A spirit sped

Stephen Crane 1871 – 1900



A spirit sped
Through spaces of night;
And as he sped, he called,
"God! God!"
He went through valleys
Of black death-slime,
Ever calling,
"God! God!"
Their echoes
From crevice and cavern
Mocked him:
"God! God! God!"
Fleetly into the plains of space
He went, ever calling,
"God! God!"
Eventually, then, he screamed,
Mad in denial,
"Ah, there is no God!"
A swift hand,
A sword from the sky,
Smote him,
And he was dead.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 23, 2023

23 sec read
680

Quick analysis:

Scheme abcDefgDhijdkgDlmdnoja
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 424
Words 82
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was an American politician from Elizabethtown who was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776. more…

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