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.