The Idiot

Two children in a garden         Shouting for joy         Were playing dolls and houses,         A girl and boy.         I smiled at a neighbor window,         And watched them play         Under a budding oak tree         On a wintry day.         And then a board half broken         In the high fence         Fell over and there entered,         I know not whence,         A jailbird face of yellow         With a vacant sulk,         His body was a sickly         Thing of bulk.         His open mouth was slavering,         And a green light         Turned disc-like in his eyeballs,         Like a dog's at night.         His teeth were like a giant's,         And far apart;         I saw him reel on the children         With a stopping heart.         He trampled their dolls and ruined         The house they made;         He struck to earth the children         With a dirty spade.         As a tiger growls with an antelope         After the hunt,         Over the little faces         I heard him grunt.         I stood at the window frozen,         And short of breath,         And then I saw the idiot         Was Master Death!         A bird in the lilac bushes         Began to sing.         The garden colored before me         To the kiss of spring.         And the yellow face in a moment         Was a mystic white;         The matted hair was softened         To starry light.         The ragged coat flowed downward         Into a robe;         He carried a sword and a balance         And stood on a globe.         I watched him from the window         Under a spell;         The idiot was the angel         Azrael!