THE MOTHER AT THE
SABBATH
OME, child of wonder! it is Sabbath Night,
The speckled twilight and the sombre singing!
Listen and come: the owl’s disastrous flight
Points out the road! Hail, O propitious sight!
see! the black gibbet and the murderer swinging!
Come, child of wonder and the innocent eyes!
Come where the toad his stealthy way is taking.
Flaps the bat’s wing upon thy cheek? How wise,
How wicked are those faces! And the skies
Are muffled, and the firmament is quaking.
Spectres of cats misshapen nestle close,
And rub their phantom sides against our dresses.
Come, child of wonder! in these souls morose
Keen joys may shudder—how the daylight goes !—
Night shall betray thee to the cold caresses!
Yes; it is nigh the hour of subtlety
And strange looks meaning more than Hell can utter.
Come, child of wonder! watch the woman’s eye
Who lurks toward us through the stagnant sky.
Hark to the words her serpents hiss or mutter!