Had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguishd, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; Morn came and went--and came, and brought no day, And men forgot their passions in the dread Of this their desolation; and all hearts Were chilld into a selfish prayer for light: And they did live by watchfires--and the thrones, The palaces of crowned kings--the huts, The habitations of all things which dwell, Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumd, And men were gatherd round their blazing homes To look once more into each others face; Happy were those who dwelt within the eye Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch: A fearful hope was all the world containd; Forests were set on fire--but hour by hour They fell and faded--and the crackling trunks Extinguishd with a crash--and all was black. The brows of men by the despairing light Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits The flashes fell upon them; some lay down And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smild; And others hurried to and fro, and fed Their funeral piles with fuel, and lookd up With mad disquietude on the dull sky, The pall of a past world; and then again With curses cast them down upon the dust, And gnashd their teeth and howld: the wild birds shriekd And, terrified, did flutter on the ground, And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawld And twind themselves among the multitude, Hissing, but stingless--they were slain for food. And War, which for a moment was no more, Did glut himself again: a meal was bought With blood, and each sate sullenly apart Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left; All earth was but one thought--and that was death Immediate and inglorious; and the pang Of famine fed upon all entrails--men Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh; The meagre by the meagre were devourd, Even dogs assaild their masters, all save one, And he was faithful to a corse, and kept The birds and beasts and famishd men at bay, Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead Lurd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food, But with a piteous and perpetual moan, And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand Which answerd not with a caress--he died. The crowd was famishd by degrees; but two Of an enormous city did survive, And they were enemies: they met beside The dying embers of an altar-place Where had been heapd a mass of holy things For an unholy usage; they rakd up, And shivering scrapd with their cold skeleton hands The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath Blew for a little life, and made a flame Which was a mockery; then they lifted up Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld Each others aspects--saw, and shriekd, and died-- Even of their mutual hideousness they died, Unknowing who he was upon whose brow Famine had written Fiend. The world was void, The populous and the powerful was a lump, Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless-- A lump of death--a chaos of hard clay. The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still, And nothing stirrd within their silent depths; Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea, And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they droppd They slept on the abyss without a surge-- The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave, The moon, their mistress, had expird before; The winds were witherd in the stagnant air, And the clouds perishd; Darkness had no need Of aid from them--She was the Universe. Darkness.By Lord Byron.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:08:19 +0000
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