In that building, long and low, With its windows all a-row, Like the port-holes of a hulk, Human spiders spin and spin,
Backward down their threads so thin Dropping, each a hempen bulk. At the end, an open door; Squares of sunshine on the floor
Light the long and dusky lane; And the whirring of a wheel, Dull and drowsy, makes me feel All its spokes are in my brain.
As the spinners to the end Downward go and reascend, Gleam the long threads in the sun; While within this brain of mine
Cobwebs brighter and more fine By the busy wheel are spun. Two fair maidens in a swing, Like white doves upon the wing,
First before my vision pass; Laughing, as their gentle hands Closely clasp the twisted strands, At their shadow on the grass.
Then a booth of mountebanks, With its smell of tan and planks, And a girl poised high in air On a cord, in spangled dress,
With a faded loveliness, And a weary look of care. Then a homestead among farms, And a woman with bare arms
Drawing water from a well; As the bucket mounts apace, With it mounts her own fair face, As at some magician's spell.
Then an old man in a tower, Ringing loud the noontide hour, While the rope coils round and round Like a serpent at his feet,
And again, in swift retreat, Nearly lifts him from the ground. Then within a prison-yard, Faces fixed, and stern, and hard,
Laughter and indecent mirth; Ah! it is the gallows-tree! Breath of Christian charity, Blow, and sweep it from the earth!
Then a school-boy, with his kite Gleaming in a sky of light, And an eager, upward look; Steeds pursued through lane and field;
Fowlers with their snares concealed; And an angler by a brook. Ships rejoicing in the breeze, Wrecks that float o'er unknown seas,
Anchors dragged through faithless sand; Sea-fog drifting overhead, And, with lessening line and lead, Sailors feeling for the land.
All these scenes do I behold, These, and many left untold, In that building long and low; While the wheel goes round and round,
With a drowsy, dreamy sound, And the spinners backward go.
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