The Eye

I.

When I was King Shalmaneser, And wielded the might of Assur In Nineveh, Over three thousand years ago, One day I sat upon my throne In the hall of the hundred granite bulls, Alone with my thoughts. Unnoticed by me, the waning day Deepened the shadows all around In the hall of the hundred granite bulls. It had come to pass that, the day before, I had caused a man to be done to death, Whose name was Chelech. ’Twas murder sure enough: for though I was the king, and his life by right Belonged to me to spare or take, Yet it was murder. For I had him strangled just because His wife loved him and I loved her. And now as I sat upon my throne In the hall of the hundred granite bulls, My gaze fell on my shield, which lay On the flags at my feet, My shield of toughened bullock hide, Covered with plates of beaten gold, Which softly glowed in the growing darkness. And there in the midst of the shield I saw A living human eye Looking at me, A veiled, unpleasant, sickly eye-- The eye of Chelech.

II.

Now yester evening, as I came Across the marshes, with my gun Under my arm, and a brace of ducks Slung over my shoulder, A strange thing happened. You know how dull the weather was: Clouds grey and saffron hung low down, Quickening the coming darkness. Being still some way from home, I sat me down, beside a pool, On the fallen trunk of a tree To fill my pipe. And sitting there it chanced I gazed Into the dark, deep water, And saw distinctly in the pool A living eye Looking at me, A veiled, unpleasant, sickly eye-- The eye of Chelech: The man I’d caused to be done to death, Over three thousand years ago, When I was King Shalmaneser, And wielded the might of Assur In far-famed Nineveh, because His wife loved him and I loved her.