Thus closed the tale of guilt and gloom, <br />That cast upon each listener's face <br />Its shadow, and for some brief space <br />Unbroken silence filled the room. <br />The Jew was thoughtful and distressed; <br />Upon his memory thronged and pressed <br />The persecution of his race, <br />Their wrongs and sufferings and disgrace; <br />His head was sunk upon his breast, <br />And from his eyes alternate came <br />Flashes of wrath and tears of shame. <br /> <br />The Student first the silence broke, <br />As one who long has lain in wait, <br />With purpose to retaliate, <br />And thus he dealt the avenging stroke. <br />'In such a company as this, <br />A tale so tragic seems amiss, <br />That by its terrible control <br />O'ermasters and drags down the soul <br />Into a fathomless abyss. <br />The Italian Tales that you disdain, <br />Some merry Night of Straparole, <br />Or Machiavelli's Belphagor, <br />Would cheer us and delight us more, <br />Give greater pleasure and less pain <br />Than your grim tragedies of Spain!' <br /> <br />And here the Poet raised his hand, <br />With such entreaty and command, <br />It stopped discussion at its birth, <br />And said: 'The story I shall tell <br />Has meaning in it, if not mirth; <br />Listen, and hear what once befell <br />The merry birds of Killingworth!'<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tales-of-a-wayside-inn-part-1-interlude-vi/
