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For we knew not the month was October, |
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And we marked not the night of the year, |
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(Ah, night of all nights in the year!) |
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We noted not the dim lake of Auber |
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(Though once we had journeyed down here), |
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Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber |
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Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. |
|
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And now, as the night was senescent |
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And star-dials pointed to morn, |
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As the star-dials hinted of morn, |
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At the end of our path a liquescent |
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And nebulous lustre was born, |
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Out of which a miraculous crescent |
35 |
Arose with a duplicate horn, |
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Astarte's bediamonded crescent |
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Distinct with its duplicate horn. |
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And I said"She is warmer than Dian: |
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She rolls through an ether of sighs, |
40 |
She revels in a region of sighs: |
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She has seen that the tears are not dry on |
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These cheeks, where the worm never dies, |
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And has come past the stars of the Lion |
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To point us the path to the skies, |
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To the Lethean peace of the skies: |
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Come up, in despite of the Lion, |
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To shine on us with her bright eyes: |
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Come up through the lair of the Lion, |
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With love in her luminous eyes." |
50 |
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But Psyche, uplifting her finger, |
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Said"Sadly this star I mistrust, |
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Her pallor I strangely mistrust: |
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Oh, hasten!oh, let us not linger! |
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Oh, fly!let us fly! for we must." |
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In terror she spoke, letting sink her |
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Wings until they trailed in the dust, |
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In agony sobbed, letting sink her |
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Plumes till they trailed in the dust, |
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Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust. |
60 |
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I replied"This is nothing but dreaming: |
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Let us on by this tremulous light! |
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Let us bathe in this crystalline light! |
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Its sibyllic splendor is beaming |
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With hope and in beauty to-night: |
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See, it flickers up the sky through the night! |
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Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming, |
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And be sure it will lead us aright: |
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We safely may trust to a gleaming |
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That cannot but guide us aright, |
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Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night." |
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Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her, |
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And tempted her out of her gloom, |
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And conquered her scruples and gloom; |
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And we passed to the end of the vista, |
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But were stopped by the door of a tomb, |
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By the door of a legended tomb; |
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And I said"What is written, sweet sister, |
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On the door of this legended tomb?" |
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She replied"UlalumeUlalume |
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'T is the vault of thy lost Ulalume!" |
|
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Then my heart it grew ashen and sober |
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As the leaves that were crispèd and sere, |
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As the leaves that were withering and sere, |
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And I cried"It was surely October |
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On this very night of last year |
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That I journeyedI journeyed down here, |
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That I brought a dread burden down here: |
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On this night of all nights in the year, |
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Ah, what demon has tempted me here? |
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Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber, |
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This misty mid region of Weir: |
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Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber, |
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This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir." |