Darkness (1816) / Lord Byron (1788-1824)
.I had a dream, which was not all a dream
Forests were set on firebut hour by hour
The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars
They fell and fadedand the crackling trunks
,Did wander darkling in the eternal space
.Extinguished with a crashand all was black
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy Earth
The brows of men by the despairing light
;Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
,Morn came and wentand came, and brought no day
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And men forgot their passions in the dread
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
;Their chins upon their clenchd hands, and smiled
:Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
,And they did live by watchfiresand the thrones
Their funeral piles with fuel, and looked up
,The palaces of crownd kingsthe huts
,With mad disquietude on the dull sky
,The habitations of all things which dwell
The pall of a past World; and then again
,Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed
,With curses cast them down upon the dust
And men were gathered round their blazing homes
And gnashed their teeth and howled: the wild birds
;To look once more into each other's face
,shrieked
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
,And, terrified, did flutter on the ground
:Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
;A fearful hope was all the World contained
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawled
,And twined themselves among the multitude
And they were enemies: they met beside
:Hissing, but stinglessthey were slain for food
The dying embers of an altar-place
,And War, which for a moment was no more
Where had been heaped a mass of holy things
Did glut himself again:a meal was bought
,For an unholy usage; they raked up
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
And shivering scraped with their cold skeleton hands
;Gorging himself in gloom: no Love was left
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
,All earth was but one thoughtand that was Death
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Of famine fed upon all entrailsmen
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
;Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh
Each other's aspectssaw, and shrieked, and died
,The meagre by the meagre were devoured
,Even of their mutual hideousness they died
,Even dogs assailed their masters, all save one
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
,Famine had written Fiend. The World was void
,The birds and beasts and famished men at bay
,The populous and the powerful was a lump
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless
,Lured their lank jaws; himself sought out no food
.A lump of deatha chaos of hard clay
,But with a piteous and perpetual moan
,The rivers, lakes, and ocean all stood still
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
;And nothing stirred within their silent depths
.Which answered not with a caresshe died
,Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea
The crowd was famished by degrees; but two
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropped
,Of an enormous city did survive
They slept on the abyss without a surge
,The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave
,The winds were withered in the stagnant air
;The Moon, their mistress, had expired before
And the clouds perished; Darkness had no need
.Of aid from themShe was the Universe
