'Twas in the prime of summer time,
An evening calm and cool,
And four-and-twenty happy boys
Came bounding out of school:

There were some that ran and some that leapt,
Like troutlets in a pool.

Away they sped with gamesome minds,

And souls untouched by sin;

To a level mead they came, and there
They drave the wickets in:
Pleasantly shone the setting sun
Over the town of Lynn.

Like sportive deer they cours'd about,
And shouted as they ran,-
Turning to mirth all things of earth,
As only boyhood can;

But the Usher sat remote from all,
A melancholy man!

His hat was off, his vest apart,

To catch heaven's blessed breeze;

For a burning thought was in his brow,

And his bosom ill at ease:

So he lean'd his head on his hands, and read

The book between his knees;

Leaf after leaf he turn'd it o'er,

Nor ever glanc'd aside,

For the peace of his soul he read that book In the golden eventide :

Much study had made him very lean,

And pale, and leaden-ey'd.

He told how murderers walk the earth
Beneath the curse of Cain,-

With crimson clouds before their eyes
And flames about their brain:
For blood has left upon their souls
Its everlasting stain !

"And well," quoth he, "I know, for truth,

Their pangs must be extreme,—

Woe, woe, unutterable woe,

Who spill life's sacred stream!

For why? Methought, last night, I wrought

A murder, in a dream!

"One that had never done me wrong

A feeble man, and old;

I led him to a lonely field,—

The moon shone clear and cold:

Now here, said I, this man shall die,
And I will have his gold!

"Two sudden blows with a ragged stick,
And one with a heavy stone,

One hurried gash with a hasty knife,-
And then the deed was done :
There was nothing lying at my foot
But lifeless flesh and bone!

"Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone,

That could not do me ill;

And yet I fear'd him all the more,

For lying there so still:

There was a manhood in his look,

That murder could not kill!

And, lo! the universal air

Seem'd lit with ghastly flame ;-
Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes
Were looking down in blame :
I took the dead man by his hand,
And call'd upon his name!

Two sudden blows with a ragged stick,
And one with a heavy stone.

"Oh, God! it made me quake to see
Such sense within the slain !

But when I touch'd the lifeless clay,

The blood gushed out amain! For every clot, a burning spot Was scorching in my brain!

"My head was like an ardent coal, My heart as solid ice;

My wretched, wretched soul, I knew,

Was at the Devil's price:

A dozen times I groan'd; the dead

Had never groan'd but twice!

597