-- Reflecteth the silver shield this welkin aghast,
-- And with haste translateth to gild'd black post and fast."
"Anon - anon, say I! - the lid aside,
Crawl without this velvet-clad coffin blest,
The bottom sand of the hourglass is at tide, -- "Sensing this pine is as deep as the deepest chasm,
'Tis and hath e'er been merry blood to pest - -- Hither! - cede and fulfil my phantasm!
To be adust for time longer can I not bide, -- Cherish me and sonorously do me laud -
Hence the heart hale out thro' the chest! -- For dread! - thine eyes will behold a guise faugh'd."
Misery thee?! - Rather misery me! -
For in Time's durance am I naught but wee."
-- "This tender and loving pest I to thee bequeath,
-- Thence switly wilt thou errant to 'Neath."
"And to me should'st thou be the humblemost knave,
Lest fear! - spit I on thy cist and grave! -
Lest leer I at thee and do bewitch,
And the tharms fluttering claw'd and eldritch."
-- "To conquer thee and thy blood for glore
-- Art thou my afeard and reluctant whore;
-- Irksomely coy, save wiliéd by alarum,
-- Bear this torture and maim with decorum.
"If e'er always was I this blissful and blithe
Would I resign to but its wee tithe."
-- "Purvey my ache and quench my profoundest urge,
-- And to thee will I sing the lull-dull dirge;
-- Deliver thy blood like the rill filleth the ghyll."
"Burrow to the trothplight with Night and Devil! -
Bid Him to league with me - forsooth, merry to 'come 'twill."
-- "Whilom wast thou vestal, yet now flit to thy tryst,
-- Elsewise will I coerce thine consonantry to turn whist;
-- Grasp I the snath and cut off thine breath,
"Death - oh! fair and 'guiling copesmate Death, -- So that thou canst in darkness and inferno vester,
Be not a malais'd beggar; claim this bloody jester!" -- For do I solely what He to me liefly saith."
