Now black, and deep, the night begins to fall,
A solid shade, immense. Sunk in the gloom
Magnificent, and vast, are heaven and earth.
Order confounded lies; all beauty void;
Distinction lost; and gay variety
One universal blot: such the fair power
Of Light, to kindle, and create the whole.
Drear is the state of the benighted wretch,
Who then, bewilder'd, wanders thro' the dark,
Full of pale fancies, and chimeras huge;
Nor visited by one directive ray,
From cottage streaming, or from airy hall.
Perhaps impatient as he stumbles on,
Struck from the root of slimy ruses, blue,
The wild-fire scatters round, or gathertd trails
A length of flame deceitful o'er the moss;
Whither decoy'd by the fantastic blaze,
Now sunk and now renew'd, he's quite absorpt,
Rider and horse into the miry gulph:
While still, from day to day, his pining wife,
And plaintive children his return await,
In wild conjecture lost. At other times,
Sent by the better Genius of the night,
Innoxious, gleaming on the horse's mane,
The meteor sits; and shews the narrow path,
That winding leads thro' pits of death, or else
Instructs him how to take the dangerous ford.