Classic Poem

A quarter of an hour had scarcely elapsed before a sweet yet solemn strain of music rising at a distance came stealing gradually in until it appeared to be almost within the apartment & then a feminine voice rich deep & melodious rose chanting the following wild stanzas
O who has broke the stilly hush
Which hung around the spirits tower
What strange wild tones & voices rush
Through the lone silence of their bower

Who bade the builders hammer ring
Through chambers dedicate to gloom
Who dared his household gods to bring
Where wander dwellers of the tomb?
here the song ceased but the music still continued & in a little while another voice softer & sweeter than the previous one but not so rich adopted the strain & proceeded thus

O thou who lists the spirit's song
O thou who broke the spirit's rest
Long shall their terrors deep & long
Wake torture in thy guilty breast

I bid thee by the spectral light
Of the wan moon that sails the sky
And by the sunshined glad & bright
Whence dim night-loving spectres fly

I bid thee quit these haunted halls
'Ere morn emits one golden ray
Haste leave to us our ruined walls
& speed thee on a brighter way
Heark to the wind so wild & dying
Through the black solemn Fir grove sighing
List to th' unearthly voice that calls
The tongue that summons thee away
Harp and song were now hushed but a sepulchural voice like the echo of a vault took up the last word & in hollow far receding tones muttered thrice away, away, away.