HASCHEESH.
I.
STRICKEN with dreams, I wandered through the night; The heavens leaned down to me with splendid fires; The south-wind breathing upon unseen lyres Made music as I went; and to my sight A Palace shaped itself against the skies: Great sapphire-studded portals suddenly Opened on vast Ionic galleries Of gold and porphyry, and I could see, Through half-drawn curtains that let in the day, Dim tropic gardens stretching far away. II.
Ah! what a wonder fell upon my soul, When from that structure of the upper airs I saw unfold a flight of crystal stairs For my ascending.... Then I heard the roll Of unseen oceans clashing at the Pole.... A terror seized upon me... a vague sense Of near calamity. "O, lead me hence!" I shrieked, and lo! from out a darkling hole That opened at my feet, crawled after me, Up the broad staircase, creatures of huge size, Fanged, warty monsters, with their lips and eyes Hung with slim leeches sucking hungrily.—