Gateways of Slumber

Through the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber Past the wan-moon'd abyss of night Have lived lives over lives without number I have sounded all things with my sight I have whirled with the earth at the dawning When the sky was a vaporous flame I have seen the dark universe yawning Where the black planets roll without aim I had drifted over seas without ending Under sinister grey-clouded skies That the many-forked lightning is rending That resound with hysterical cries I have plunged like a deer through the arches Of the hoary primoridal grove Where the oaks feel the presence that marches And stalks on where no spirit dares rove Great was the sin of my spirit And great is the reach of its doom Not the pity of Heaven can cheer it Nor can respite be found in the tomb Through the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber Past the wan-moon'd abyss of night Have lived lives over lives without number I have sounded all things with my sight