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LIGHT AND NIGHT
Light, fierce Light!
O intolerable gaze,
O unstay’d insatiate blight,
Battening thy relentless blaze
On the roots of sight!
Mercy! Mercy! Mind and heart
Writhe beneath the unswerving fire!
Mercy, mercy, Light! Depart,
Thou first-begot of Ire!
O for dulness, darkness, Night!
Hence, dread Light!
Darkness dear!
Come, Consoler, softly laying,
Over parched lives and sere,
Dusk of dewy pinions, saying,
“Rest ye! I am here.”
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