Phantasmagoria

Rigid sleeps the house in darkness, I alone     Like a thing unwarrantable cross the hall     And climb the stairs to find the group of doors     Standing angel-stern and tall.     I want my own room's shelter. But what is this     Throng of startled beings suddenly thrown     In confusion against my entry? Is it only the trees'     Large shadows from the outside street lamp blown?     Phantom to phantom leaning; strange women weep     Aloud, suddenly on my mind     Startling a fear unspeakable, as the shuddering wind     Breaks and sobs in the blind.     So like to women, tall strange women weeping!     Why continually do they cross the bed?     Why does my soul contract with unnatural fear?     I am listening! Is anything said?     Ever the long black figures swoop by the bed;     They seem to be beckoning, rushing away, and beckoning.     Whither then, whither, what is it, say     What is the reckoning.     Tall black Bacchae of midnight, why then, why     Do you rush to assail me?     Do I intrude on your rites nocturnal?     What should it avail me?     Is there some great Iacchos of these slopes     Suburban dismal?     Have I profaned some female mystery, orgies     Black and phantasmal?