"--
IX.
"Say who that hoary form? alone he stands,
"And meekly lifts his wither'd hands--
"His white beard streams with blood--
"I see him with a smile, deride
"The wounds that pierce his shrivel'd side,
"Whence flows a purple flood--
"But sudden pangs his bosom tear--
"On one big drop, of deeper dye,
"I see him fix his haggard eye
"In dark, and wild despair!
"That sanguine drop which wakes his woe--
"Say, spirit! whence its source."--
"Ask no more its source to know--
"Ne'er shall mortal eye explore
"Whence flow'd that drop of human gore,
"Till the starting dead shall rise,
"Unchain'd from earth, and mount the skies,
"And time shall end his fated course."--
"Now th' unfathom'd depth behold--
"Look but once! a second glance
"Wraps a heart of human mold
"In death's eternal trance."
X.
"That shapeless phantom sinking slow
"Deep down the vast abyss below,
"Darts, thro' the mists that shroud his frame,
"A horror, nature hates to name!"--
"Mortal, could thine eyes behold
"All those sullen mists enfold,
"Thy sinews at the sight accurst
"Would wither, and thy heart-strings burst;
"Death would grasp with icy hand
"And drag thee to our grizly band--
"Away! the sable pall I spread,
"And give to rest th' unquiet dead--
"Haste! ere its horrid shroud enclose
"Thy form, benumb'd with wild affright,
"And plunge thee far thro' wastes of night,
"In yon black gulph's abhorr'd repose!"--
As starting at each step, I fly,
Why backward turns my frantic eye,
That closing portal past?--
Two sullen shades half-seen, advance!--
On me, a blasting look they cast,
And fix my view with dang'rous spells,
Where burning frenzy dwells!--
Again! their vengeful look--and now a speechless--
PERU.
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