Puisi jakarta "SRIGALA" perantau kota

perantau kota
..............................

hariini kutatap kembali
wajah-wajah lusuh datang kemari
membawa harapan PERUBAHAN
dengan pekerjaan
dengan berdagang
meraih sesuap Nasi
sayang nya Srigala Ini terlalu buas
Hukum rimba jadi penguasa
siap menyantap Kain-kain Lusuh
pencari Nafkah disini

di pinggir sungai
dia berbaring
di bantaran danau
dia Tiduran
di kolong Jembatan
oh..kejam

kemana engkau yang mengaku perduli?
kemana sandiwara mu ditelevisi?
kemana pencitraan mu setiap hari?
kemana..kemana kau para pengecut..???


minggu 11 agstus 2013

dia

kadang rerimbunan pohon pun tak mampu membuat sejuk hati ini
kicauan burung dan hembusan anging pun terasa sepi
Mengingat mu wahai Gadis ku membuat hati ku perih
ingin rasa nya aku injak FOTO abadi mu di ingatan ku..
namun air perasaan menyiram nya dan meletakan kembali
dalam malam ku sebut nama mu
Dalam siang kukenang nama mu
dalam sepi pun kupalingkan ingatkan ku pada mu..
wahai bidadari ku
tertawalah dalama alam imajinasiku
berilah sekuntum bunga pada otaku
karena ku tau Kau bukan untuk ku...................JMar

DAKWAH KAMPUS

MEMBANGUN PILAR KEBANGKITAN DAKWAH KAMPUS

Dakwah  adalah suatu pekerjaan estafet  panjang yang di lakukan  dari mulai Allah menciptakan Nabi adam hingga Nabi Muhammad dan diwarisi oleh umat nya sampai saat ini.jalan dakwah bukanlah suatu jalan  yang mudah untuk mampu dilewati,banyak rintangan yang akan siap menghalangi aktifitas para juru dakwah, dalam mengajak manusia menuju ketqwaan kepada ALLAH swt.oleh sebab itu seorang aktivis dakwah harus mengetahui secara benar dan detail dalam  menjalankan langkah-langkah dan manuver dalam rangka mengembangkan dakwah di dalam kampus.

Dakwah kampus adalah dakwah yang bersifat strategis ,di karenakan dakwah ini di gerakan oleh para pemuda yang memiliki semangat yang bergelora, jiwa muda idealism dan generasi yang siap menjadi pemimpin di masa depan dalam merubah keadaan dunia islam saat ini, dakwah kampus  juga bertujuan membangun pola pikir pemuda yang deklaratif,atraktif,dan proklamatif untuk memimpin masa depan agama,dan bangsa ,pemuda adalah aset besar dalam menuju sebuah peradaban baru, karena pemuda hari ini adalah pemipin hari esok

 sebgaimana ALLAH memujia para pemuda :

 Kami kisahkan kepadamu (Muhammad) cerita ini dengan benar. Sesungguhnya mereka adalah pemuda-pemuda yang beriman kepada Tuhan mereka, dan Kami tambah pula untuk mereka petunjuk(al-kahfi 18-13)

Dalam membangun dan menuju sebuah kemenangan dakwah kampus, maka harus ada beberapa proses yang harus di kembangkan dan di kuasai oleh para aktivis secara benar dan terususun,dan sesuai dengan manhaj dakwah yang berlaku, proses itu adalah pertama adalah membangun ruhiyah aktivis dakwah,membangkitkan fiqroh,menguasai secara teoritis,memahami lapangan atau  medan dakwah dalam kampus,menyusun strtegi dan langkah kemenangan dan yang terakhir adalah  membangkitkan gerakan.proses ini harus di aplikasikan dengan baik , untuk lebih jelas mari kita paparkan satu persatu dari tujuh point menuju kebangkitan tersebut agar seluruh aktifis dakwah mengetahuai langkah –langkah apa saja yang harus di miliki.dalam rangka kebangkitan dakwah kampus.

meluruskan makna dakwah

dakwah adalah suatu bentuk panggilan dan ajakan kepada manusia untuk menuju pada ketundukan dan kepatuhan kepada ALLAH.jika di gali lebih dalam dan belajar dari tinta sejarah bagaiamana dakwah di tuliskan dan di kembangkan oleh nabi dan para sahabat dengan bimbingan wahyu adalah dengan cara menyesesuai kan dengan kondisi " zaman " dan budaya masyarakat yang berlaku.itulah mengapa sebab di turunkan nya AL-qur'an dengan bahasa sastra arab yang luar biasa tiada tandingan nya.
sesuai dengan kondisi zaman bukan berarti dakwah yang mengikuti zaman , tapi dakwah yang mengkondisikan zaman,misalnya dalam konteks berbaur dengan masyrakat ,tidak dapat di pungkiri berbagai macam ragam corak masyarakat dari mulai ulama, santri, anak gaul .preman ,penjudi,pemabauk dll semuanya b

erada dalamkonteks keastuan di masyarakat ,otomatis butuh strategi dan metode pendekataan dakwah yang berbeda dan tidak bisa di samaratakan .
tingkat keterbukaan (insklusif )adalah langkah stategis dalam dakwah pada pase ini,memang benar jika berkaca pada methode dakwah rosul ada istilah dakwah yang di lakukan terbuka dan tertutup ,namun dalam hal ini kita dapat mengambil konteks lain kenapa di perllukan dakwah tetutup,dan itu pun tidak bberlangsung "LAMA".jika dengan alasan takut dengan berbagai resiko untukmemperluas dakwah pada "LINI" lain maka yang ada hanyalah gumpalan2 ketakutan dan kekhawatiran dalam menginjak sebuah FASE BARU.

membongkar “Borok” Kesesatan JiL

Awas Musuh Dalam Selimut !
JIL adalah musuh Islam, Awas Musuh Dalam Selimut !*]

Pembaca yang budiman, di masa Rasulullah Shallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam masih hidup ada dua golongan musuh Islam yaitu orang kafir dan orang munafiq. Di antara kedua golongan ini orang-orang munafiq adalah yang paling berbahaya bagi ummat Islam, karena mereka mengaku Islam namun pada hakekatnya menghancurkan Islam dari dalam. Dan hal ini senantiasa terjadi di sepanjang zaman, begitu pula di zaman kita sekarang ini bahkan di negeri yang kita tinggali ini.

Allah Ta’ala memerintahkan kepada Nabi dan orang-orang yang beriman supaya berjihad melawan orang-orang kafir dan munafiq. Allah berfirman, “Wahai Nabi berjihadlah (melawan) orang-orang kafir dan orang-orang munafiq dan bersikap keraslah pada mereka. Tempat mereka ialah neraka Jahannam. Dan itulah tempat kembali yang seburuk-buruknya.” (QS At Taubah 9:73).

JIL Mengganyang Islam

Salah satu musuh yang kini tengah dihadapi ummat Islam adalah ajaran sesat yang dibawa oleh Jaringan Islam Liberal/JIL. Sehingga kerancuan yang mereka tebarkan perlu dibantah, apalagi orang-orang yang membawa pemikiran sesat ini adalah tokoh-tokoh yang digelari cendekiawan, kyai dan intelektual. Sebenarnya pernyataan mereka terlalu menyakitkan untuk ditulis dan disebarluaskan, namun demi tegaknya kebenaran maka dalam kesempatan ini akan kami bawakan beberapa contoh kesesatan pemikiran mereka yang dengannya pembaca akan mengetahui betapa rusaknya akidah Islam Liberal ini.

Orang JIL Tidak Paham Tauhid

Nurcholis Majid menafsirkan Laa ilaaha illAllah dengan arti tiada tuhan (t kecil) kecuali Tuhan (T besar). Padahal Rasulullah, para sahabat dan para ulama dari zaman ke zaman meyakini bahwa makna Laa ilaaha ilAllah adalah tiada sesembahan yang benar kecuali Allah. Dalilnya adalah firman Allah, “Demikian itulah kuasa Allah Dialah sesembahan yang haq adapun sesembahan-sesembahan yang mereka seru selain Allah adalah (sesembahan) yang batil.” (Al Hajj 22:62). Nah satu contoh ini sebenarnya sudah cukup bagi kita untuk mengatakan bahwa ajaran JIL adalah sesat karena menyimpang dari petunjuk Rasulullah dan para sahabat. Walaupun dalam mempromosikan kesesatannya mereka menggunakan label Islam, tapi sesungguhnya Islam cuci tangan dari apa yang mereka katakan.

Orang JIL Tidak Paham Kebenaran

Ulil Abshar mengatakan bahwa semua agama sama, semuanya menuju jalan  kebenaran, jadi Islam bukan yang paling benar katanya. Padahal Al Qur’an dan As Sunnah menegaskan bahwa Islamlah satu-satunya agama yang benar, yaitu Islam yang dibawa oleh Nabi Muhammad Shallallahu ‘Alaihi wa Sallam. Allah Ta’ala berfirman, “Sesungguhnya agama yang benar di sisi Allah hanyalah Islam” (QS Ali Imran 3:19). Nabi juga bersabda, “Demi Dzat yang jiwa Muhammad berada di tangan-Nya. Tidaklah ada seorang pun yang mendengar kenabianku, baik Yahudi maupun Nashrani kemudian mati dalam keadaan tidak beriman dengan ajaran yang aku bawa kecuali pastilah dia termasuk di antara para penghuni neraka” (HR. Muslim). Kalau Allah dan Rasul-Nya sudah menyatakan demikian, maka anda pun bisa menjawab apakah yang dikatakan Ulil ini kebenaran ataukah bukan?

Orang JIL Tidak Paham Islam 

Para tokoh JIL menafsirkan Islam hanya sebagai sikap pasrah kepada Tuhan. Maksud mereka siapapun dia apapun agamanya selama dia pasrah kepada Tuhan maka dia adalah orang Islam. Allahu Akbar! Ini adalah jahil murokkab (bodoh kuadrat), sudah salah, merasa sok tahu lagi. Cobalah kita simak jawaban Nabi ketika Jibril bertanya tentang Islam. Beliau menjawab, “Islam itu adalah engkau bersaksi bahwa tidak ada sesembahan yang haq kecuali Allah dan bahwasanya Muhammad adalah utusan Allah, engkau menegakkan shalat, menunaikan zakat, berpuasa di bulan Ramadhan dan berhaji ke baitullah jika engkau sanggup mengadakan perjalanan ke sana” (HR. Muslim). Siapakah yang lebih tahu tentang Islam; Nabi ataukah orang-orang JIL ?
Orang JIL Menghina Syari’at Islam

Ulil Abshar mengatakan bahwa larangan kawin beda agama, dalam hal ini antara perempuan Islam dengan lelaki non-Islam sudah tidak relevan lagi. Padahal Allah Ta’ala telah berfirman, “Pada hari ini Aku telah sempurnakan bagi kalian agama kalian dan Aku telah cukupkan nikmat-Ku atas kalian dan Aku telah ridha Islam menjadi agama kalian” (QS Al Ma’idah 5:3). Kalau Allah Yang Maha Tahu sudah menyatakan bahwa Islam sudah sempurna sedangkan Ulil mengatakan bahwa ada aturan Islam yang tidak relevan – tidak cocok dengan perkembangan zaman – maka kita justeru bertanya kepadanya : Siapakah yang lebih tahu, kamu ataukah Allah?!

Orang Tidak Tahu Kok Diikuti ?

Demikianlah beberapa contoh kesesatan pemikiran JIL. Kita telah melihat bersama betapa bodohnya pemikiran semacam ini. Kalaulah makna tauhid, makna Islam adalah sebagaimana yang dikatakan oleh mereka (JIL) niscaya Abu Jahal, Abu Lahab dan orang-orang kafir Quraisy yang dimusuhi Nabi menjadi orang yang pertama-tama masuk Islam. Karena mereka meyakini bahwasanya Allah-lah pencipta, pengatur, pemberi rizki, yang menghidupkan dan mematikan, yang mampu menyelamatkan mereka ketika tertimpa bencana, sehingga ketika mereka diombang-ambingkan oleh ombak lautan mereka mengikhlashkan do’a hanya kepada Allah, memasrahkan urusan mereka kepada-Nya.

Namun dengan keyakinan semacam ini mereka tetap saja menolak ajakan Nabi untuk mengucapkan Laa ilaaha illAllah. Bahkan mereka memerangi Rasulullah, menyiksa para sahabat dan membunuh sebagian di antara mereka dengan cara yang amat keji. Inilah bukti bahwa orang-orang JIL benar-benar tidak paham Al Qur’an, tidak paham As Sunnah, bahkan tidak paham sejarah !!

Himbauan

Melalui tulisan ini kami menghimbau kepada segenap kaum muslimin agar menjauhi buletin, majalah, siaran TV atau radio yang digunakan oleh JIL dalam menyebarkan kesesatan mereka dan bagi yang memiliki kewenangan hendaklah memusnahkannya. Karena Allah Ta’ala telah memerintahkan, “Wahai Nabi berjihadlah (melawan) orang-orang kafir dan orang-orang munafiq dan bersikap keraslah pada mereka. Tempat mereka ialah neraka Jahannam. Dan itulah tempat kembali yang seburuk-buruknya.” (QS At Taubah 9:73). Dan ketahuilah bahwasanya tidak ada yang bisa membentengi kaum muslimin dari kebinasaan kecuali dengan kembali berpegang dengan Al Qur’an dan As Sunnah serta pemahaman para salafush shalih (sahabat dan murid-murid mereka). Dan Rasulullah telah menegaskan bahwasanya ilmu itu hanya bisa diraih dengan cara belajar (lihat Fathul Bari). Semoga tulisan yang singkat ini bisa meruntuhkan kerancuan-kerancuan yang ditebarkan oleh musuh-musuh Allah dan Rasul-Nya.

Imam Al Auza’i berpesan, “Wajib atas kalian mengikuti jejak salaf (para sahabat) walaupun banyak manusia yang menentangmu. Dan waspadalah dari pemikiran-pemikiran manusia meskipun mereka menghiasinya dengan perkataan-perkataan yang indah di hadapanmu”. Hanya kepada Allah-lah kita memohon perlindungan. WAllahu a’lam.

Sumber : akhirzaman.info

*]. Dikutip dari Bulletin At-Tauhid, diterbitkan LBI Al-Atsary Yogyakarta.

ciri-ciri orang yang bertaqwa

Allah SWT menurunkan Al-quran sebagai Mu’jizat yang luar biasa untuk kekasihnya: Nabi Muhammad SAW, melalui perantara Malaikat Jibril dalam kurun waktu lebih kurang selama 23 Tahun. Al-Quran terdiri dari 114 surat, 6666 ayat (berdasarkan perhitungan mayoritas ulama, karena ada perbedaan versi [antara perhitungan ulama Syiria, Madinah ataupun Bashrah]tentang jumlah ayat dalam Al-Quran yang terdiri dari 30 juz ini), di awali dari Ummu al-Kitab (Al-Fatihah) dan di tutup dengan surat An-Naas. Al-Baqarah sebagai surat kedua, di awal ayat dengan jelas Allah SWT memberikan definisi bahwa Inilah Kitab (Al-Quran), kita di perintahkan untuk tidak memiliki rasa ragu atau tidak percaya kepada isi dan kandungan al-Quran, Kenapa? Karena Al-quran tidak di turunkan melainkan sebagai petunjuk untuk orang-orang yang bertakwa.
Kata Petunjuk kalau dalam bahasa arabnya adalah diambil dari lafadz hudan, dimana kata hudan ini, masih seakar kata dengan kata hadiah, bermakna; Al-Quran adalah kitab suci yang diberikan dengan penuh cinta dan rasa kasih sayang, hal ini masih sejalan dengan konsep hadiah, apabila seseorang memberikan suatu hadiah untuk kawan dekat, saudara, atau kekasih tercinta, pasti dia akan mengemas secantik mungkin, di balut dengan kertas dan berbagai aksesoris lainnya, dan disaat memberikan hadiah tersebut tanpa adanya suatu unsur paksaan, melainkan diberikan dengan penuh rasa suka cita, hati damai dan tanpa mengharap imbalan apapun, begitulah sejatinya Allah menurunkan Al-Quran  kepada kita sebagai petunjuk (baca:hadiah) untuk orang-orang yang bertaqwa.
Definisi taqwa yang sering di jelaskan oleh para ulama adalah Imtisal al-awaamir Wajtinabu al-Nawahi (melaksanakan apa yang diperintahkan Allah, dan menjauhi segala larangan-Nya). Seperti yang diungkapkan oleh Imam Hasan Al-Bashri bahwa taqwa adalah takut dan menghindari apa yang diharamkan Allah, serta menunaikan apa yang diwajibkan-Nya. Ibnu Qayyim al-Jauziyah mengartikan taqwa dapat di raih oleh orang-orang yang mampu menjadikan tabir penjaga antara dirinya dan neraka. Pandangan ini secara tidak langsung menyatakan bahwa orang yang bertaqwa tahu hal-hal apa sajakah yang menyebabkan Allah murka dan menghukumnya kelak di neraka.
Konsep taqwa kalau dalam surat Ath-Thalaq, selama ini hanya dijelaskan seputar imbalan akan diberikan jalan keluar (solusi) dalam segala problematika kehidupan, serta akan didatangkannya rezeki dari jalan yang tidak kita sangka, padahal pada ayat selanjutnya masih ada 3 point yang dengan tegas di jelaskan, bahwa orang-orang yang bertaqwa selain akan mendapatkan 2 point di atas, Allah SWT juga akan menjadikan segala urusan kehidupannya menjadi lebih mudah dalam melaluinya, akan dihapuskan segala kekhilafan(perbuatan buruknya), dan meraka akan selalu di lipat gandakan pahalanya dalam setiap amaliyah sholih yang dilakukannya. Begitu mulianya orang-orang yang bertaqwa dalam pandangan sang penguasa alam raya ini.
Rasulullah SAW suatu ketika pernah menasehati Sayyidina Ali Ibnu Abi Thalib, wahai Ali: Shalatlah apabila telah tiba waktunya karena itu akan menunjukkan engkau sebagai pribadi yang bertaqwa. Nasehat ini kalau dalam  surat An-Nisa sudah di jelaskan bahwa Sesungguhnya Shalat ada pada diri orang-orang yang beriman, dan telah di tetapkan waktunya. Maka wajar kalau baginda Rasulullah SAW dalam beberapa riwayat di katakan, suatu masa beliau sedang berasyik-masyuk, bersenda gurau dengan para istrinya, tetapi apabila tiba waktu shalat (adzan), Kaannahu Lam Ya’rifna Walam Na’rifhu: seakan-akan rasul tidak mengenal kami (para istri), dan kami pun tidak mengenalnya (rasul), beliau langsung menuju masjid untuk memenuhi panggilan-Nya, dan para istrinya pun langsung ikut berjamaah. Demikian dijaganya arti shalat jamaah oleh rasul dan keluarganya.
Besok di akhirat, ada 3 golongan manusia yang berbeda di dalam menjaga shalat jamaah waktu di dunia:
1.      Wujuuhuhum Ka al-Kawakib (Wajah seperti bintang)
Kelompok ini adalah mereka yang apabila mendengar adzan (panggilan shalat), mereka tidak melanjutkan aktivitasnya melainkan segera mengambil air wudlu’ untuk melaksanakan shalat.
2.      Wujuuhuhum Ka al-Qamar (Wajah seperti bulan)
Golongan ini bisa dicapai kepada mereka yang selalu dalam keadaan suci, walaupun belum ada panggilan shalat(adzan).
3.      Wujuuhuhum Ka al-Syams (Wajah seperti Matahari)
Golongan eksekutif yang dapat merasakan kenikmatan ini, karena mereka selalu dalam keadaan suci, dan sudah duduk I’tikaf di dalam masjid walaupun adzan belum berkumandang.
Inilah beberapa tauladan yang dapat mengangkat martabat kita sebagai pribadi yang bertaqwa, yang mampu menjaga dan memelihara suatu hadiah (baca: pesan moral dalam Al-Quran) dari Tuhan-Nya, sehingga menjadi pribadi yang berakhlak mulia. Sudah sejauh manakah kita dalam mengaplikasikan hadiah indah dari Allah ta’ala???
Sholli ‘Ala Muhammad Wa Aalihi
PG.2.7 Selangor
Amir el-Madary

The Black Cat

 Edgar Allan Poe

FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not - and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified - have tortured - have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror - to many they will seem less terrible than _barroques_. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place - some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.

From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere _Man_.

I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and _a cat_.

This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever _serious_ upon this point - and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

Pluto - this was the cat's name - was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.

Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character - through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance - had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me - for what disease is like Alcohol! - and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish - even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.

One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.

When reason returned with the morning - when I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch - I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me. But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart - one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man. Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is _Law_, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul _to vex itself_ - to offer violence to its own nature - to do wrong for the wrong's sake only - that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; - hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; - hung it _because_ I knew that it had loved me, and _because_ I felt it had given me no reason of offence; - hung it _because_ I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin - a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it - if such a thing wore possible - even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.

On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair.

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain of facts - and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire - a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. The words "strange!" "singular!" and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven in _bas relief_ upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic _cat_. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal's neck.

When I first beheld this apparition - for I could scarcely regard it as less - my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowd - by some one of whom the animal must have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, with the flames, and the _ammonia_ from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.

Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, there came back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse. I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me, among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented, for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to supply its place.

One night as I sat, half stupified, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of Rum, which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was a black cat - a very large one - fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast. Upon my touching him, he immediately arose, purred loudly, rubbed against my hand, and appeared delighted with my notice. This, then, was the very creature of which I was in search. I at once offered to purchase it of the landlord; but this person made no claim to it - knew nothing of it - had never seen it before.

I continued my caresses, and, when I prepared to go home, the animal evinced a disposition to accompany me. I permitted it to do so; occasionally stooping and patting it as I proceeded. When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great favorite with my wife.

For my own part, I soon found a dislike to it arising within me. This was just the reverse of what I had anticipated; but - I know not how or why it was - its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed. By slow degrees, these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into the bitterness of hatred. I avoided the creature; a certain sense of shame, and the remembrance of my former deed of cruelty, preventing me from physically abusing it. I did not, for some weeks, strike, or otherwise violently ill use it; but gradually - very gradually - I came to look upon it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its odious presence, as from the breath of a pestilence.

What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the discovery, on the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared it to my wife, who, as I have already said, possessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures.

With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would be difficult to make the reader comprehend. Whenever I sat, it would crouch beneath my chair, or spring upon my knees, covering me with its loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get between my feet and thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and sharp claws in my dress, clamber, in this manner, to my breast. At such times, although I longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing, partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly - let me confess it at once - by absolute dread of the beast.

This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil - and yet I should be at a loss how otherwise to define it. I am almost ashamed to own - yes, even in this felon's cell, I am almost ashamed to own - that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimaeras it would be possible to conceive. My wife had called my attention, more than once, to the character of the mark of white hair, of which I have spoken, and which constituted the sole visible difference between the strange beast and the one I had destroyed. The reader will remember that this mark, although large, had been originally very indefinite; but, by slow degrees - degrees nearly imperceptible, and which for a long time my Reason struggled to reject as fanciful - it had, at length, assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline. It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name - and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster _had I dared_ - it was now, I say, the image of a hideous - of a ghastly thing - of the GALLOWS ! - oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime - of Agony and of Death !

And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere Humanity. And _a brute beast _- whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed - _a brute beast_ to work out for _me_ - for me a man, fashioned in the image of the High God - so much of insufferable wo! Alas! neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of Rest any more! During the former the creature left me no moment alone; and, in the latter, I started, hourly, from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of _the thing_ upon my face, and its vast weight - an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off - incumbent eternally upon my _heart !_

Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole intimates - the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers.

One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.

This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body. I knew that I could not remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of being observed by the neighbors. Many projects entered my mind. At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire. At another, I resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard - about packing it in a box, as if merchandize, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the house. Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar - as the monks of the middle ages are recorded to have walled up their victims.

For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Its walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the red of the cellar. I made no doubt that I could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect any thing suspicious. And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crow-bar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this I very carefully went over the new brickwork. When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around triumphantly, and said to myself - "Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain."

My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it to death. Had I been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could have been no doubt of its fate; but it appeared that the crafty animal had been alarmed at the violence of my previous anger, and forebore to present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe, or to imagine, the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its appearance during the night - and thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul!

The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not. Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme! The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries had been made, but these had been readily answered. Even a search had been instituted - but of course nothing was to be discovered. I looked upon my future felicity as secured.

Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came, very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous investigation of the premises. Secure, however, in the inscrutability of my place of concealment, I felt no embarrassment whatever. The officers bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness.

"Gentlemen," I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, "I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this - this is a very well constructed house." [In the rabid desire to say something easily, I scarcely knew what I uttered at all.] - "I may say an _excellently_ well constructed house. These walls are you going, gentlemen? - these walls are solidly put together;" and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom.

But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend ! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! - by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman - a howl - a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.

Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. Swooning, I staggered to the opposite wall. For one instant the party upon the stairs remained motionless, through extremity of terror and of awe. In the next, a dozen stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb!

-THE END-