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.
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Far ranks of radiance, on the peaks withdrawn,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.
from The Poet, the Fool and the Faeries, 1912