Hades Poem by Robert C O Benjamin

Darkest clouds of blackest Hades,
Whirling onward into space;
Full of forms of ghostly horrors,
Madly join the phantom chase.


Earth below is lost in darkness,
Waves like mountains strike the sky,
Whilst the lurid lightning flashes,
And lost spirits shriek and cry.


Ne'er on earth was such dread darkness,
Ne'er such horrors, ghostly forms;
Ne'er such strokes of sulphurous lightning,
Ne'er such hellish terror storms.


And each vaporous home of thunder
Changed to aspect yet more dark;
And their crashing loud artillery
Followed close the 'lectric spark.


And each cloud with spirits damning,
Teemed till mountains filled their spheres,
And their hideous, ghostly laughter
Seemed devoid of hope and fears.


And their aspect seemed unnatural,
Devilish was their face and form;
Peals of shrieking, ghostly laughter
Quick increased, as did the storm.


Then that ghostly throng of spirits,
Each with death's marks on its brow,
Danced and kept tune to the thunders,
To the lightning's lurid glow.


Hark! the thunder crashes louder,
'Tis the ghostly spirits' band;
But above the deafening echoes
Are the curses of the damned.


Shuddering I, the scene beholding,
Felt my breast with horror swell;
For along the clouds in fire,
It was written - 'This is Hell!'