Ebony and Crystal/Inferno

by Clark Ashton Smith

For works with similar titles, see Inferno.

INFERNO

Grey hells, or hells aglow with hot and scarlet flow'rs;White hells of light and clamour; hells the abominationOf breathless, deep sepulchral desolationOppresses ever—I have known them all, through hoursTedious as dead eternity; where timeless pow'rs,Leagued in malign, omnipotent persuasion—Wearing the guise of love, despair and aspiration,Forever drove, through ashen fields and burning bow'rs,

My soul that found no sanctuary.****For Lucifer,And all the weary, proud, imperious, baffled onesMade in his image, hell is anywhere: The iceOf hyperboreal deserts, or the blowing spiceIn winds from off Sumatra, for each wandererPreserves the jealous flame of sad, infernal suns.