Finding Magic in the Words of Edward Bulwer-Lytton

It was a dark and stormy night…

Clichés rained down from parchment skies

Paul Clifford, what have you left us with?

Torrential rains falling in torrents

Intervals of length and gust

But who measures that which is vast and damaging

Shall it be deemed revolutionary?

Such a transfer of power from sky to ground

And does time possess calculated wisdom

Perhaps Zanoni, who lives on, without the handcuffs of time

Imparting some tale from another era

When melodrama etched its imprint

At volcanic Pompeii or among the Caxton’s

And how the killing of a nun on the convent altar

Sends not the correct message to support

The Mighty Pen's triumph 'ore the Sword

So shall we turn to look at the gathered masses

For the contrast between our audience

Baron's down to the last man,

Faithful and of high upbringing,

Yet struggling amongst themselves

Still they tower above the Great Unwashed

But also in that stormy darkness

The loud breathless earth carries on

As scanty flames struggle

Their lamps under assault from fierce agitation

While the Children of the Night take shelter

Their crowded city housetops rattling

Almost Londonesque, but not that of Jack

His fame will soon appear…

But indeed, here in the metropolis

And as the storms conclude

Talent shall do what it can

And genius what it must...

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (May 25th,1803 - January 18th, 1873) was a highly successful English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. His bestselling works were numerous and include, "The Coming Race," "Paul Clifford," The Last of the Barons," and "Money." Baron Bulwer is known for coining many different iconic phrases in his published works, with "It was a Dark and Stormy Night" being the most memorable and "the Pen is Mightier than the Sword," a close second.