September Poetry -- 5 of --n

J$

From: js@cs.vu.nl (J$)
Newsgroups: nl.eeuwig.september
Subject: September Poetry -- 5 of --n                              (lang)
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 23:22:54 +0200
Organization: Diff'rent colours, made of tears
Message-ID: <js-3009962322550001@js.home.phil.ruu.nl>

                  Darkness
        -- George Gordon Noel Lord Byron --


    I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
    The bright sun was extinguishıd, 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 chillıd into a selfish prayer for light;
    And they did live by watchfires - and the thrones,
    The palaces of crowned kings which dwell,
    Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed,
    And men were gatherıd round their blazing homes
    To look once more into each otherıs face;
    Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
    Of the volcanoes, and their mountain-torch:
    A fearful hope was all the world containıd;
    Forests were set on fire - but hour by hour
    They fell and faded - and the crackling trunks
    Extinguishıd 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 smiled;
    And others hurried to and fro, and fed
    Their funeral piles with fuel, and lookıd 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 gnashıd their teeth and howlıd; the wild birds shriekıd,
    And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
    And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
    Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawlıd
    And twined 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 devourıd,
    even dogs assailıd their masters, all save one,
    And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
    The birds and beast and famishıd men at bay,
    Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
    Lured their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
    But with a piteous eye and perpetual moan,
    And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
    Which answerıd not with a caress - he died.
    The crowd was famishıd 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 heapıd a mass of holy things
    For an unholy usage; they raked up,
    And shivering scraped 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 lifted up
    Their eyes, as it grew lighter, and beheld
    Each otherıs aspects - saw, and shriekıd 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, the lakes, and ocean all stood still,
    And nothing stirrıd within their silent depths;
    Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
    And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they droppıd
    They slept on the abyss without a surge -
    The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
    The moon, their mistress, had expired before;
    The winds were witherıd in the stagnant air,
    And the clouds perishıd; Darkness had no need
    Of aid from them - She was the Universe.