Shapes And Signs

I SEE black dragons mount the sky,

I see earth yawn beneath my feet —

I feel within the asp, the worm

That will not sleep and cannot die,

Fair though may show the winding-sheet!

I hear all night as through a storm

Hoarse voices calling, calling

My name upon the wind—

All omens monstrous and appalling

Affright my guilty mind.

I exult alone in one wild hour —

That hour in which the red cup drowns

The memories it anon renews

In ghastlier guise, in fiercer power —

Then Fancy brings me golden crowns,

And visions of all brilliant hues

Lap my lost soul in gladness,

Until I awake again,

And the dark lava-fires of madness

Once more sweep through my brain.