XXIII + 

Alexandrines + 

There is a house that most of all on earth I hate. + 

Though I have passed through many sorrows and have been + 

In bloody fields, sad seas, and countries desolate, + 

Yet most I fear that empty house where the grasses green + 

Grow in the silent court the gaping flags between, + 

And down the moss-grown paths and terrace no man treads + 

Where the old, old weeds rise deep on the waste garden beds. + 

Like eyes of one long dead the empty windows stare + 

And I fear to cross the garden, I fear to linger there, + 

For in that house I know a little, silent room + 

Where Someone’s always waiting, waiting in the gloom + 

To draw me with an evil eye, and hold me fast⁠— + 

Yet thither doom will drive me and He will win at last. + 