Page:Etchings in Verse.djvu/21

At the giant trees that slumbered,
 Soaring skyward thro' the gloom;
At the staring wastes encumbered
 With the atmosphere of doom.

And I said: "What name is written
 On yon bleak, and barren sands—
  Bleak, and drear, and barren;
What clinging curse has smitten
 These lone, and wasted lands?
Has some demon led me hither
 'Neath these wan, and baleful spheres?
By whose guidance came I hither,
 To this land of darkened years?"

Then the pealing voice of thunder
 Rent the canopy of night.
  Deep, and loud, and sudden.
The hills were rent asunder,
 And vanished from my sight;