Classic Poem

Darkness, unconquered Darkness, spread thy tent,
Silence, build up thy co-eternal wall.
Death, who art silent and dark, this firmament
Is thine, these withered worlds--Oh, take them all!
Pearls dead and lustreless, float back to Death,--
You from the sun-dust born and starry spray,
Life set you free and warmed you with his breath
A day, and Night hath fallen on that day.
Float back to Death, pearls dead and lustreless,
So he may sow you on the stormy streams
That wander unto aweful wars and press
Onward their throneless orbs that know no beams,--
Blind sepulchres that hold within their stones
Ashes that sang and dust that shone with thought.
Though suns on suns emergent dash your zones
With lustre-floods,--no wonder shall be wrought,
Till out of ruins of transmuting strife
With sister globes that weld the eternal chain,
You win alternate Life and Death and Life
Again . . . and again . . . and again . . .