The night Don Juan came to pay his fees <br />To Charon, by the caverned water's shore, <br />A beggar, proud-eyed as Antisthenes, <br />Stretched out his knotted fingers on the oar. <br />Mournful, with drooping breasts and robes unsewn <br />The shapes of women swayed in ebon skies, <br />Trailing behind him with a restless moan <br />Like cattle herded for a sacrifice. <br /> <br />Here, grinning for his wage, stood Sganarelle, <br />And here Don Luis pointed, bent and dim, <br />To show the dead who lined the holes of Hell, <br />This was that impious son who mocked at him. <br /> <br />The hollow-eyed, the chaste Elvira came, <br />Trembling and veiled, to view her traitor spouse. <br />Was it one last bright smile she thought to claim, <br />Such as made sweet the morning of his vows? <br /> <br />A great stone man rose like a tower on board, <br />Stood at the helm and cleft the flood profound: <br />But the calm hero, leaning on his sword, <br />Gazed back, and would not offer one look round.<br /><br />James Elroy Flecker<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/don-juan-in-hell/
