'There Came a Lion into the Capitol'

Strange spirit with inky hair,
Tail tufted stiff in rage,
I saw with sudden stare
Leap on the printed page.

The stillness of its roar
From midnight deserts torn
Clove silence to the core
Like the blare of a great horn.

I saw the sudden sky;
Cities in crumbling sand;
The stars fall wheeling by;
The lion roaring stand:

The stars fall wheeling by,
Their silent, silver stain,
Cold on his glittering eye,
Cold on his carven mane.

The full-orbed Moon shone down,
The silence was so loud,
From jaws wide-open thrown
His voice hung like a cloud.

Earth shrank to blackest air,
That spirit stiff in rage
Into some midnight lair
Leapt from the printed page.