Page:Livingstone in Africa.djvu/46

24 Brood over in their dim and sullen souls. Perpetual seas of broad purpureal flame, With intervals of momentary night, Dark as the darkness of a man born blind, Possess the sky's unfathomable concave; Wherein appalling growths of more intense Fire with seven branches, like gigantic trees, Spring up and vanish! Behold yon perpendicular crags, like flame, Whose melaphyre and porphyry condor crests Threaten the valleys! whose profound ravines Of deadly twilight ne'er a sun may see, Unsoften'd of a tiniest herb or flower! Now furious torrents toss white manes of foam Down their long solitudes; the firmament Sunders, and pours dense watery deluges, Illuminate with deluges of light; Howls the tornado; 'tis the reign of chaos! Great lions lashing tails in grim despair, Mingling their roar with elemental thunder, Climb from the floods, or struggling drown therein!