Darkness Part III

All earth was but one thought-- and that was death

Immediate and inglorious; and the pang

Of famine fed upon their entrails--men

Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;

...

The crowd was famish'd 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 heap'd a mass of holy things

(For an) unholy usage;

...

Unknowing who he was upon whose brow

Famine had written Fiend. The world was void.

...

The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still...

Seasonless, treeless

And nothing stirr'd within their silent depth...

Manless, lifeless

Darkness had no need of aid from them--

She was the Universe.