| Show NEW POEM CREDITED TO POE Found in iii a House Once His Home in South Carolina Below Is given what is believed to be a poem by Edgar Egar Allan Alan Poe never before printed At present proof of Its is authenticity city cannot be given but the circumstances circumstances circum circum- stances surrounding Its is discovery indicate that It is genuine Part i of or e. Ices Poe's disappointed and disappointing disappointing pointing career was passed in dismal seclusion seclusion se se- elusion in an old and ramshackle frame hovel at the extreme eastern end of Sulli Sulli- SuI- SuI vans van's Island one of the gateposts at the entrance of f Charleston S. S C C. harbor w. w It ic was vas a a weird weird habitation I The white and barren sandhills rolled on every even side like huge and ghostly waves about to Swallow w up the venturesome Intruder intruder In In- i Here and there between tIe the dunes may be caught a a glimpse of the tie sea and the foam of the tho surf dashing with wih Incessant incessant Inces Inces- sant i roar oar upon the broad hard beach This with wih and the tle whistling whistling whist whist- ling of the tho winds and the occasional l grue grue- grue gruesome some and startling cries of the e sea birds a was vas I all that could m be heard r fa and es s seen about the dreary spot It I was In this neighbor f bood hood too that tradition told of the ever- ever yawning maw of the and the thel restless s spirits 1 of d dead pirates and oi oito other uneasy l 1 r wandering a J f ever alert to catch the bold or the unwary visitor to their miserable domain Here it i w was ts that Poe morbid and alone is supposed to have written his famous story of The Gold Bug And in all al probability others other of his curdling blood blood but withal wonderfully executed execute tales tle were evolved in this spot pot Anyway Anyay here he dwelt and here did he be write and here his masterpiece of prose was composed As has ha been said sid he probably effected other work in inthis inthis this strange and ad lore lorn lor retreat and at least one une poem that poem that given below was below was certainly wrought that pem-that out amid these thee surroundings This poem was ws apparently unnamed by him b but perhaps appropriately t may be called the the hea motif e sc se to I speak k ot the piece The he history of it I is this this this-so so far as is known or can be discovered ater af after a- a a- a ater ter careful ful Inquiry An Cr old maiden lady Miss Iss Mary Wilkes North a member of an aristocratic South Carolina a family was wa fn In the of famil spending I part rt of each summer u on Sullivan's Sullivans Sulli Sulli- vans van's K Island fa During a one n of rhe her r sojourns j there she bought from an ignorant Covite a a native of the place place place-an an old battered copy of Dantes Dante's Inferno which the Covite Covle assured her hr he had ha found between the weatherboarding b g and d the edge ede of l the flooring the flooring r tho house was ot e of the shack Poes Poe's quondam residence This find with Poes Poe's name on the inside of the front wih cover would of itself Isel have been of considerable sentimental value but in comparison to what the book was found to contain the mere discovery of a battered old tome that had belonged to toP top P Poe was as nothing h Upon p st the two r sides e of the first fy fly leaf lef and erratic of this volume in cramped crampe handwriting v-ith v several erasures erasure and corrections the ink all al but faded fade away away from the yellow rotted moisture moisture sheet were found the verses composing the poem above referred to and below them the I simple initials E A. A P. P I Miss North however Is a sentimental old lady and lovingly selfish wherever matters mater of sentiment are concerned and perhaps perhaps not unnaturally she considers this volume and Its contents as one of her own treasures only Is to be shared In by her nearest kinsfolk ony and intimates andas andas and andas as much too sacred to be exhibited or exploited exploited ex ex- ex- ex before a vulgar curiosity How the poem fell into the writers writer's possession possession possession pos pos- session Is simply fel told He le Is a near relative relative rela rela- tive and godson of Miss North A few weeks ago O In her desire l to see her old friends r her r hooks books ks distributed r ut as e she wished before she passed away for away for three threescore threescore threescore score and ten is- is Is isa a distanced distance milestone in her life she life she sent a a. lot of them to the thew w writer wrier Among them f he found this treasure It I turned out however that the old lady had not intended to Include It It-at It i-at i at least Just yet yet yet-tn in the legacy of books boks and she he There asked 1 was a return t time of though her precious for a hasty belonging copy t of the leaf fly lef fy-lef poem and this was made forthwith The composition Is thoroughly characteristic charac charac- tensile of the flighty and phantasmagoric genius of the tho gifted author The weirdly descriptive and fantastic aspects are are distinctly distinctly dis dis- dis typical and when we consider the habits disappointments t and trials i a of fb the ft oa poets poet's l life it is easy to grasp a the tho bent of his inspiration as a evinced by these lines It was the Intention of this writer to obtain ob ob- ob- ob I tain a photographic a illustration of the book k and fr the oR fly leaf fc fcc c containing rI the fo poem but Miss North resolutely refuses to O al allow allow allow al- al low it out of her sight again and she has ha indignantly declined a handsome cash cah of offer offer offer of- of fer for it Here Hee is the poem In my hermitage I lingered Lone and tremulously US fingered fingered- e Tapping ina nervously u my y table to the dull dul Neptunian a roar roar- Fingered oer o'er a f leaflet J yellow Void of sign and void of fellow Tossed up by a surf-broke surf billow biow Flotsam on the foam flecked foam shore I r could hear her the breakers lifting And the sand dunes dune shifting shifting With the winds night fitful moaning the walls wals and at my door Far off weird and terrifying I could hear a bittern crying Storm-battered Storm perchance and dying Desolate upon the shore While the tha t faggots gleaned from spindrift Tossed by tide and and dried by t Flickering threw threW fantastic figures from the hearth across the floor foor There I sat and loosed my fancies fance Midst the shadow dances shadow dance Meditating on the chances That had cast my leaf ashore Then I turned and fixed my vision my-vision vision On the leaf curled In derision At my vanity in thinking I could penetrate pens pene pene its lore And my soul fell fel sick with fearing For always and ever nearing Loom Loomed d my lifes life's lost aims alms appearing Strewn like wreckage on my shore shore Suddenly a voice came walling wailing See the crease creases screeching creases screeching railing railing- See the creases nt hisses seemed tp p pierce through walls wals and floor foor Ah HAh I mused some wraith unholy Mocking me my melancholy Chiding me for some past folly c g V Wings lt ings g the h wind night I from the shore Soul decayed I fiercely muttered With my gruesome wheezing uttered hou thou haunt and taunt me as oer o'er this mysterious leaf I pore But a adeep deep e sepulchral moaning I With V ha t the shrill pitched h ay f h winds intoning Came my answer from the shore shoie While that spirit voice I pondered pondered- See the creases creases racked and wondered Flashed a corybantic fancy like a gleam my eyes before For once more my leaflet scanning K creased by careful planning planning- rg- rg eP Creased e and e tossed s upon ft the shore Kelab the incantation souls soul's translation For a tottering souls Shibboleth t for spirits spirit's entry rY into worlds but dreamed r before re Speak the shrieking I swi winds g were e urging ig Speak the wild sea 5 echoes e surging Speak Speak ne one one word a worlds world's woes woe purging purging purging ing ing- ing Thus my message from the shore cites ciles m my my spirit to Nirvana bear It it Bear my cry oh winds sea-winds sweeping Echo it forevermore Mark my soul o arid and body severed d dand rt Where the heaved and quivered ered Where ere the breakers curled and ad shivered On the shelved and sloping shore Instantly my soul leaped winging Winging g on the free winds singing Singing YA f with rt hi a ringing f laughter u lost to tofe life fe lived long before Lost to Earths Earth's unceasing sorrow Fools would ye escape the morrow Would ye flee Lifes Life's Lies Lie's fallow furrow fee Seek your message on the shore B. B EAP A. A P. P Note that the letters leters composing this word are all al formed with straight lines which could be readily creased Into a apiece apiece B Y piece of paper or parchment N. N. N Sun |
