The Village Unloved

One day I was led to gate gleaming,
And a robed man met me there,
And he saw my eyes - O but he did not See!
He wore pale round goggles that would not See.

I did not want to enter that lovely gate,
But grass enchanted dead moved me in,
And then I Saw lifeless columns of carved stone,
And felt the cool touch of death about my skin.

Then lifeless statues - O but they moved as humans move!
They led me over a graying street,
To a building, bland and fine,
Where a feast of rotten flesh had been laid for me.

I did not want to eat their hungry food,
But when I sat at table long,
I feasted as food commanded of me,
And I fed on that grossen flesh till I could no more.

When I stopped my meager dinner and looked around,
But, O, I knew, they had not eyes to See!
And then I Saw - but did not See -
That they had no mouths to feed nor suck on wisdom or truth.

When Death came down to greet his guests,
And the dead grass turned sickly black,
He bade me welcome - O that I did not die!
And kissed away my Taste and Sight.

I did not want to know this place,
But at once I knew it well,
For I was buried not in Heaven nor Hell,
But in the village Unloved’s knell.