Ballade of Acheron
Between the Midnight and the Morn,
The under-world my soul espied;
I saw the shades of men out-worn,
The Heroes fallen in their pride;
I saw the marsh-lands drear and wide,
And many a ghost that strayed thereon;
“Still must I roam,” a maiden sighed,
“The sunless marsh of Acheron.”
“And is thy fate thus hope-forlorn?”
“Yea, even so,” the shade replied,
“For one I wronged in life hath sworn
In hatred ever to abide:
The lover seeketh not the bride,
But aye, with me, his heart dreams on,
Asleep in these cold mists that hide
The sunless marsh of Acheron.
“And still for me will Lacon mourn,
And still my pardon be denied:
Ah, never shall I cross the bourne
That Dead from Living doth divide;
Yet I repent me not!” she cried,
“Nay—only that mine hour is gone;
One memory hath glorified
The sunless marsh of Acheron.”
Envoy.
Ah, Princess! when thy ghost shall glide
Where never star nor sunlight shone,
See thou she tarry not beside
The sunless marsh of Acheron.
Graham R. Tomson.