Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1886 — De Profundis. [ARTICLE]

De Profundis.

To wake at aattßight whea the world la (till And noonles* darkness broodaoa ail around. Wken the loud tteklnr clock and eneket akrlli Make* the weird alienee only more profound. To wake and hear the loneaome autumn rain Beat fitfully against the window-pane. While In hia kennel whine* the reatleaa hound And loneaome, rhoatly wind a go wailing round and roundT To He with aching eye* that cannot a teen Becauae of rlalona that do not fill them unite, Wraith* of the pant In panoramic sweep Of wan-eyed phantoms trailing through the night. To hear the death-watch sound its measured beat And count the graves we’ve passed with trembling feet. To search abyaaes for one guiding ray And wander up and down and search in vain alway. This is to drink of griefs ecstatic wine In melancholy's cypress-shaded vale, Where autumn leaves are always drifting down, And autumn winds eternally bewail. This is to pass the threshold of that door Above which one hath writ “hope nevermore.” To walk a demon round in ceaseless pain. And cry to senseless walls, and beat on bars in vain. Poor captive, in thine own Inferno lost, Think’st thou thy prison binges ne’er will turn? Tbink’Bt thou, the circling mountain summits crossed. No happy suns on happier lands will burn? Hush, hush thou, neart. Know, for thine egress fair, Hope builds through sleep a wide, enchanted stair. Then close sad eyes, fold tired bands so wan. And wake a-top in flush and glow of rose-red dawn.

Mrs. L. A. McGaffey.