“Gather All Ye Hither!”
Dragged away by night of drinking
Our passions lost to lust so sinking
Heaven scoffed as we sat thinking
My oh my, the song-flesh singing!
Dimmest lights, a shadow’s lurk,
We rocked and laughed, a sinner’s cirque
“One more bottle; another more!”
We were kings, the liquor pour
In my pocket, coins so clinking,
By my side, a lover’s winking;
Bittersweet was her smile
I never guessed a devil’s guile
By midnight hand we so avowed
Death by drink, the love of crowd
Never we guessed, a stranger came
Dressed in cowl, the hooded shame
With creaking voice he so declared
“Have ye paid, have ye fared?”
We thought not twice, as he did slither
Calling out forth: “Gather all ye hither!”
Wildest dance, pushed out the door
Merriment mad, forth to the moor!
By grinning moon we rolled downhill
Cackling by, the devil’s mill
Sleep is so, and sleep we did
Down by river, through Styx we slid
Drifting deeper, down we fell
Inching past sharp jags of Hell
And so we crossed that barren night
Fog-laden hills, most solemn sight
Stranger shadows at once emerged
No sooner we stopped, our lives thus purged
