Rupert Atkinson

Nightmare

Down crumbling steps I galloped fast;
Swart cliffs and gullies on each hand
Engulfed the night; dry, yellow sand,
Far-strewn with wreckage, gaped aghast.

Alone I swayed; deep in the night
Hooves beat away, and faces dark
Rose surging, menacing; and stark
Squat shapes swung backward, feigning flight.

With scarce a murmur from the sea,
Gashed, scarred, and sullen, sinuous.
Long billows foamed, and even thus
The white-fanged waves leered up at me.

Before me and around, the blind
Earth stirred; a sigh of sick despair
Sobbed, stifled, through the sluggish air;
Black horror urged me from behind.

I knew not whence I fled, nor why;
Fear paled within me, and desire
Shrank, spurting like an ebbing fire;
Hope mocked me from the pallid sky.

And whither I should flee, or whence
Had fled, I knew not. Like one grin
The grey, grimacing tide swept in;
Far tumult shook the darkness dense.

Forever strong to fleer and flout,
Wild sea-rack eddied nearer yet;
My sorry limbs were sore with sweat,
My livid soul consumed by doubt.

And red scorn from aloft shone wide;
Black from the sky grey waters raped
Incestuous waves; and, terror-shaped,
My eyes surveyed the grinning tide.

Strange shudderings whimpered far and near;
My vision quailed; derisive forms
Approached, and, gibbering, gibed in swarms;
They touched me, and I ceased to fear!

And ocean, earth, and sky, effete.
Were shown but witless growths of Time —
Sudden my soul burst forth sublime
With budding wisdom, violet-sweet !

But now awoken, wistfully
I envy him who watched aghast
That frantic rabble weltering past,
The scowling sky and loathsome sea;

For barely breathes an echo thence
When that one moment thrilled with light,
Whose memory taunts and daunts my plight,
And chokes me with my diffidence.