THE DEAD GODS

I thought I plunged into that dire Abyss

Which is Oblivion, the house of Death.

I thought there blew upon my soul the breath

Of time that was but never more can be.

Ten thousand years within its void I thought

I lay, blind, deaf, and motionless, until —

Though with no eye nor ear — I felt the thrill

Of seeing, heard its phantoms move and sigh.

First one beside me spoke, in tones that told

He once had been a god — “Persephone,

Tear from thy brow its withered crown, for we

Are king and queen of Tartarus no more;

And that wan, shrivelled sceptre in thy hand,

Why dost thou clasp it still? Cast it away,

For now it hath no virtue that can sway

Dull shades or drive the Furies to their spoil.

“Cast it away, and give thy palm to mine:

Perchance some unobliterated spark

Of memory shall warm this dismal Dark.

Perchance — Vain! vain! love could not light such gloom.”

He sank.... Then in great ruin by him moved

Another as in travail of some thought

Near unto birth; and soon from lips distraught

By aged silence, fell, with hollow woe:

“Ah, Pluto, dost thou, one time lord of Styx

And Acheron make moan of night and cold?

Were we upon Olympus as of old

Laughter of thee would rock its festal height.

“But think, think thee of me, to whom or gloom

Or cold were more unknown than impotence!

See the unhurled thunderbolt brought hence

To mock me when I dream I still am Jove!”

Too much it was: I withered in the breath;

And lay again ten thousand lifeless years;

And then my soul shook, woke — and saw three biers

Chiselled of solid night majestically.

The forms outlaid upon them were enwound

As with the silence of eternity.

Numbing repose dwelt o'er them like a sea,

That long hath lost tide, wave and roar, in death.

“Ptah, Ammon, and Osiris are their names,”

A spirit hieroglyphed unto my soul.

“Ptah, Ammon, and Osiris — they who stole

The heart of Egypt from the God of gods:

“Aye, they! and these!” pointing to many wraiths

That stood around — Baal, Ormuzd, Indra, all

Whom frightened ignorance and sin's appall

Had given birth, close-huddled in despair.

Their eyes were fixed upon a cloven slope

Down whose descent still other forms a-fresh

From earth were drawn, by the unceasing mesh

Of Time to their irrevocable end.

“They are the gods,” one said — “the gods whom men

Still taunt with wails for help.” — Then a deep light

Upbore me from the Gulf, and thro’ its might

I heard the worlds cry, “God alone is God!”