Classic Poem

Daughter of Chaos' doting years,
Nurse of ten thousand hopes and fears;
Whether thy airy, unsubstantial Shade
(The rites of sepulture now duly paid)
Spread abroad its hideous form
On the roaring Civil Storm,
Deafening din and warring rage
Factions wild with factions wage;
Or underground, deep-sunk, profound,
Among the demons of the earth,
With groans that make the mountains shake,
Thou mourn thy ill-starred, blighted birth;
Or in the uncreated Void,
Where seeds of future-being fight,
With lightened step thou wander wide,
To greet thy Mother — Ancient Night,
And as each jarring, monster mass is past,
Fond recollect what once thou wast: pp. 368 and 369 are missing in the ms.