Classic Poem

Then, a shriek, which those who heard it recollected ever after,
Rang out from that lone chamber, rang through hall and corridor:
" Dead! no, no — O God — O darling! " and she fell, with maniac laughter,
As pale and cold as marble, in the moonlight, on the floor.

Then, a shriek, which those who heard it recollected ever after,
Rang out from that lone chamber, rang through hall and corridor:
" Dead! no, no — O God — O darling! " and she fell, with maniac laughter,
As pale and cold as marble, in the moonlight, on the floor.

" O Karl! " she said, " I dreamed a dream of such wild pain and horror!
A dream that took my strength away and made me almost ill;
See, my darling, how I tremble with the memory of its sorrow!
Oh, its phantoms were so real, they seem hovering round me still! "

Then, " Come love — it is morning; we have slept too long already;
That fine picture — is it finished? They are coming for it soon;
Yes, I mean that lovely picture of the noble Russian lady;
She is going to Geneva, and the boat will leave at noon. "

Thus, for many a day she wandered, ever kind and sometimes cheerful;
But forgetting, through God's mercy, that one night in all the past,
Till the sympathizing doctor, with a pallid face and tearful,
Considering it his duty, came and told her all, at last.

Then the agony and anguish that consumes the heart, and gathers
Bitter daily food from memory, again had made her wild;
But they brought a little baby, with deep, brown eyes, like its father's.
Laid it on her aching bosom, whispering low, this is your child. "

And through all the woe and weariness with which her soul had striven,
Through the darkness and the danger, through the madness and strife,
That sweet little one came smiling, like an angel sent from heaven —
Came to charm her, with its helplessness and beauty, back to life.