Poems (Curwen)/The Suicide
The Suicide.
Over his midday skies a shadow crept,
The shadow of his coming doom;
And ever at his side a spectre stept,
Pointing its ghastly finger to the tomb;
And two dark phantoms, Fear and Dread,
His footsteps dogged by night and day,
Sat at his board, watched by his bed,
Took Reason's precious light away.
Then, in one hour, unguarded, he
Severed himself life's earthly bond—
Passed blindly to eternity,
Entering uncalled the Great Beyond.
········
God pity thee! poor fugitive of Fear,
Thy barque thro' loss of Reason's light was lost;
But who shall say Heaven's lifeboat was not near
To save thy sinking soul, thus tempest tossed?
The shadow of his coming doom;
And ever at his side a spectre stept,
Pointing its ghastly finger to the tomb;
And two dark phantoms, Fear and Dread,
His footsteps dogged by night and day,
Sat at his board, watched by his bed,
Took Reason's precious light away.
Then, in one hour, unguarded, he
Severed himself life's earthly bond—
Passed blindly to eternity,
Entering uncalled the Great Beyond.
········
God pity thee! poor fugitive of Fear,
Thy barque thro' loss of Reason's light was lost;
But who shall say Heaven's lifeboat was not near
To save thy sinking soul, thus tempest tossed?