POETRY WEDNESDAY: From T. L. Beddoes:

By heaven and hell, and all the fools between them,

I will not die, nor sleep, nor wink my eyes,

But think myself into a god; old Death

Shall dream he has slain me, and I’ll creep behind him,

Thrust off the bony tyrant from his throne

And beat him into dust. Or I will burst

Damnation’s iron egg, my tomb, and come

Half damned, ere they make lightning of my soul,

And creep into thy carcase as thou sleepest

Between two crimson fevers. I’ll dethrone

The empty skeleton, and be thy death,

A death of grinding madness. – Fear me now;

I am a devil, not a human soul –