I DREAMED, and saw a modern Hell, more dread Than Dante's pageant; not with gloom and glare, But all new forms of madness and despair Filled it with complex tortures, some Earth-bred, Some born in Hell: eternally full-fed Ghosts of all foul disease-germs thronged the air: And as with trembling feet I entered there, A Demon barred the way, and mocking said -- "Through our dim vales and gulfs thou need'st not rove; From thine own Earth and from its happiest lot Thy lust for pain may draw full nourishment, With poignant spice of passion; knowest thou not Fiends wed for hate as mortals wed for love, Yet find not much more anguish? Be content." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHAT DOES A WOMAN WANT? by KAREN SWENSON HIS PRAYER FOR ABSOLUTION by ROBERT HERRICK EDWIN MORRIS; OR, THE LAKE by ALFRED TENNYSON CUSTER'S LAST CHARGE [JUNE 25, 1876] by FREDERICK WHITTAKER SNOWBOUND by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER LONDON, 1802 (1) by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH MAN'S INHUMANITY TO MAN by ALBERT LINDLEY BEANE THE LOVE SONNETS OF PROTEUS: 67. THE THREE AGES OF WOMAN: 2 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |