1734 
 2234 
 
 Gates 
 The Dark
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE DA 
 
 K
 
 THE DARK
 
 THE DARK 
 
 BY 
 
 ELLEN M. H. GATES 
 
 NEW YORK 
 1904
 
 Copyright, 1904, by 
 
 ELLEN M. H. GATES
 
 THE DARK 
 
 I am the Dark, the ancient one, 
 Before the days and years begun, 
 I hovered formless, silent, cold, 
 And filled the void. No page unrolled, 
 Makes mention of my timeless reign; 
 No rock on mountain-top or plain, 
 By scar or symbol, now can tell, 
 The secrets that I know so well. 
 
 904097
 
 I am the Dark, the first to be; 
 
 My own beginning baffles me. 
 
 I seemed a thing apart, forgot, 
 
 Which was because the Light was not. 
 
 I dwelt with Chaos; place I kept 
 
 As atom unto atom crept, 
 
 Till Order stood, with sinews set, 
 
 And law with law like brothers met.
 
 I am the Dark, for still I stay, 
 With half my kingdom wrenched away. 
 There came an hour when all the black, 
 A filmy screen, was folded back. 
 Above me, through me, everywhere, 
 Were scarlet streaks and golden glare; 
 And mighty winds began to blow 
 The trailing mist-wreaths to and fro.
 
 I am the Dark. The eye that sees 
 The midnight moons and Pleiades, 
 Must wait for me. I claim the sky 
 To show the splendors swinging high 
 In space so deep, and wide, and black, 
 That thought itself comes trembling back. 
 The Sun may show the sea and sod, 
 But I the far-off fields of God !
 
 I am the Dark. My paths I keep; 
 No hour too soon the light may creep 
 Above the hills, no moment late 
 The Sun may reach the western gate. 
 The shadows are my own; their wings 
 They spread above all breathing things, 
 Till joy and pain, and more and less, 
 Are one in sleep's unconsciousness.
 
 I am the Dark. The under-world, 
 
 With soundless rivers onward whirled, 
 
 Is mine alone; and mine the lakes, 
 
 O'er which the morning never breaks. 
 
 I dwell in caverns, vast, unknown, 
 
 Whose walls are wrought from primal stone; 
 
 There Silence, Death, and I, can wait, 
 
 Creation's grim triumvirate !
 
 I am the Dark, and forth and back, 
 As God's own servant, robed in black, 
 I go and come. His dead I keep 
 Within my chambers while they sleep. 
 Who knows my doom ? Perhaps, at last, 
 I may be ended, outward cast 
 From all that is, my deepest night 
 Invaded by resistless light ! 
 
 ELLEN M. H. GATES.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-40m-7,'56(C790s4) 444 
 
 HKBSH".
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY