A blind man walks without the gate,
  Wild-staring as an owl by day,
Fumbling his flute betimes and late,
  Along the way.

He pipeth, weary wretch and worn,
  A roundel shrill and obsolete.
The spectre of a dog forlorn
  Attends his feet.

For him the days go lustreless.
  Invisible life with beat and roar
He heareth like a torrent press
  Around, before.

What strange chimeras haunt his head ?
  And on his mind’s bedarkened space,
What characters unheard, unread,
  Doth fancy trace ?

Thus down Venetian leads of doom,
  Wan prisoners ensepulchred
In palpable, undying gloom
  Have graven their word.

And yet perchance when life’s last spark
  Death speeds unto eternal night,
The tomb-bred soul, within the dark,
  Shall see the light.