AT the dead of night by the side of the Sea I met my gray-haired enemy, -- The glittering light of his serpent eye Was all I had to see him by. At the dead of night, and stormy weather We went into a cave together, -- Into a cave by the side of the Sea, And -- he never came out with me! The flower that up through the April mould Comes like a miser dragging his gold, Never made spot of earth so bright As was the ground in the cave that night. Dead of night, and stormy weather! Who should see us going together Under the black and dripping stone Of the cave from whence I came alone! Next day as my boy sat on my knee He picked the gray hairs off from me, And told with eyes brimful of fear How a bird in the meadow near Over her clay-built nest had spread Sticks and leaves all bloody red, Brought from a cave by the side of the Sea Where some murdered man must be. |