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Lord Byron : The Giaour (1813) (extraits)
Le poème s'adresse à un vampire, pâle cadavre tourmenté, qui se relève de sa tombe et retourne dans sa maison afin de s'attaquer à sa famille : il boit le sang de sa fille, sa soeur, sa femme, ainsi que sa plus jeune fille qui était sa préférée.
Monkir est un ange exterminateur de la fin du monde, pour les musulmans. Eblis est le nom du principal démon islamique. Les Ghouls et les Afrits sont des esprits (djinn) du folklore arabe.
But thou, false Infidel! shalt writhe
Beneath avenging Monkir's scythe;
And from its torment scape alone
To wander round lost Eblis' throne;
And fire unquenched, unquenchable,
Around, within, thy heart shall dwell;
Nor ear can hear nor tongue can tell
The tortures of that inward hell!
But first, on earth as vampire sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent:
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
There from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse:
Thy victims ere they yet expire
Shall know the demon for their sire,
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem.
But one that for thy crime must fall,
The youngest, most beloved of all,
Shall bless thee with a father's name -
That word shall wrap thy heart in flame!
Yet must thou end thy task, and mark
Her cheek's last tinge, her eye's last spark,
And the last glassy glance must view
Which freezes o'er its lifeless blue;
Then with unhallowed hand shalt tear
The tresses of her yellow hair,
Of which in life a lock when shorn
Affection's fondest pledge was worn,
But now is borne away by thee,
Memorial of thine agony!
Wet with thine own best blood shall drip
Thy gnashing tooth and haggard lip;
Then stalking to thy sullen grave,
Go - and with Gouls and Afrits rave;
Till these in horror shrink away
From spectre more accursed than they!
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