The Haunted Palace
By Eddy Poe, 1839
In
the greenest of our valleys
By
good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace —
Snow-white
palace — reared its head.
In the monarch thought's dominion —
It
stood there!
Never Seraph spread his pinion
Over
fabric half so fair.
Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On
its roof did float and flow —
This — all this — was in the
olden
Time
long ago —
And every gentle air that dallied,
In
that sweet day,
Along the rampart plumed and pallid,
A
winged odour went away.
All wanderers in that happy valley,
Through
two luminous windows saw
Spirits moving musically
To
a lute's well tuned law,
Round about a throne where sitting
(Porphyrogene!)
In state his glory well befitting,
The
sovereign of the realm was seen.
And all with pearl and ruby
glowing
Was
the fair palace door ;
Through which came flowing, flowing,
flowing,
And
sparkling evermore,
A troop of echoes, whose sweet duty
Was
but to sing
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The
wit and wisdom of their king.
But evil things in robes of
sorrow,
Assailed
the monarch's high estate!
Ah, let us mourn — for never morrow
Shall
dawn upon him desolate!
And round about his home the glory,
That
blushed and bloomed,
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of
the old time entombed.
And travellers now within that valley,
Through
the red-litten windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
To
a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
Through
the pale door;
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And
laugh — but smile no more.