I SEE black dragons mount the sky, <br />I see earth yawn beneath my feet - <br />I feel within the asp, the worm <br />That will not sleep and cannot die, <br />Fair though may show the winding-sheet! <br />I hear all night as through a storm <br />Hoarse voices calling, calling <br />My name upon the wind- <br />All omens monstrous and appalling <br />Affright my guilty mind. <br /> <br />I exult alone in one wild hour - <br />That hour in which the red cup drowns <br />The memories it anon renews <br />In ghastlier guise, in fiercer power - <br />Then Fancy brings me golden crowns, <br />And visions of all brilliant hues <br />Lap my lost soul in gladness, <br />Until I awake again, <br />And the dark lava-fires of madness <br />Once more sweep through my brain.<br /><br />James Clarence Mangan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/shapes-and-signs/
