Page:The Garden of Romance - 1897.djvu/221

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THE HOUSE OF USHER
209

upon her throne. The verses, which were entitled "The Haunted Palace," ran very nearly, if not accurately, thus—

I.


"In the greenest of our valleys,
 By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace—
 Radiant palace—reared its head.
In the monarch Thought's dominion—
 It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
 Over fabric half so fair.


II.


Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
 On its roof did float and flow
(This—all this—was in the olden
 Time long ago);
And every gentle air that dallied,
 In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
 A wingèd odour went away.


III.


Wanderers in that happy valley
 Through two luminous windows saw
Spirits moving musically
 To a lute's well-tunèd law;
Round about a throne, where sitting
 (Porphyrogene!)
In state his glory well befitting,
 The ruler of the realm was seen.


IV.


And all with pearl and ruby glowing
 Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
 And sparkling evermore,