No More Learning

They no longer heeded me;
But laughed to hear Hell's burning rafters
Unwillingly re-echo laughters!
No! no! no!
Spirits hear what spirits tell:
'Twill make an holiday in Hell!

_Fam. _ Whisper it, sister! so and so!
In the dark hint, soft and slow.

_Slau. _ Letters four do form his name-
And who sent you?

_Both. _ The same! the same!

_Slau.
_ He came by stealth, and unlocked my
den,
And I have drunk the blood since then
Of thrice three hundred thousand men.

_Both. _ Who bade you do't?

_Slau. _ The same! the same!
Letters four do form his name.
He let me loose, and cried Halloo!
To him alone the praise is due.

_Fam. _ Thanks, sister, thanks! the men have bled,
Their wives and their children faint for bread.
I stood in a swampy field of battle;
With bones and skulls I made a rattle,
To frighten the wolf and carrion-crow
And the homeless dog--but they would not go.
So off I flew: for how could I bear
To see them gorge their dainty fare?
I heard a groan and a peevish squall,
And through the chink of a cottage-wall--
Can you guess what I saw there?

_Both_.