The Tartarus of the Suns

Beyond the orbit of the farthest sun,
A desert darkness lies — immeasured night
That knows nor eve nor dawn, where only drift
Dethroned and aimless suns, and worlds unlit.
Thereto are cast the disenabled stars,
Like those great Titans that high Zeus hurled,
By will supreme, from the Olympian peak
To Tartarus, the nadir of all space.

Discarded dust and cinders of the Plan,
Darkened and chill, they haunt the silent gloom,
And wait their brothers, suns that reign afar;
Till these shall come, with all their subject worlds,
Whose dust hath dreamed of Immortality,
And Night succeed unto their flaming thrones.

To ποίημα είναι του μεγάλου Clark Ashton Smith, που μαζί με τους H. P. Lovecraft και R. E. Howard αποτέλεσαν την "αγία τριάδα" του pulp περιοδικού Weird Tales. Στο έργο του Smith θα επανέλθουμε στο μέλλον.