The Three Voices Poem by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll – The Three Voices Poem : The First Voice
Lewis Carroll – The Three Voices Poem : The Second Voice
Lewis Carroll – The Three Voices Poem : The Third Voice

Lewis Carroll – The Three Voices Poem : The Third Voice

Not long this transport held its place:
Within a little moment’s space
Quick tears were raining down his face

The Three Voices Poem - Quick tears were raining down his face Illustration by Arthur B. Frost

His heart stood still, aghast with fear;
A wordless voice, nor far nor near,
He seemed to hear and not to hear.

“Tears kindle not the doubtful spark.
If so, why not? Of this remark
The bearings are profoundly dark.”

“Her speech,” he said, “hath caused this pain.
Easier I count it to explain
The jargon of the howling main,

“Or, stretched beside some babbling brook,
To con, with inexpressive look,
An unintelligible book.”

Low spake the voice within his head,
In words imagined more than said,
Soundless as ghost’s intended tread:

“If thou art duller than before,
Why quittedst thou the voice of lore?
Why not endure, expecting more?”

“Rather than that,” he groaned aghast,
“I’d writhe in depths of cavern vast,
Some loathly vampire’s rich repast.”

The Three Voices Poem - He groaned aghast Illustration by Arthur B. Frost

“‘Twere hard,” it answered, “themes immense
To coop within the narrow fence
That rings thy scant intelligence.”

“Not so,” he urged, “nor once alone:
But there was something in her tone
That chilled me to the very bone.

“Her style was anything but clear,
And most unpleasantly severe;
Her epithets were very queer.

“And yet, so grand were her replies,
I could not choose but deem her wise;
I did not dare to criticise;

“Nor did I leave her, till she went
So deep in tangled argument
That all my powers of thought were spent.”

A little whisper inly slid,
“Yet truth is truth: you know you did.”
A little wink beneath the lid.

And, sickened with excess of dread,
Prone to the dust he bent his head,
And lay like one three-quarters dead

The whisper left him—like a breeze
Lost in the depths of leafy trees—
Left him by no means at his ease.

Once more he weltered in despair,
With hands, through denser-matted hair,
More tightly clenched than then they were.

When, bathed in Dawn of living red,
Majestic frowned the mountain head,
“Tell me my fault,” was all he said.

When, at high Noon, the blazing sky
Scorched in his head each haggard eye,
Then keenest rose his weary cry.

And when at Eve the unpitying sun
Smiled grimly on the solemn fun,
“Alack,” he sighed, “what have I done?”

But saddest, darkest was the sight,
When the cold grasp of leaden Night
Dashed him to earth, and held him tight.

Tortured, unaided, and alone,
Thunders were silence to his groan,
Bagpipes sweet music to its tone:

The Three Voices Poem - Tortured, unaided, and alone Illustration by Arthur B. Frost

“What? Ever thus, in dismal round,
Shall Pain and Mystery profound
Pursue me like a sleepless hound,

“With crimson-dashed and eager jaws,
Me, still in ignorance of the cause,
Unknowing what I broke of laws?”

The whisper to his ear did seem
Like echoed flow of silent stream,
Or shadow of forgotten dream,

The whisper trembling in the wind:
“Her fate with thine was intertwined,”
So spake it in his inner mind:

“Each orbed on each a baleful star:
Each proved the other’s blight and bar:
Each unto each were best, most far:

“Yea, each to each was worse than foe:
Thou, a scared dullard, gibbering low,
And she, an avalanche of woe!”

The Three Voices Poem - a scared dullard, gibbering low Illustration by Arthur B. Frost

The Three Voices Poem End

The Three Voices Poem by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll – The Three Voices Poem : The First Voice
Lewis Carroll – The Three Voices Poem : The Second Voice
Lewis Carroll – The Three Voices Poem : The Third Voice

Phantasmagoria and Other Poems

Lewis Carroll – Phantasmagoria Poem, in Seven Cantos
Lewis Carroll – Echoes Poem
Lewis Carroll – A Sea Dirge Poem
Lewis Carroll – Ye Carpette Knyghte Poem
Lewis Carroll – Hiawatha’s Photographing Poem
Lewis Carroll – Melancholetta Poem
Lewis Carroll – A Valentine Poem
Lewis Carroll – The Three Voices Poem
Lewis Carroll – Tèma Con Variaziòni Poem
Lewis Carroll – A Game of Fives Poem
Lewis Carroll – Poeta fit, non nascitur Poem
Lewis Carroll – Size and Tears Poem
Lewis Carroll – Atalanta in Camden-Town Poem
Lewis Carroll – The Lang Coortin’ Poem
Lewis Carroll – Four Riddles Poem
Lewis Carroll – Fame’s Penny-Trumpet Poem

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