Chapter LIV

I saw a picture in the air,
A shape that bleeding hung:
It caught from some far fires a glare,
That fearful shadows flung:
As when the culprit in his cell,
Sees him he slew, and knows him well,
So did my conscience cry, ’tis He;
So did I know the sight!
A being, bleeding patiently,
In that terrific light!
A flickering blaze it was, that threw
Upon his form, a light so blue,
And gave pale limbs, a livid hue,
To fright me down to Hell!
Each sinew strain’d—a writhing frame,
The figure in the subtle flame,
How fearfully it went and came,
How lighted up—and fell!