I walked down the passage, a sullen route,
On me like a load heavy silence weighed.
I moved and as strangers with hostile look
Statues were gazing from grim recess.

In gloomy sleep things were deadly stiff,
A gray semidarkness was eerie and quaint,
And same as the sound of pendulum big
Resounded in passage my hollow steps.

And there in the dark of abysmal space
My fiery eye viewed in mortal fright
A shape unobtrusive in deeper shade
Of crowded pillars rising so high.

Having approached a chilling fear
Grabbed me as beast and caught my breath:
I noticed in horror a head of hyena,
On maiden’s slim shoulders did it rest.

Its pointed snout was stained with blood
And eyes were glowing with hollow light,
And creepy whisper kept hoarse and vile:
“You came by yourself, so now you're mine!”

Those fearful moments swept by so fast,
And the half-light fell like a misty cloud,
And the pallid horror grew, doubled in size
Reflected in mirrors of charnel house.