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Title: {{1847-01: TO — — —. }}
ULALUME: A BALLAD
Line-01-001: {{1847-01: THE //1848-02: The }} skies they were ashen and sober;
Line-01-002: [indent] The leaves they were {{1847-01: crispèd //1848-02: crisped }} and sere —
Line-01-003: [indent] The leaves they were withering and sere;
Line-01-004: It was night in the lonesome October
Line-01-005: [indent] Of my most immemorial year;
Line-01-006: It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
Line-01-007: [indent] In the misty mid region of Weir —
Line-01-008: It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
Line-01-009: [indent] In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Line-01-010: Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Line-01-011: [indent] Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul —
Line-01-012: [indent] Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
Line-01-013: These were days when my heart was volcanic
Line-01-014: [indent] As the scoriac rivers that roll —
Line-01-015: [indent] As the lavas that restlessly roll
Line-01-016: Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
Line-01-017: [indent] In the ultimate climes of the pole —
Line-01-018: That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
Line-01-019: [indent] In the realms of the boreal pole.
Line-01-020: Our talk had been serious and sober,
Line-01-021: [indent] But our thoughts they were palsied and sere —
Line-01-022: [indent] Our memories were treacherous and sere —
Line-01-023: For we knew not the month was October,
Line-01-024: [indent] And we marked not the night of the year —
Line-01-025: [indent] (Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
Line-01-026: We noted not the dim lake of Auber —
Line-01-027: [indent] (Though once we had journeyed down here) —
Line-01-028: We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Line-01-029: [indent] Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Line-01-030: And now, as the night was senescent
Line-01-031: [indent] And star-dials pointed to morn —
Line-01-032: [indent] As the star-dials hinted of morn —
Line-01-033: At the end of our path a liquescent
Line-01-034: [indent] And nebulous lustre was born {{1847-01: , //1848-02: . [[,]] }}
Line-01-035: Out of which a miraculous crescent
Line-01-036: [indent] Arose with a duplicate horn —
Line-01-037: Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Line-01-038: [indent] Distinct with its duplicate horn.
Line-01-039: And I said — “She is warmer than Dian:
Line-01-040: [indent] She rolls through an ether of sighs —
Line-01-041: [indent] She revels in a region of sighs:
Line-01-042: She has seen that the tears are not dry on
Line-01-043: [indent] These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
Line-01-044: And has come past the stars of the Lion
Line-01-045: [indent] To point us the path to the skies —
Line-01-046: [indent] To the Lethean peace of the skies —
Line-01-047: Come up, in despite of the Lion,
Line-01-048: [indent] To shine on us with her bright eyes —
Line-01-049: Come up through the lair of the Lion {{1847: [[,]] //1848-02: , }}
Line-01-050: [indent] With Love in her luminous eyes.”
Line-01-051: But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Line-01-052: [indent] Said — “Sadly this star I mistrust —
Line-01-053: [indent] Her pallor I strangely mistrust: —
Line-01-054: Oh, hasten! — oh, let us not linger!
Line-01-055: [indent] Oh, fly! — let us fly! — for we must.”
Line-01-056: In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Line-01-057: [indent] Wings till they trailed in the dust —
Line-01-058: In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Line-01-059: [indent] Plumes till they trailed in the dust —
Line-01-060: [indent] Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.
Line-01-061: I replied — “This is nothing but dreaming:
Line-01-062: [indent] Let us on by this tremulous light!
Line-01-063: [indent] Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Line-01-064: Its {{1847: Sybillic //1848-02: Sybilic }} splendor is beaming
Line-01-065: [indent] With Hope and in Beauty to-night: —
Line-01-066: See! — it flickers up the sky through the night!
Line-01-067: Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
Line-01-068: [indent] And be sure it will lead us aright —
Line-01-069: We safely may trust to a gleaming
Line-01-070: [indent] That cannot but guide us aright,
Line-01-071: Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night.”
Line-01-072: Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
Line-01-073: [indent] And tempted her out of her gloom —
Line-01-074: [indent] And conquered her scruples and gloom {{1847: : //1848-02: ; }}
Line-01-075: And we passed to the end of the vista,
Line-01-076: [indent] And were stopped by the door of a tomb —
Line-01-077: [indent] By the door of a legended tomb;
Line-01-078: And I said — “What is written, sweet sister,
Line-01-079: [indent] On the door of this legended tomb?”
Line-01-080: She replied — “Ulalume — Ulalume —
Line-01-081: ’Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!”
Line-01-082: Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
Line-01-083: [indent] As the leaves that were {{1847-01: crispèd //1848-02: crisped }} and sere —
Line-01-084: [indent] As the leaves that were withering and sere,
Line-01-085: And I cried — “It was surely October
Line-01-086: [indent] On this very night of last year
Line-01-087: [indent] That I journeyed — I journeyed down here —
Line-01-088: [indent] That I brought a dread burden down here —
Line-01-089: [indent] On this night of all nights in the year,
Line-01-090: [indent] Oh, what demon has tempted me here?
Line-01-091: Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber —
Line-01-092: [indent] This misty mid region of Weir —
Line-01-093: Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,
Line-01-094: [indent] In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.”
Line-01-095: Said we, then — the two, then — “Ah, can it
Line-01-096: [indent] Have been that the woodlandish ghouls —
Line-01-097: [indent] The pitiful, the merciful ghouls —
Line-01-098: To bar up our way and to ban it
Line-01-099: [indent] From the secret that lies in these wolds —
Line-01-100: [indent] From the thing that lies hidden in these wolds —
Line-01-101: Had drawn up the spectre of a planet
Line-01-102: [indent] From the limbo of lunary souls —
Line-01-103: This sinfully scintillant planet
Line-01-104: [indent] From the Hell of the planetary souls?”
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Notes:
For an explanation of the formatting used in this Comparative Text, see editorial policies and methods. This format is very much an experiment, particularly for poetry.
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[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Ulalume. A Ballad (Comparative Text - American Review and Home Journal)