DARKNESS. I had a dream, which was not all a dream. 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. The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still, And nothing stirred within their silent depths; Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea, ΣΚΟΤΟΣ. ὄνειρον εἶδον ᾧ τι κἀκ θεοῦ προσῆν φλοξ ἡλίου γὰρ ἔφθιτ ̓, ἐπλανᾶτο δὲ σκότον δεδορκότ ̓ ἄστρα πρωτάρχῳ χάει ἀμαύρ ̓, ἀβουκόλητα· γῆ δ ̓ ἐπάλλετο κρυσταλλοπὴξ κατ' αιθέρ ̓ οὐ μήνης ὕπο τυφλή, κελαινωθεῖσα· φωσφόρος δ ̓ ἕως διεξόδοισιν οὐ ξυνείπεθ ̓ ἡμερῶν. ηὗδον δὲ λίμναι, ῥεῖθρά θ' ηΰδ', ηΰδεν Θέτις, ἦν δ ̓ οὐδὲν ἀψόφοισιν ἔμψυχον βυθοῖς· νῆες δ ̓ ἐσήπονθ', ὥστ ̓ ἀποιμάντου σκάφους And their masts fell down piece-meal: as they dropp'd They slept on the abyss without a surge The waves were dead: the tides were in their grave, The moon, their mistress, had expired before; The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air, And the clouds perish'd! Darkness had no need LORD BYRON. |