DEEP in a mountain's caverned hall, It is whispered low, Waits in a weird, sepulchral glow An armed phantom, crowned and tall, Whose hoary beard of centuries Grows on the gray stone where it lies; While jewelled knights with glittering eyes Glower round In trance profound. Anon, at age-long intervals, The ghostly king Sends a raven of sable wing From his stupendous prison-walls, To learn how near the fated hour When he may reassume the power, -- Behold! no raven comes again. Behold! the raven devours the slain! Vaults asunder Burst in thunder! Lo! in the hall of mirrors yonder, In a palace consecrate to all Age-long glories of the Gaul, A German wears imperial Purple: Barbarossa lives! The ghost of a dark age revives, And the heart of every freeman dies, Seeing him rise! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GHOSTS OF THE OLD YEAR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON UNCLE JIM'S BAPTIST REVIVAL HYMN by SIDNEY LANIER ITALIAN PICTURES: COSTA MAGIC by MINA LOY DOMESDAY BOOK: ANTON SOSNOWSKI by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: EPILOGUE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: MRS. CHARLES BLISS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |