Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

A Tell-Tale Heart, 1843

TRUE! -- nervous -- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why
will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses -- not
destroyed -- not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I
heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell.
How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily -- how calmly I can
tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once
conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there
was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given
me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!
He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it
fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees -- very gradually --I made
up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye
forever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you
should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with
what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work!
I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed
him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and
opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for
my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no light shone out,
and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how
cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so that I might
not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head
within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! --
would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was
well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously --oh, so cautiously --cautiously
(for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell
upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at
midnight --but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do
the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And
every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke
courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how
he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old
man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him
while he slept.

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the
door. watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before
that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity. I could
scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the
door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.
I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the
bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back --but no. His
room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were
close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see
the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.

I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb
slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out -
-"Who's there?"

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a
muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting
up in the bed listening; --just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to
the death watches in the wall.

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal
terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief --oh, no! --it was the low stifled
sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I
knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept,
it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the
terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt,
and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying
awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His
fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy
them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself --"It is nothing
but the wind in the chimney --it is only a mouse crossing the floor," or "It is
merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes, he had been trying to
comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in
vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow
before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of
the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel --although he neither saw
nor heard --to feel the presence of my head within the room.

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie
down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I
opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily --until, at length a
single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell
full upon the vulture eye.

It was open --wide, wide open --and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw
it with perfect distinctness --all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that
chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old
man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon
the damned spot.

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over
acuteness of the senses? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick
sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound
well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the
beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern
motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye.
Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and
quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have
been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! --do you mark me
well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of
the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as
this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I
refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the
heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me --the sound would be
heard by a neighbor! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw
open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In
an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I
then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the
heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would
not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I
removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I
placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no
pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the
wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned,
and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut
off the head and the arms and the legs.

I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited
all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so
cunningly, that no human eye -- not even his --could have detected any thing
wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot
whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --ha! ha!

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock --still dark as
midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street
door. I went down to open it with a light heart, --for what had I now to fear?
There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as
officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night;
suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the
police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

I smiled, --for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The
shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent
in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search --
search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures,
secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into
the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in
the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very
spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly
at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar
things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My
head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still
chatted. The ringing became more distinct: --it continued and became more
distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and
gained definiteness --until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my
ears.

No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a
heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low,
dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in
cotton. I gasped for breath -- and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more
quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and
argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the
noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to
and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men
-- but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed --I
raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it
upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It
grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and
smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --
they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror! --
this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony!
Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those
hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! --and now --
again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! --

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the
planks! --here, here! --it is the beating of his hideous heart!"

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks!
--here, here! --it is the beating of his hideous heart!"

Wallace Stevens

The Emperor of Ice-Cream, 1923

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month’s newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

"Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." -- Arthur C. Clarke

In 1961, scientists gathered to discuss Extra-Terrestrials and data gathered up until then. They came to the conclusion there were between 2 and 3 MILLion species of aliens in the Milky Way Galaxy ALONE! Not to mention the other trillion galaxies in the known universe. No wonder the World is being visited daily.