 | The poet, the fool and the faeries |  |
147
CHAOS AND ORDER
Shadows; and outposts of the rebel Night,
And muttered whisperings of conspiracy:
Deep in the west a flicker of ominous light,
As if a torch had signaled suddenly;
Involving heaven and earth in anarchy:
Then, high above the world, vast wings in flight
And trumpet-thunder of Night's empery.—
Chaos and Night,—form upon demon form,—
Riding the exultation of the storm.
And muttered whisperings of conspiracy:
Deep in the west a flicker of ominous light,
As if a torch had signaled suddenly;
Involving heaven and earth in anarchy:
Then, high above the world, vast wings in flight
And trumpet-thunder of Night's empery.—
Chaos and Night,—form upon demon form,—
Riding the exultation of the storm.
Glimmer; and rumors of confederate Dawn:
Aerial tumult as of sylphid feet:
Far ranks of radiance, on the peaks withdrawn,
Confronting Darkness, who, in wild retreat,
Flies from the leveled glory, fiery beat
Of swords about a golden gonfalon,
And sapphire shields, and spears of blinding heat.—
Light, and its ordered cohorts, ray on ray,
And the fierce phalanx of resistless Day.
Aerial tumult as of sylphid feet:
Far ranks of radiance, on the peaks withdrawn,
Confronting Darkness, who, in wild retreat,
Flies from the leveled glory, fiery beat
Of swords about a golden gonfalon,
And sapphire shields, and spears of blinding heat.—
Light, and its ordered cohorts, ray on ray,
And the fierce phalanx of resistless Day.
| The poet, the fool and the faeries | |