Shapes and Signs

    I SEE black dragons mount the sky,
       I see earth yawn beneath my feet --
          I feel within the asp, the worm
    That will not sleep and cannot die,
       Fair though may show the winding-sheet!
          I hear all night as through a storm
          Hoarse voices calling, calling
             My name upon the wind--
          All omens monstrous and appalling
             Affright my guilty mind.

    I exult alone in one wild hour --
       That hour in which the red cup drowns
          The memories it anon renews
    In ghastlier guise, in fiercer power --
       Then Fancy brings me golden crowns,
          And visions of all brilliant hues
          Lap my lost soul in gladness,
             Until I awake again,
          And the dark lava-fires of madness
             Once more sweep through my brain.

        James Clarence Mangan