Visions 4

I saw a vision of death. Silence held my feet with clinging hands, And Darkness put heavy fingers across my eyes. Then Darkness raised her hands, and I saw in the gray shadows A great night-moth with sable folded wings; It seemed asleep upon a purple flower, But as I watched, Slowly it spread its wings, And from them shone a gleam of crimson dawn, And all the world was drenched in showers of light. Then with his flaming wings outspread The great moth sailed away, Like a scarlet boat upon a dawn-swept sea, Leaving behind a wake of golden light. And I know that my vision of death Was only a vision of beauty.