Darkness Part I

Sleep.

Death.

Hilda, I meant go to sleep.

Sleep is death.

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.

The bright sun was extinguish'd, 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 chill'd 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 consum'd,

And men were gather'd round their blazing homes

To look once more into each other's face;

Happy were those which dwelt within the eye

Of the volcanoes, and their mountain-torch

A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;

Forests were set on fire--but hour by hour

They fell and faded...

...and the crackling trunks

Extinguish'd with a crash--and all was black.