Festus
By Philip James Bailey.
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Dedication
My father! unto thee to whom I owe
All that I am, all that I have and can;
Who madest me in thyself the sum of man
In all his generous aims and powers to know,
These first-fruits bring I; nor do thou forego
Marking when I the boyish feat began,
Which numbers now near three years from its plan,
Not twenty summers had imbrowned my brow.
Life is at blood-heat every page doth prove.
Bear with it. Nature means Necessity.
If here be aught which thou canst love, it springs
Out of the hope that I may earn that love
More unto me than immortality;
Or to have strang my harp with golden strings.
Preface to the American Edition
We here present to the American public a book which has produced no little sensation in England, and which has been, for some time, known to many in this country. But although the first edition was issued six years since, it has had but a limited circulation among us; and it is believed that in republishing Festus, we not only perform a work which its merits demand, but open, for the first time, to many who will appreciate it, a great and original poem. The peculiar value of the second English edition, from which this is printed, consists in the “Proem,” which was not attached to the first. Having placed at the end of the volume some of the highest literary opinions in England, we will not intrude any analysis of our own. But a word upon one point With many minds, it will be difficult to acquit the author from the charge of irreverence. For this purpose, we refer to his vindication in the “Proem” and in the body of the work; by which the reader will perceive that he is free from irreverence in spirit, whatever question there may be as to the propriety of certain forms of expression. As to the extravagances, which all will discover, they are the extravagances of deep and eloquent passion—the luxuriant overgrowth of a profoundly rich soil. With all its faults, Festus is a great poem—a mine of thought and imagery. It is perfectly safe to pronounce it one of the most powerful and splendid productions of the age.
Festus
Proem
Without all fear, without presumption, he
Who wrote this work would speak respecting it
A few brief words, and face his friend the world;
Revising, not reversing, what hath been.
Poetry is itself a thing of God;
He made His prophets poets; and the more
We feel of poesie do we become
Like God in love and power—under-makers.
All great lays, equals to the minds of men,
Deal more or less with the Divine, and have
For end some good of mind or soul of man.
The mind is this world’s, but the soul is God’s;
The wise man joins them here all in his power.
The high and holy works, amid lesser lays,
Stand up like churches among village cots;
And it is joy to think that in every age,
However much the world was wrong therein,
The greatest works of mind or hand have been
Done unto God. So may they ever be!
It shows the strength of wish we have to be great,
And the sublime humility of might.
True fiction hath in it a higher end
Than fact; it is the possible compared
With what is merely positive, and gives
To the conceptive soul an inner world,
A higher, ampler, Heaven than that wherein
The nations sun themselves. In that bright state
Are met the mental creatures of the men
Whose names are writ highest on the rounded crown
Of Fame’s triumphal arch; the shining shapes
Which star the skies of that invisible land,
Which, whosoe’er would enter, let him learn;—
’Tis not enough to draw forms fair and lively,
Their conduct likewise must be beautiful;
A hearty holiness must crown the work,
As a gold cross the minster-dome, and show,
Like that instonement of divinity,
That the whole building doth belong to God.
And for the book before us, though it were,
What it is not, supremely little, like
The needled angle of a high church spire,
Its sole end points to God the Father’s glory,
From all eternity seen; making clear
His might and love in saving sinful man.
One bard shows God as He deals with states and kings;
Another, as He dealt with the first man;
Another, as with Heaven and earth and hell;
Ours, as He loves to order a chance soul
Chosen out of the world, from first to last.
And all along it is the heart of man
Emblemed, created and creative mind.
It is a statued mind and naked heart
Which is struck out. Other bards draw men dressed
In manners, customs, forms, appearances,
Laws, places, times, and countless accidents
Of peace or polity: to him these are not;
He makes no mention, takes no compt of them:—
But shows, however great his doubts, sins, trials,
Whatever earthborn pleasures soil man’s soul,
What power soever he may gain of evil,
That still, till death, time is; that God’s great Heaven
Stands open day and night to man and spirit;
For all are of the race of God, and have
In themselves good. The life-writ of a heart,
Whose firmest prop and highest meaning was
The hope of serving God as poet-priest,
And the belief that He would not put back
Love-offerings, though brought to Him by hands
Unclean and earthy, e’en as fallen man’s
Must be; and most of all, the thankful show
Of His high power and goodness in redeeming
And blessing souls that love Him, spite of sin
And their old earthy strain—these are the aims,
The doctrines, truths, and staple of the story.
What theme sublimer than soul being, saved?
’Tis the bard’s aim to show the mind-made world
Without, within; how the soul stands with God,
And the unseen realities about us.
It is a view of life spiritual
And earthly. Let all look upon it, then,
In the same light it was drawn and colored in;
In faith, in that the writer too hath faith,
Albeit an effect, and not a cause.
Faith is a higher faculty than reason,
Though of the brightest power of revelation;
As the snow-headed mountain rises o’er
The lightning, and applies itself to Heaven.
We know in day-time there are stars about us,
Just as at night, and name them what and where
By sight of science; so by faith we know,
Although we may not see them till our night,
That spirits are about us, and believe,
That, to a spirit’s eye, all Heaven may be
As full of angels as a beam of light
Of motes. As spiritual, it shows all
Classes of life, perhaps, above our kind,
Known to tradition, reason, or God’s word,
Whose bright foundations are the heights of Heaven.
As earthly, it embodies most the life
Of youth, its powers, its aims, its deeds, its failings;
And, as a sketch of world-life, it begins
And ends, and rightly, in Heaven and with God;
While Heaven is also in the midst thereof.
God, or all good, the evil of the world,
And man, wherein are both, are each displayed.
The mortal is the model of all men.
The foibles, follies, trials, sufferings—
And manifest and manifold are they—
Of a young, hot, unworld-schooled heart that has
Had its own way in life, and wherein all
May see some likeness of their own—’tis these
Attract, unite, and, sunlike, concentrate
The ever-moving system of our feelings.
The hero is the world-man, in whose heart
One passion stands for all, the most indulged.
The scenes wherein he plays his part are life,
A sphere whose centre is co-heavenly
With its divine original and end.
Like life, too, as a whole, the story hath
A moral, and each scene one, as in life—
One universal and peculiar truth—
Shining upon it like the quiet moon,
Illustrating the obscure unequal earth;—
And though these scenes may seem to careless eyes
Irregular and rough and unconnected,
Like to the stones at Stonehenge—though convolved,
And in primeval mystery—still an use,
A meaning, and a purpose may be marked
Among them of a temple reared to God:—
The meaning alway dwelling in the word,
In secret sanctity, like a golden toy
Mid Beauty’s orbed bosom. Scenes of earth
And Heaven are mixed, as flesh and soul in man.
Now, the religion of the book is this,
Followed out from the book God writ of old.
All creatures being faulty by their nature,
And by God made all liable to sin,
God only could atone—and unto none
Except Himself—for universal sin.
It is thus that God did sacrifice to God,
Himself unto Himself, in the great way
Of Triune mystery. His death, as man,
Was real as our own; and as, except
In the destruction of all life, there could
Be no atonement for its sin, while life
Doth necessarily result from God,
As thought and outward action from ourselves,
So the atonement must be to and by Him;
Which makes it justice equally with love;
For all His powers and attributes are equal,
And must make one in any act of His;
And every act of God is infinite.
He acts through all in all: the truth we know,
He doth Himself inbreathe; the ill we do,
He hath atoned for; and the scriptures show
That God doth suffer for the sins of those
Whom He hath made, that are liable to sin.
In all of us He hath His agony;
We are the cross, and death of God, and grave.
Him love then all the more, and worship Him
Who lived and died, and rose from death for us,
And is and reigns forever God in all.
Let each man think himself an act of God,
His mind a thought, his life a breath of God;
And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds,
To show the most of Heaven he hath in him.
Many who read the word of life, much doubt
Whether salvation be of grace or faith,
Election, or repentance, or good works,
Or God’s high will: reconcile all of them.
Each of the persons of the Triune God
Hath had His dispensation, hath it now;
The Father by His prophets, and the Son
In His own days, by His own deeds; and now
The Spirit, by the ministry of Christ;
And thus, by law, by gospel, and by grace,
The scheme of God’s salvation is complete.
Salvation, then, is God-like, threefold; so
That under one or other, all may come;
By will of God alone, by faith in Christ,
And by repentance, and good works, and grace.
So there is one salvation of the Father,
One of the Son, another of the Spirit;
Each, the salvation of the Three in One.
The mortal in this lay is saved of will,
In manner as this hymn unfolds, which hath
Just warranty for every word from God’s.
O God! Thou wondrous One in Three,
As mortals must Thee deem;
Thou only canst be said to be,
We but at best to seem.
For Thou dost save, and Thou may’st slay,
Const make a mortal soul
In Thee eternal; in a day
Wilt bring to nought the whole.Thou hardenest, and Thou openest hearts,
As in Thy Word is shown;
Thou safest and destroyest parts,
By Thy right will alone.
Let down Thy grace, then, Lord! on all
Whom Thou wilt save to live;
Oh! if they stumble, stop their fall!
Oh! if they fall, forgive!They are forgiven from the first,
They are predestined Thine;
And though in sin they were the worst,
In Thee they are divine.
They are, and were, and will be, Lord!
In one, in Heaven, in Thee,
Yea with the Spirit, and the Word,
One God in Trinity.
These principles and doctrines pending not
Upon the action of the poem here,
But over and above it, influencing
Nevertheless the story, as the course
Of stars enwoven with our system, earth,
Vary the view of this life’s hemisphere,
And mingle it more palpably with Heaven,
And with its changeless, ceaseless, boundless God.
It is thus that by creating to and from
Eternity, and multiplying ever
His own one Being through the universe,
He doth eternize happiness, and make
Good infinite by making all in Him.
There is but one great right and good; and ill
And wrong are shades thereof, not substances.
Nothing can be antagonist to God.
Necessity, like electricity,
Is in ourselves and all things, and no more
Without us than within us; and we live,
We of this mortal mixture, in the same law
As the pure colourless intelligence
Which dwells in Heaven, and the dead Hadëan shades.
We will and act and talk of liberty;
And all our wills and all our doings both
Are limited within this little life.
Free will is but necessity in play—
The clattering of the golden reins which guide
The thunder-footed coursers of the sun.
The ship which goes to sea informed with fire—
Obeying only its own iron force,
Reckless of adverse tide, breeze dead, or weak
As infant’s parting breath, too faint to stir
The feather held before it—is as much
The appointed thrall of all the elements,
As the white-bosomed bark which wooes the wind,
And when it dies desists. And thus with man;
However contrary he set his heart
To God, he is but working out His will;
And, at an infinite angle, more or less
Obeying his own soul’s necessity.
He only hath freewill whose will is fate.
Evil and good are God’s right hand and left.
By ministry of evil good is clear,
And by temptation virtue; as of yore
Out of the grave rose God. Let this be deemed
Enough to justify the portion weighed
To the great spirit Evil, named herein.
If evil seem the most, yet good most is:
As water may be deep and pure below
Although the face be filmy for a time.
And if the spirit of evil seem more in
The work than God, it is but to work His will,
Who therefore is all that the, other seems.
And evil is in almost every scene
Of life more or less forward. Above all
The mystery of the Trinity is held,
Whose mystery is its reasonableness.
All that is said of Deity is said
In love and reverence. Be it so conceived.
What comes before and after the great world—
Deep in the secretest abyss of Light,
And Being’s most reserved immensity—
God alone knows eternally, who rends
The mantling Heavens with his hands; but with
The present is communion creatural:
He liveth in the sacrament of life.
And for the soul of man delineate here—
The outline half invisible—is shown
The self-sought grace, the self-aspiring truth
And natural religion of the heart
Contrasting Godhood with humanity
Ever; whereas the Spirit aye unites.
Temptation, and its workings in the heart
Whose faint and false resistance but assists—
Ambition, thirst of secret lore, joy, love—
Riverlike, doubling sometimes on itself—
Adventure, pleasure, travel heavenly
And earthly, friendship, passion, poesie,
Viewed ever in their spiritual end—
And power, celestial happiness and earth’s
Millenial foretaste, ill annihilate,
The restoration of the angels lost,
And one salvation universal given
To all create—all these, related, form,
With much beside, the body of the work:—
The islands, seas, and mainland of its orb.
Thus much then for this book. It aims to mark
The various belief as well as doubts
Which hold or search by turns the mind of youth
Unresting anywhere. Its heresies,
If such they be, are charitable ones;—
For they who read not in the blest belief
That all souls may be saved, read to no end.
We were made to be saved. We are of God.
Nor bates the book one tittle of the truth,
To smoothe its way to favour with the fearful.
All rests with those who read. A work or thought
Is what each makes it to himself, and may
Be full of great dark meanings, like the sea,
With shoals of life rushing; or like the air,
Benighted with the wing of the wild dove,
Sweepng miles broad o’er the far western woods,
With mighty glimpses of the central light—
Or may be nothing—bodiless, spiritless.
Now therefore to his work and to the world
The writer bids, God speed! It matters not
If they agree or differ. Each perchance
May bear true witness to another end.
Let then what hath been, be. It boots not here
To palliate misdoings. ’Twere less toil
To build Colossus than to hew a hill
Into a statue. Hail and farewell, all!
I
Scene—Heaven.
God |
Eternity hath snowed its years upon them;
|
Seraphim |
God! God! God!
|
Cherubim |
As sun and star,
|
Seraphim Cherubim |
God! God! God!
|
Lucifer |
Ye thrones of Heaven, how bright, how pure ye are!
|
God |
What wouldst thou, Lucifer? |
Lucifer |
There is a youth
|
God |
He is thine,
|
Lucifer |
I thank Thee, Lord! |
God |
Upon his soul
|
Lucifer |
Thou God art all in one! Thy infinite
|
The Holy Ghost |
And I will hallow him to the ends of Heaven,
|
Saints |
Another soul
|
Guardian Angel |
Oh! who hath joy like mine? was I not here
|
God |
My mercy doth outstretch the universe;
|
Lucifer |
I am the wrath of God unto myself,
|
Guardian Angel |
The heaven-strung chords of man’s immortal soul
|
Lucifer |
God! for thy glory only can I act,
|
God |
The earth whereon
|
Lucifer |
God! I go to do
|
God |
Thou, too, who watchest o’er the world
|
Angel of Earth |
Let me not then have watched o’er it in vain.
|
Lucifer |
Knowest thou not
|
Angel |
Star unto star speaks light, and world to world
|
Son of God |
Think not I lived and died for thine alone,
|
Lucifer |
Earth he next
|
Angel of Earth |
Be it not, Lord!
|
Lucifer |
Behold now all yon worlds!
|
Angel of Earth |
Earth! oh, Earth! |
Lucifer |
’Tis earth shall lead destruction; she shall end.
|
Angel of Earth |
There is a blind world, yet unlit by God,
|
God |
Destruction and salvation are the hands
|
Son of God |
O’er all things are eternity and change,
|
God |
The earth shall not be when her sabbath ends,
|
Lucifer |
Heaven, farewell!
|
Thrones |
Thou, God, art Lord of mercy! and Thy thoughts
|
Dominations |
Yet o’er the meanest atom reignest Thou
|
Powers |
Thy might is self-creative, and Thy works,
|
Princedoms |
Eternal Lord! Thy strength compels the worlds,
|
Virtues |
All-favouring God! we glory but in Thee.
|
Archangels |
Thou who hast thousand names, as night hath stars,
|
Angels |
Thee God! we praise
|
Angel of Earth |
Woe! woe at last in Heaven!
|
II
Scene—Wood and water—Sunset.
Festus, alone. | |
Festus |
This is to be a mortal and immortal!
|
Lucifer |
Suddenly appearing.
Not thou!
|
Festus |
Who art thou, pray? I saw thee not before.
|
Lucifer |
Thou knowest me well. Though stranger to thine eye,
|
Festus |
I know thee not. |
Lucifer |
Come nearer! Look on me! I am above thee;
|
Festus |
Why, art thou all things, or dost go through all?
|
Lucifer |
Yea I am. |
Festus |
I knew it! I am glad, yet tremble so.
|
Lucifer |
Nay, rise! and I’ll not say, for thine own sake,
|
Festus |
Father of lies thou liest! |
Lucifer |
I am he!
|
Festus |
I must be mad; or mine eye cheats my brain;
|
Lucifer |
Stay! |
Festus |
Oh save me God! He is reality! |
Lucifer |
And now thou kneel’st to Heaven. Fie, graceless boy!
|
Festus |
Tempter, away! From all the crowds of life
|
Lucifer |
Thou judgest harshly.
|
Festus |
Why art thou here? What wouldst thou have with me? |
Lucifer |
’Fore all I would have gentle words and looks. |
Festus |
I pray thee, go! |
Lucifer |
I cannot quit thee yet.
|
Festus |
Yes; I will pray for thee and for myself. |
Lucifer |
Waste not thy prayers! I scatter them: they reach
|
Festus |
Therefore the more some ought to pray. |
Lucifer |
To blow
|
Festus |
Let me hence!
|
Lucifer |
Canst rid thyself? |
Festus |
Alas no. Get thee gone!
|
Lucifer |
I laugh alike at ruin and redemption.
|
Festus |
Wherefore didst thou quit Hell? To drag me there? |
Lucifer |
Thou wilt not guess mine errand. Deem’st thou aught
|
Festus |
Did I not hear thee boast with thy last breath
|
Lucifer |
From myself
|
Festus |
Well! I would
|
Lucifer |
I heard thy prayer at sunset. I was here.
|
Festus |
I would not be as thou art for Hell’s throne;
|
Lucifer |
I knew thy proud high heart.
|
Festus |
Good; prove thy powers. |
Lucifer |
Do I not prove them? Who but I, that have
|
Festus |
Open the Heavens and let me look on God!
|
Lucifer |
Thou shalt not believe
|
Festus |
What can be counted pleasure after love?
|
Lucifer |
I will sublime it for thee all to bliss:
|
Festus |
Spirit,
|
Lucifer |
It is thy fate which weighs upon thee
|
Festus |
True;
|
Lucifer |
I will renew it in thee. It shall be
|
Festus |
I have a love on earth, and one in Heaven. |
Lucifer |
Thou shalt love ten as others love but one! |
Festus |
Oh! I was glad when something in me said
|
Lucifer |
Why, how can I tell? I am not in love;
|
Festus |
And if I have shall I be happier?
|
Lucifer |
It is that
|
Festus |
Am I tempted thus
|
Lucifer |
God wills or lets it be.
|
Festus |
That I will go with thee. |
Lucifer |
From God I come. |
Festus |
I do believe thee, spirit.
|
Lucifer |
Good.
|
Festus |
Give me a breathing-time to fortify,
|
Lucifer |
Expect me, then, at midnight, here. Remember,
|
Festus |
Ay, true. Goes. |
Lucifer |
Repentance never yet did aught on earth;
|
III
Scene—Water and wood—Midnight;
Festus, alone. | |
Festus |
All things are calm, and fair, and passive. Earth
|
Lucifer |
Why doubt on mind? What matter how we call
|
Festus |
There seems a sameness among things; for mind
|
Lucifer |
There is less real difference among things
|
Festus |
That is the madness of the world—and that
|
Lucifer |
It is imbecility,
|
Festus |
Oh! the brave and good who serve
|
Lucifer |
It may not be.
|
Festus |
Men have a claim on God; and none who hath
|
Lucifer |
Behind a shroud what shouldst thou see but death? |
Festus |
Spirit is like the thread whereon are strung
|
Lucifer |
The science of the future is to man,
|
Festus |
Forced oh us. |
Lucifer |
All things are of necessity. |
Festus |
Then best.
|
Lucifer |
It matters not what men assume to be;
|
Festus |
What is necessity? Are we, and thou,
|
Lucifer |
Then hath He sin and all absurdity. |
Festus |
Yet, if created Being have free-will,
|
Lucifer |
It may be so.
|
Festus |
And all our powers are but weaknesses
|
Lucifer |
Boys wish that they were kings.
|
Festus |
Hast never known one free from body? |
Lucifer |
None. |
Festus |
Why seek then to destroy them? |
Lucifer |
It is my part.
|
Festus |
Can none of thine immortals answer me? |
Lucifer |
None, mortal! |
Festus |
Where then is thy vaunted power? |
Lucifer |
It is better seen as thus I stand apart
|
Festus |
Raise me a spirit!
|
Lucifer |
Let rest while rest they may!
|
Festus |
Those souls thou mean’st whom thou hast ruined, damned. |
Lucifer |
Nor only those; when once the virgin bloom
|
Festus |
O man, be happy! Die and cease for ever!
|
Lucifer |
Believest thou all I tell thee? |
Festus |
All, I do.
|
Lucifer |
I see thy heart and I will grant thy wish.
|
Festus |
Mine Angela! |
Lucifer |
There is an Angel ever by thine hand.
|
Festus |
It is my love! It is she!
|
Lucifer |
And thou canst not bring her back. |
Festus |
I will not, cannot be without her. Call her! |
Lucifer |
I call on spirits and I make them come:
|
Festus |
It is hard to deem that spirits cease, that thought
|
Lucifer |
The mind hath features as the body hath. |
Festus |
But is it mind which shall rerise? |
Lucifer |
Man were
|
Festus |
Shall all defects of mind and fallacies
|
Lucifer |
Man’s nature, physical and psychical,
|
Festus |
Then man shall be no more man but an Angel. |
Lucifer |
When he is dead and buried. What remains—
|
Festus |
Oh! if God hates the flesh, why made He it
|
Lucifer |
I am explaining, not deluding. |
Festus |
True.
|
Lucifer |
Doubly unhappy! |
Festus |
I am too unhappy
|
Lucifer |
Corruption springs from Light: ’tis the same power
|
Festus |
I’ll not believe a thing which I have known.
|
Lucifer |
True venom churns the froth out of the lips;
|
Festus |
I loved her for that she was beautiful;
|
Lucifer |
And then, love’s old end, falsehood: nothing worse
|
Festus |
What’s worse than falsehood? to deny
|
Lucifer |
Well, shall we go? |
Festus |
This moment. I am ready.
|
Lucifer |
Think not so fondly as thy foolish race,
|
Festus |
Let us away! |
IV
Scene—A mountain—Sunrise.
Festus and Lucifer. | |
Festus |
Hail beauteous Earth! Gazing o’er thee, I all
|
Lucifer |
Ay.
|
Festus |
Thou art a fit monitor, methinks, of pleasure. |
Lucifer |
To the high air sunshine and cloud are one;
|
Festus |
But tell me, have ye scenes like this in Hell? |
Lucifer |
Nay, not in Heaven. |
Festus |
What is Heaven? not the toys
|
Lucifer |
Heaven is no place;
|
Festus |
Why!
|
Lucifer |
All these things
|
Festus |
And Hell? Is it nought but pits and chains and flames? |
Lucifer |
An ever greatening sense of ill and woe,
|
Festus |
But human nature is not infinite,
|
Lucifer |
God may create in time what shall endure
|
Festus |
Then is not soul of God, but man and earth.
|
Lucifer |
How
|
Festus |
Things spiritual, as belonging God,
|
Lucifer |
The object of eternal knowledge must
|
Festus |
Then it cannot be
|
Lucifer |
Hast not heard,
|
Festus |
Is it the nature or the deed of God
|
Lucifer |
Let not
|
Festus |
The truth is perilous never to the true,
|
Lucifer |
Pardon me.
|
Festus |
Sin is not of the spirit, but of that
|
Lucifer |
Believe so.
|
Festus |
But is it so of God? |
Lucifer |
The laws of Heaven
|
Festus |
Thou thundercloud of spirits, darkning
|
Lucifer |
Whatever may, perdition is their meed.
|
Festus |
Men might be better if we better deemed
|
Lucifer |
Why love mankind?
|
Festus |
The wild flower’s tendril, proof of feebleness,
|
Lucifer |
And yet all this must end—must pass; drop down
|
Festus |
Not be?
|
Lucifer |
This same sweet world which thou wouldst fondly deem
|
Festus |
It will not be yet. I’ll woo thee, world, again,
|
Lucifer |
To me it seems time all should end. The sky
|
Festus |
God hath his rest; earth hers. Let me have mine.
|
Lucifer |
Call out, and see if aught arise to thee. |
Festus |
Green dewy Earth, who standest at my feet,
|
Lucifer |
More’s
|
Festus |
I beseech thee, Sea!
|
Lucifer |
None! |
Festus |
I half despair. Fire! that art slumbering there,
|
Lucifer |
All finite souls must serve; their widest sway
|
Festus |
Air! and thou, Wind!
|
Lucifer |
Peace, peace!
|
Festus |
Are all
|
Lucifer |
They are.
|
Festus |
If ’twas God’s will
|
Lucifer |
Let us too pass! |
V
Scene—Alcove and garden.
Festus and Clara. | |
Festus |
What happy things are youth and love and sunshine!
|
Clara |
Yes, there are feelings so serene and sweet,
|
Festus |
Nay, crown thyself; it will suit thee better, love.
|
Clara |
What canst thou mean? |
Festus |
Mean? Is there not a future?
|
Clara |
Shall we not ever live
|
Festus |
Ay, live I fear we must. |
Clara |
And love: because we then are happiest.
|
Festus |
Mind means not happiness: power is not good. |
Clara |
True bliss is to be found in holy life;
|
Festus |
What know men of religion, save its forms? |
Clara |
True faith nor biddeth nor abideth form.
|
Festus |
Come, we will quit these saddening themes. Wilt sing
|
Clara |
I cannot sing the lightsome lays of love.
|
Festus |
I know that thou dost love me. I in vain
|
Clara |
How still the air is! the tree tops stir not:
|
Festus |
But thinkest thou the future is a state
|
Clara |
I think not all with thee.
|
Festus |
Ah! close at hand, mayhap.
|
Clara |
And what does she? |
Festus |
Produce: it is her life.
|
Clara |
How look these beings? |
Festus |
Ah! Life looks gaily and gloomily in turns;
|
Clara |
And Immortality? |
Festus |
She looks alone;
|
Clara |
What do they? |
Festus |
Each strives to win me to herself. |
Clara |
How? |
Festus |
Death
|
Clara |
Say that thou wilt not die! |
Festus |
Nay, I love Death.
|
Clara |
Canst see that world? |
Festus |
Just—a huge shadowy shape;
|
Clara |
Follow her Festus! Does she speak again? |
Festus |
She never speaks but once; and now, in scorn,
|
Clara |
Why let her pass? |
Festus |
That is the great world-question.
|
Clara |
I know not how
|
Festus |
And if God
|
Clara |
I’ll not wish then for stars; but I could love
|
Festus |
The sweetest joy, the widest woe is love;
|
Clara |
It is enough. Fruition of the fruit
|
Festus |
My soul’s orb darkens as a sudden star,
|
Clara |
Farewell!
|
Festus |
Oh! why was woman made so fair? or man
|
VI
Scene—Anywhere.
Festus and Lucifer meeting. | |
Festus |
God hath refused me: wilt thou do it for me?
|
Lucifer |
Now that is the one thing which I cannot do.
|
Festus |
Because I will it. Thou art bound to obey. |
Lucifer |
The world bears marks of my obedience. |
Festus |
Off! I am torn to pieces. Let me try
|
Lucifer |
Thou canst not mean this. |
Festus |
Once for all—I do. |
Lucifer |
It is men who are deceivers—not the Devil.
|
Festus |
I feel that we must part: part now or never;
|
Lucifer |
This is my last walk through my favourite world:
|
Festus |
If thou darest!
|
Lucifer |
Well; as thou wilt. Remember that thy heart
|
Festus |
Thinkest thou
|
Lucifer |
Thou canst not; save indeed some poor trite thing
|
Festus |
Now will I prove thee liar for that word,
|
Lucifer |
A hundred, I.
|
VII
Scene—A country town—Marketplace—Noon.
Lucifer and Festus. | |
Lucifer |
These be the toils and cares of mighty men!
|
Festus |
Men’s callings all
|
Lucifer |
What men call accident is God’s own part.
|
Festus |
What is life worth without a heart to feel
|
Lucifer |
Who never doubted never half believed.
|
Festus |
Thou windest and unwindest faith at will.
|
Lucifer |
Thou mayst believe
|
Festus |
Then I feel
|
Lucifer |
Perhaps. |
Festus |
Man hath a knowledge of a time to come—
|
Lucifer |
And all
|
Festus |
I would it were. This life’s a mystery.
|
Lucifer |
The eye dims and the heart gets old and slow;
|
Festus |
Grief hallows hearts even while it ages
|
Lucifer |
Would ye have grief, let me come! I am woe. |
Mourner |
We want no grief: Festus! she died of grief. |
Festus |
Did ye say she died? oh! I knew her then.
|
Mourner |
She was a lock of Heaven which Heaven gave earth,
|
Festus |
Her air was an immortal’s; I have seen
|
Mourner |
The moment after thou desertedst her
|
Festus |
Did I not love thee too? pure! perfect thing!
|
Lucifer |
Too soon thou canst not.
|
Boys |
Oh! here’s a ranter. Come, here’s fun. Amen!
|
Bystander |
Be off!
|
Lucifer |
I am a preacher come to tell ye truth.
|
The Crowd |
All of us. |
Lucifer |
Then I will not tell ye. You shall wait until
|
Festus |
Yon man looks frightened. |
Lucifer |
Then it is time to stop.
|
One |
Says.
I think you are.
|
Lucifer |
Nay, be not wroth. Ye would crucify the Devil,
|
The Crowd |
He’s a mad ranter: down with him!— |
Festus |
Let him be! |
Lucifer |
Stand by me, Festus, and I will by thee.
|
Festus |
Nay, nay, come back!
|
The Crowd |
Amen! |
Lucifer |
Well, friends, we’ll sing a hymn; then part.
My blessing be upon ye all; now go! |
Festus |
I wonder what these people make of thee. |
Lucifer |
Ay, manner’s a great matter. |
Festus |
They deserve
|
Lucifer |
It is time that something should be done for the poor.
|
Festus |
Come away! |
VIII
Scene—The Surface.
Lucifer and Festus. | |
Lucifer |
Wilt ride? |
Festus |
I’ll have an hour’s ride. |
Lucifer |
Be mine the steeds! be me the guide!
|
Festus |
Tossing their manes like
|
Lucifer |
Come, know your masters, colts!
|
Festus |
Hurrah! hurrah!
|
Lucifer |
I told thee my steeds
|
Festus |
And they were not thine,
|
Lucifer |
Thine is named Ruin;
|
Festus |
Like all of thy deeds
|
Lucifer |
A civiller and gentler beast
|
Festus |
Why, this is France.
|
Lucifer |
’Tis a strange nation, light yet strong;
|
Festus |
Oh! it’s a brave and lovely land;
|
Lucifer |
On! on! no more delay!
|
Festus |
Good horse, get off the ground! |
Lucifer |
Sit firm! and if our horses please,
|
Festus |
Ay, this is Spain:
|
Lucifer |
Turn thy steed, and slacken rein;
|
Festus |
That is Italy—the grave
|
Lucifer |
And there lies Greece, whose soul
|
Festus |
Perhaps some God may come,
|
Lucifer |
Norward now we’ll hold our course.
|
Festus |
So all have found it who have tried;
|
Lucifer |
Away, away! before thee lie
|
Festus |
Well I love thee, Father-land!
|
Lucifer |
There lies Austria! Famous land
|
Festus |
And Poland, whom truly unhappy we call.
|
Lucifer |
What matter who be free or slaves;
|
Festus |
What land is yonder wide, white waste? |
Lucifer |
Ha! ’tis Russia’s gentle realm:
|
Festus |
I swear by every atom which exists,
|
Lucifer |
See what a long long track
|
Festus |
Look! my way I can only read
|
Lucifer |
Where art thou now? |
Festus |
In Tartar land;
|
Lucifer |
Well, is not gold the god of earth?
|
Festus |
But blithe are we,
|
Lucifer |
Away! away!
|
Festus |
Wilt take the sea? |
Lucifer |
Ay, that will we!
|
Festus |
What? shall we leap
|
Lucifer |
Leap as to save
|
Festus |
There is a rapture in the headlong leap,
|
Lucifer |
By Chaos! this is gallant sport;
|
Festus |
Away, away upon the whitening tide,
|
Lucifer |
We scatter the spray,
|
Festus |
In vain they urge their armies to the fight:
|
Lucifer |
See yonder! now we quit the main;
|
Festus |
Away, away! on either hand
|
Lucifer |
See, there they are! I knew, right soon,
|
Festus |
Yonder the Nile and the Pyramids?
|
Lucifer |
Shall we go to America! |
Festus |
Why, have we time? |
Lucifer |
Oh, plenty;
|
Festus |
The sea again! the swift bright sea! |
Lucifer |
Hold hard, and follow me!
|
Festus |
Ay, ay! down let us dive! |
Lucifer |
Look up! we lack not stars;
|
Festus |
Oh! how unlike the world above,
|
Lucifer |
Come on! come on! |
Festus |
Are those bright spars,
|
Lucifer |
There! now we stand
|
Festus |
Through the lands of silver,
|
Lucifer |
By strait and bay
|
Festus |
And that dark cloud of slaves
|
Lucifer |
Our horses snort and snuff the sea,
|
Festus |
Well, here we are! and as we flew in,
|
Lucifer |
’Twas right. Spur on! Come, Darkness, come!
|
Festus |
For me, I care not what’s to come,
|
Lucifer |
Through morn and midnight, sunset and high noon,
|
Festus |
England! my country, great and free!
|
Lucifer |
Now get on land; and hie along
|
Festus |
See the gold sunshine patching,
|
Lucifer |
Ah! here we get an open plain:
|
Festus |
We must be near to Town.
|
IX
Scene—A village feast. Evening.
Festus, Lucifer and others. | |
Festus |
It is getting dark. One has to walk quite close,
|
Lucifer |
A disagreeable necessity,
|
Festus |
We’ll rest upon this bridge. I am tired.
|
Lucifer |
Why, it matters not.
|
Festus |
But not the same. |
Lucifer |
Yet truth and falsehood meet in seeming, like
|
Festus |
Remove all such and what’s the joy of earth?
|
Lucifer |
Power is aye above the soul and joy
|
Children at play. | |
Festus |
Play away, good ones! |
Old Man |
Pity the poor blind man! |
Festus |
Here is substantial pity. |
Old Man |
Heaven reward you! |
Festus |
Blind as the blue skies after sunset. Blind!
|
Lucifer |
Let us move on to where the dancing is;
|
Festus |
What avail
|
Lucifer |
Behold the happiness of which thou spakest!
|
Festus |
This is a snakelike world,
|
Lucifer |
Hark! here is a ballad-singer. |
Ballad-Singer |
All of my own composing! |
Festus |
Yes, Yes—we know. |
Ballad-Singer |
|
Lucifer |
Another, please—not quite so gloomy, friend. |
Girl |
I wonder if the tale it tells be true. |
Ballad-Singer |
I dare say—but you want a merrier.
|
Festus |
And all who know such feelings and such scenes
|
Others |
And this, and this—too! |
Ballad-Singer |
Thank ye all, good friends! |
Festus |
There’s much that hath no merit but its truth,
|
Lucifer |
It is quite fair to halve these lives and say
|
Farmer |
I am glad to see you come among us, sir. |
Parson |
Why, I have but little comfort in these pastimes;
|
Farmer |
I can’t defend these feasts, Sir, and can’t blame. |
Parson |
Good evening, friends! Why, Festus! I rejoice
|
Festus |
You are a student, Sir. |
Student |
I profess little; but it is a title
|
Festus |
True. All mankind are students. How to live
|
Student |
When night hath set her silver lamp on high,
|
Lucifer |
It’s a bad habit. |
Student |
And wisdom dwells in secret and on high,
|
Lucifer |
How know you that the world wont end to-morrow? |
Parson |
I now, an early riser, love to hail
|
Student |
I am devote to study. Worthy books
|
Festus |
The future will have glory not the less.
|
Student |
Oh! then may Heaven come down again to earth;
|
Lucifer |
As like each other as a sword and scythe.
|
Festus |
And having studied—what next? |
Student |
Much I long
|
Festus |
There to get worldly ways, and thoughts, and schemes;
|
Student |
Not only that:
|
Festus |
Fie! fie! ’tis more for this:
|
Student |
It might be some old sage was warning us. |
Festus |
Youth might be wise. We suffer less from pains
|
Student |
I should like to see the world,
|
Festus |
Barrener
|
Farmer |
Much more is said of knowledge than it’s worth.
|
Lucifer |
What makes you know of living after death? |
Farmer |
Why, nothing that I know; and there it is—
|
Festus |
All that is good a man may learn from himself;
|
Parson |
Nay, let me speak!
|
Lucifer |
What are your politics? |
Farmer |
I have none. |
Lucifer |
Good. |
Farmer |
I have my thoughts. I am no party man.
|
First Boy |
What are your colours? |
Second Boy |
Blue as Heaven. |
Third Boy |
And mine
|
First Boy |
Mine, green as grass. |
Second Boy |
Green’s forsaken, and yellow’s forsworn,
|
Student |
As to religion, politics, law, and war,
|
Lucifer |
Nay, gently, friend.
|
Student |
I neither know nor care. |
They pass some card-players. | |
Festus |
Kings, queens, knaves, tens would trick the world away,
|
Student |
You see yon wretched starved old man; his brow
|
Lucifer |
Yes, I see him. |
Student |
Last week he thought he was about to die;
|
Lucifer |
I would have him wrought
|
Student |
Oh, charity!
|
Festus |
Men look on death as lightning, always far
|
Student |
He has just buried the only friend he had,
|
Festus |
Why will we dedicate the dead to God,
|
Student |
Here is music. Stay. That simple melody
|
Festus |
The heart is formed as earth was—its
|
Lucifer |
The only right me have is to be damned.
|
Festus |
Oh! there is nought so sweet
|
Student |
I never was. |
Festus |
’Tis love which mostly destinates our life.
|
Student |
How can the heart which lies embodied deep,
|
Festus |
It is so; and when once you know the sport—
|
Student |
Upon my soul, most sound morality!
|
Festus |
Oh! everything is thought of—but not then,
|
Student |
Slow-paced and late arriving, still it comes.
|
Festus |
Respect is what we owe; love what we give.
|
Lucifer |
Of course you wish
|
Festus |
Time laughs at love. It is a hateful sight,
|
Student |
I mean not to get through the world at all,
|
Festus |
Aspiring! You will find
|
Student |
Names are of much more consequence than things. |
Festus |
Well; here’s our honest, all-exhorting friend
|
Lucifer |
In his way. |
Student |
But I care neither for men’s souls nor bodies. |
Festus |
What say you to the law? are you ambitious? |
Student |
Nor do I mind for other people’s business.
|
Festus |
To none of all die arts and sciences—
|
Student |
Why no; there are so many rise and fall,
|
Lucifer |
Oh! this is libellous to man and fiend
|
Student |
All are art and part
|
Festus |
Perchance ’twere wiser not.
|
Student |
Sir,
|
Festus |
Well, mind!
|
Student |
I hope to meet again. |
Festus |
And I.—
|
Ballad-Singer |
|
Lucifer |
And we might trust these youths and maidens fair,
|
Festus |
And if I love not now, while woman is
|
Lucifer |
Let us away. We have had enough of this. |
Festus |
The night is glooming on us. It is the hour
|
X
Scene—The centre.
Festus and Lucifer. | |
Lucifer |
Behold us in the fire-crypts of the world!
|
Festus |
All that is solid now was fluid once;
|
Lucifer |
The original
|
Festus |
This marble-walled immensity o’erroofed
|
Lucifer |
Here mayst thou lay thy hand on nature’s heart,
|
Festus |
Age here on age
|
Lucifer |
God worketh slowly: and a thousand years
|
Festus |
It is enough. Though here were posited
|
Lucifer |
Aught that reminds the exile of his home
|
Festus |
I cannot be content with less than Heaven.
|
Lucifer |
All here
|
Festus |
The world hath made such comet-like advance
|
Lucifer |
This way—down.
|
Festus |
Haste, haste. |
XI
Scene—A ruined temple.
Festus and Lucifer. | |
Festus |
Here will I worship solely. |
Lucifer |
’Tis a fane
|
Festus |
It matters not
|
Lucifer |
Lo! here is fire.
|
Festus |
Withdraw!
|
Lucifer |
I wait thee. |
Festus |
Whither next? |
Lucifer |
As thou wilt, apposite or opposite.
|
XII
Scene—A metropolis—Public place.
Festus and Lucifer. | |
Festus |
What can be done here? |
Lucifer |
Oh! a thousand things,
|
Festus |
True; it is a place
|
Lucifer |
Well;—
|
Festus |
I do. Stop friend! of late
|
Friend |
I am upon my business, and in haste. |
Festus |
Business! I thought thou wast a simple schemer. |
Friend |
Mayhap I am. |
Festus |
There is a visionary
|
Friend |
I have been, all life, living in a mine,
|
Festus |
When the world’s gold melts, all the poorer metals,
|
Lucifer |
I have a secret I would fain impart
|
Friend |
That indeed I would good sir. |
Lucifer |
Get then these fifty earths, or elements,
|
Friend |
Thrice greatest Hermes! but it must be; yes!
|
Lucifer |
He’ll be astonished, probably. |
Festus |
He will,
|
Lucifer |
Nonsense! |
Festus |
There needs no satire on men’s rage for gold;
|
Lucifer |
Why let us take our ease
|
Festus |
It ofttimes chances so. |
Lucifer |
Take of the blood of martyrs, tears of slaves,
|
Soldiers pass; music, etc. | |
Man is a military animal,
|
|
Festus |
Of recipes,
|
Lucifer |
War, war, still war! from age to age, old Time
|
Festus |
Yet fields of death! ye are earth’s purest pride;
|
Lucifer |
And yet all war shall cease. |
Festus |
It must and shall.
|
Lucifer |
Nor I. I heard that one of Saturn’s moons
|
Festus |
I know not. Ask! |
Lucifer |
Sir, what’s the news? |
Passerby |
The news are good news, being none at all. |
Lucifer |
Your goodness, Sir, I deem of like extent.
|
Stranger |
’Tis not unlikely stars do propagate. |
Festus |
And so much for civility and news.
|
Lucifer |
You gaudy equipage! hast ever seen
|
Festus |
Some men are nobly rich, some nobly poor,
|
Lucifer |
The poor may die in swarms unheeded. They
|
Festus |
Thou art surely mad. |
Lucifer |
I meant to moralize. I cannot see
|
Festus |
All homilies on the sorts and lot of men
|
Lucifer |
Here is a statue to some mighty man
|
Festus |
There’s an old adage about sin and some one.
|
Lucifer |
For all the world
|
Festus |
Wilt go to the Cathedral? |
Lucifer |
No, indeed;
|
Festus |
Well, to the concert, then? |
Lucifer |
Some fifteen hundred thousand million years
|
Festus |
Good! |
Lucifer |
In sooth, I cannot calculate the time.
|
Festus |
That would I learn and prove. |
Lucifer |
The finite soul
|
Festus |
Be it so.
|
Lucifer |
I put myself in your hands. |
Festus |
Wilt go on ’Change? |
Lucifer |
I rarely speculate.
|
Festus |
But something must be done to pass the time. |
Lucifer |
True; let us pass, then, all time. |
Festus |
I shall be
|
Lucifer |
Why, thus.
|
Festus |
In God I trust,
|
Lucifer |
Here and now.
|
Festus |
Thus be it!
|
Lucifer |
Prepare!— |
Festus |
And thou? |
Lucifer |
I vanish altogether. |
Festus |
Excellent! |
Lucifer |
Body and spirit part!— |
XIII
Scene—Air.
Lucifer and Festus. | |
Festus |
Where, where am I? |
Lucifer |
We are in space and time, just as we were
|
Festus |
I would be in Eternity and Heaven;
|
Lucifer |
And thou shalt be, and shalt pass
|
Festus |
I will no more of it. |
Lucifer |
Oh, dream it not! Thou knowest not the depth
|
Festus |
How comes it,
|
Lucifer |
Thou lackest life and death.
|
Festus |
Death alters not the spirit! |
Lucifer |
Death must be undergone ere understood.
|
XIV
Scene—Another and a better world.
Festus and Lucifer. | |
Festus |
What a sweet world! Which is this, Lucifer? |
Lucifer |
This is the star of evening and of beauty. |
Festus |
Otherwise Venus. I will stay here. |
Lucifer |
Nay:
|
Festus |
Let us look about us.
|
Lucifer |
This is a world where every loveliest thing
|
Festus |
Oh, how this world should pity man’s! I love
|
Lucifer |
Thou art mad to dote on earth
|
Festus |
It is the blush
|
Lucifer |
It is too bright to tarnish. |
Festus |
Didst thou fail? |
Lucifer |
I cannot fail. With me success is nature.
|
Festus |
Lo, here are spirits! and all seem to love
|
Lucifer |
He hath only half a heart
|
Festus |
Speak for me to some angel.
|
Muse |
Mortal, approach! I am the holy Muse,
|
Festus |
Poets are all who love—who feel great thruths—
|
Muse |
Yea, but the poor perfections of thine earth
|
Festus |
God must be happy, who aye makes; and since
|
Muse |
Mortal! the muse is with thee: leave her not. |
Festus |
Once my ambition to another end
|
Lucifer |
Come, let as walk along. So say farewell. |
Festus |
I will not. |
Muse |
No; my greeting is forever. |
Lucifer |
Well, well, come on! |
Festus |
Oh! show me that sweet soul
|
Lucifer |
Is that not she
|
Festus |
It is! it is! |
Lucifer |
Well, I will come again. Goes. |
Festus |
Knowest thou me, mine own immortal love?
|
Angela |
I am a spirit, Festus; and I love
|
Festus |
Thou dost remember me. |
Angela |
Ay, every thought
|
Festus |
And thou art happy, love? |
Angela |
Yes: I am happy when I can do good. |
Festus |
To be good is to do good. Who dwell here?
|
Angela |
All are not:
|
Festus |
Shall I
|
Angela |
Thou mayest. I will pray for thee,
|
Festus |
Thou wilt have, then, need to weep.
|
Angela |
Practice thy spirit to great thoughts and things,
|
Festus |
I do not fear to die; for, though I change
|
Lucifer |
I am here now. Art thou ready?
|
Angela |
Well—farewell. It makes me grieve
|
Festus |
When I forget that the stars shine in air—
|
Angela |
The rainbow dies in heaven, and not on earth;
|
Festus |
I will, I will. |
Angela |
Then, in each other’s arms, we will waft through space,
|
Festus |
My prayer shall be that thy prayer be fulfilled.
|
Angela |
Farewell! I love thee, and will oft be with thee. |
Lucifer |
I like earth more than this: I rather love
|
Festus |
I am determined to be good again—
|
Lucifer |
I have done nothing for thee yet. Thou shalt
|
Festus |
Not then now. |
Lucifer |
Up! rise! |
Festus |
No; I’ll be good: and will see none of them.
|
XV
Scene—A large party and entertainment.
Festus, Ladies, and others. | |
Festus |
My Helen! let us rest awhile,
|
Helen |
With thee I either go or stay,
|
Festus |
Then sit we, love, and sip with me
|
Helen |
I sometimes dream that thou wilt leave me
|
Festus |
I love thee, and will leave thee never,
|
Helen |
It is a lovely scene,
|
Will |
Ladies—your leave—we’ll choose a Queen
|
Charles |
And it were best to choose by lot,
|
Festus |
I knew, my love, how this would be;
|
All |
Lady fair! we throne thee Queen!
|
Festus |
Here—wear this wreath! No ruder crown
|
Helen |
Here in this court of pleasure, blest to reign,
|
Festus |
Ha! Lucifer! How now? |
Lucifer |
I come in sooth to keep my vow. |
Festus |
Thy vow? |
Lucifer |
To revel in earth’s pleasures,
|
Festus |
Go thy ways: I shrink and tremble
|
Charles |
Fest, engage fair Marian’s hand. |
Festus |
Pass me; she is free no less
|
Helen |
Festus, we know the love, and see,
|
Festus |
I will not dance to-night again,
|
Helen |
What, Festus! treason and disloyalty
|
Festus |
No—I was wrong—but to forgive
|
Helen |
Most amply, then, I pardon thee;
|
Laurence |
How sweetly Marian sweeps along;
|
Charles |
Works, too, we hope. |
Laurence |
Ah! smile on me again with that sweet smile,
|
Harry |
Thy friend hath led his lady out. |
Festus |
He looks most wickedly devout. |
Fanny |
When introduced, he said he knew her,
|
Emma |
Indeed—but he is too gallant,
|
Lucifer |
I quaff to thee this cup of wine,
|
Emma |
Oh fy! to only think of such a fate! |
Lucifer |
Better than not to think on’t till too late.
|
Festus |
Scarcely—that Devil here again!
|
Lucifer |
Thou talk’st of hearts, in style to me, quite
|
Festus |
Forgive him, love, and aught he says. |
Helen |
What is that trickling down thy face? |
Festus |
Oh, love, that is only wine
|
Helen |
I thought ’twas a thorn which was tearing thy brow;
|
Lucy |
From what fair maid hadst thou that flower?
|
Charles |
Love lives in thee as in a flower,
|
Festus |
The dead of night: earth seems but seeming—
|
Helen |
Let some one sing. Love, mirth and song,
|
Lucy |
Sings.
|
Lucifer |
Tell me what’s the chiefest pleasure
|
All |
Power—beauty—love—wealth—wine! |
Lucifer |
All different votes! |
Fanny |
Come, Frederic—thine?
|
Frederic |
I scarce know how to answer thee;
|
Lucifer |
Oh, excellent! the truth is dear—
|
Helen |
Is this a Queen’s fate—to be left alone?
|
Festus |
My thoughts are happier oft than I,
|
Helen |
I cast mine eyes around, and feel
|
Festus |
I am a wizard, love; and I
|
Helen |
Dread magician! Cease thy spell;
|
Festus |
Ah! thou hast dissolved the charm!
|
Helen |
Sings.
|
Festus |
What the stars are to the night, my love,
|
Helen |
I am but here die under-queen of beauty
|
Festus |
I read that we are answered. The soft air
|
Will |
A dance, a dance! |
Helen |
Let us remain! |
Festus |
We will not tempt your sport again. |
Helen |
Behold where Marian sits alone,
|
Festus |
Tell me, Marian, what those eyes
|
Marian |
For earth my soul hath lost all love,
|
Festus |
Oh! if yon worlds that shine o’er this,
|
Marian |
Thy heart with others hath its rest,
|
Festus |
Whose woes are like to my woes? What is madness?
|
Marian |
Like the light line that laughter leaves
|
Festus |
But as the eye aye brightlier beams
|
Marian |
I never dreamed of wretchedness;
|
Festus |
It once was bliss to me to watch
|
Marian |
False flatterer, cease! |
Festus |
It is my fate
|
Marian |
No! ’tis to sue—to gain—deceive—
|
Helen |
Cease, lady, cease those aching sighs,
|
Marian |
I blame no heart, no love, no fate,
|
Helen |
Nay, sing; it will relieve thy heart |
Marian |
I cannot sing a mirthful strain;
|
Festus |
Our hearts e not in our own hands:
|
Marian |
Hear!—’tis for this I stay—
|
Festus |
As sings the swan with parting breath,
|
Lucifer |
Come, I must separate you two:
|
Emma |
Oblige us, pray, then, with a song. |
Charles |
I am sure he has a singing face. |
Will |
At church I heard him loud and long. |
Lucifer |
Pardon—bu you are doubly wrong. |
Helen |
Obey, I beg. Here—give him place. |
Lucifer |
I have not sung for ages, mind;
|
Helen |
Entreat him, pray, to sing again. |
Lucifer |
Any thing any one desires. |
Festus |
Your loveliness hath but to deign
|
Lucifer |
Sings.
|
Lucy |
What is love? Oh! I wonder so,
|
Frank |
Ask not of me, love, what is love?
|
Festus |
I cannot love as I have loved,
|
Helen |
In vain I try to lure thy heart
|
Festus |
Fill! I’ll drink it till I die—
|
Helen |
Now let me leave my throne; and if the hours
|
Will |
The ladies leave us! |
Lucifer |
Oh! by all means let them;
|
Festus |
Apart.
Where is thy grave, my love?
|
Walter |
If any thing I love in chief,
|
Charles |
They who mourn the lack of wit,
|
Festus |
I cannot bear to be alone,
|
Frank |
As to this seat—its late and fair possessor
|
Festus |
In right of her who eat thereon
|
All |
George shall be King of the company! |
George |
My loving subjects! I shall first promulge
|
Will |
Stay!—all of you who think, with me,
|
Walter |
Filling again and emptying, and so on,
|
George |
Secondly—no man shall be held as mellow
|
Charles |
Oh, let the royal law
|
Festus |
How sweetly shine the steadfast stars,
|
Lucifer |
Thou art ever prating of the stars
|
Festus |
And could I speak as many times
|
Lucifer |
I can interpret well the stars. |
Charles |
Indeed! they need interpreters. |
Lucifer |
Then thus, in their eternal tongue
|
Edward |
Brave stars, bright monitors of joy!
|
Will |
And who, without the cheering glance
|
Harry |
Cups while they sparkle—
|
George |
Oh! the wine is like life;
|
Charles |
Let the young be glad! though cares in crowds
|
Festus |
|
Charles |
A toast! |
Frederic |
Here’s beauty’s fairest flower—
|
Harry |
Pale face!—oh for one happy hour
|
Festus |
Why differ on which is the fairest form,
|
Will |
Hurrah! a glorious toast;
|
Festus |
It moves not me. I cannot drink
|
Charles |
Friend of my heart! away with care,
|
Festus |
Vain is the world and all it boasts:
|
George |
How goes the enemy? |
Lucifer |
What can he mean? |
Festus |
He asks the hour. |
Lucifer |
Aha! then I
|
XVI
Scene—A churchyard.
Festus and Lucifer beside a grave. | |
Festus |
Let years crowd on, and age bow down
|
Lucifer |
Oh! life in sporting on earth lies,
|
Festus |
I ask why man should suffer death? |
Lucifer |
Answer—what right to life hath he?
|
Festus |
For Thee, God, will I save my heart;
|
XVII
Scene—Space.
Festus and Lucifer. | |
Festus |
Listen! I hear the harmonies of Heaven,
|
Lucifer |
The universe is but the gate of Heaven.
|
Festus |
See how yon angels stretch their shining arms,
|
Lucifer |
Lo! there it rides;
|
Festus |
And doth not Heaven
|
Lucifer |
How many immortals mourn at the decree
|
Festus |
If God hath made all He alone it is
|
Lucifer |
He hath made.
|
Festus |
But wherefore did it not repent in Time? |
Lucifer |
What unto us is Time, stands before God
|
Festus |
Cloudy and dear by turns
|
Lucifer |
It is natural; and none
|
XVIII
Scene—Heaven.
Lucifer and Festus, entering. | |
The Archangels |
Infinite God! Thy will is done:
|
Lucifer |
All-being God! I come to Thee again,
|
God |
Thou canst not do what is not willed to be.
|
Lucifer |
Show him God. |
God |
No being, upon part of whom the curse
|
Lucifer |
Look, Festus, look! |
Festus |
Eternal fountain of the Infinite,
|
God |
Rise, mortal! look on me. |
Festus |
Oh! I see nothing but like dazzling darkness. |
Lucifer |
I knew how it would be. I am away. |
Festus |
I am Thy creature, God! oh, slay me not,
|
Genius |
Come hither, Festus. |
Who art thou? |
|
Genius |
I am
|
Festus |
I knew thee not till now. |
Genius |
I am never seen
|
Festus |
And this is Heaven. Lead on. Will God forgive
|
Genius |
It is the strain
|
Festus |
Him I see
|
Genius |
The book wherein
|
Festus |
My name is written in the Book of Life.
|
Genius |
Raise still thine eyes!
|
Festus |
Nay, I will forestall nothing more than sight. |
Genius |
Turn then and view yon streams where spirits sport
|
Festus |
How all with kindly wonder look on me!
|
Angel |
Child, how art thou here? |
Festus |
God hath let me come. |
Angel |
Hast thou not come unbidden and unprepared? |
Festus |
Forgive me, if it be so. I am come.
|
Angel |
I do! may He! |
Festus |
Dear mother, thou art blessed;
|
Angel |
Son of my hopes on earth and prayers In Heaven!
|
Festus |
Blessed one! I rejoice that thou art clear,
|
Angel |
God laughs at ill by man made and allows it.
|
Festus |
God hath made but few better hearts than mine,
|
Angel |
The goodness of the heart is shown in deeds
|
Festus |
I did not make myself, nor plan my soul.
|
Angel |
No! step by step, and throne by throne, we rise
|
Festus |
Yet merit or demerit none I see
|
Angel |
There lacks in souls like thine unsaved, unraised,
|
Genius |
And his, thy son’s, He will raise. Since with me,
|
Festus |
And hear it, oh beloved and blessed one!
|
Angel |
God is great in love;
|
Festus |
I know all
|
Angel |
Go, child!
|
Festus |
It was not, mother, that I knew thy face; strange
|
Angel |
I knew thee well. And now to earth again!
|
Festus |
Blessed one!
|
Angel |
I charge thee, Genius, bear him safely. |
Genius |
Through light, and night, and all the powers of air,
|
Angel |
God be with thee, child! |
Genius |
Come! |
Festus |
I feel happier, better, nobler now.
|
Genius |
One is the mother of mankind,
|
Festus |
Am I? It is enough: I have seen God. |
Genius |
God and His great idea, the universe,
|
Festus |
Gladly. |
Genius |
Seek we, then,
|
XIX
Scene—A visit.
Festus and Helen. | |
Helen |
Come to the light, love! Let me look on thee!
|
Festus |
I confess, my love,
|
Helen |
Where hast been? |
Festus |
Say, am I altered? |
Helen |
Nowise. |
Festus |
It is well.
|
Helen |
Great God!
|
Festus |
It is:—and that both here
|
Helen |
And thou hast been with angels all the while,
|
Festus |
Constantly as now.
|
Helen |
Forgive thee! ’tis a deed which merits love.
|
Festus |
I forethought
|
Helen |
Show me. |
Festus |
It is of jewels I received
|
Helen |
Why, what could it be?
|
Festus |
Nor in mine. It is in the use
|
Helen |
I thank thee for that wish, and for the love
|
Festus |
Look, then—they are here;
|
Helen |
Most beautiful! |
Festus |
Come, let me clasp them, dearest, on thine arms;
|
Helen |
But how are these of that bright city? I
|
Festus |
They are
|
Helen |
Well; I will wait till then,
|
Festus |
Were not my heart as guiltless of all mirth
|
Helen |
How dost thou bring a spirit to thee, Festus? |
Festus |
It is my will which makes it visible. |
Helen |
What are those like whom thou hast seen? |
Festus |
They come,
|
Helen |
Let me, then!
|
Festus |
Many of them come from orbs
|
Helen |
How I should love to visit other worlds,
|
Festus |
Wilt thou now? |
Helen |
I dare not.
|
Festus |
Light as a leaf thy step, or arrowy
|
Helen |
But why art thou, of all men, favoured thus?
|
Festus |
It is God’s will that I possess this power,
|
Helen |
If as thou sayest, it is good:—
|
Festus |
There is no keeping back the power we have.
|
Helen |
Is not this
|
Festus |
All pleasure is with Thee, God! elsewhere, none.
|
Helen |
Tell me what they discourse upon, these angels? |
Festus |
They speak of what is past or coming, less
|
Lucifer |
Entering.
Dost recognize
|
Helen |
Festus! who is this?
|
Festus |
Wherefore comest thou? Did I not
|
Lucifer |
Why, indeed—
|
Festus |
A mistake,
|
Helen |
Tell me, love,
|
Festus |
There was one I loved
|
Helen |
Do! let me hear!
|
Festus |
’Twas on a lovely summer afternoon,
|
Helen |
How shall I thank thee
|
Festus |
Love me as now, dear beauty!
|
Helen |
Hast met that angel late-while? |
Festus |
I have not.
|
Helen |
There, rest thyself. Sings.
|
XX
Scene—Home. Festus, and Helen at her piano.—Dusk.
Helen |
I cannot live away from thee. How can
|
Festus |
I, too,
|
Helen |
But I must have. Attend!
|
Festus |
I love to be enslaved. Oh! I would rather
|
Helen |
Near, as afar, I will have love the same—
|
Festus |
Sing now! |
Helen |
No! |
Festus |
Tyrant! I will banish thee. |
Helen |
Nay, if to sing and play would please thee, I
|
Festus |
As thou art empress of my bosom, No! |
Helen |
Nought fear I but an unkind word from thee.
|
Festus |
I do absolve thee, beauty, of all faults,
|
Helen |
Well, that will do.
|
Festus |
Thou art a silly, tiresome thing, and yet
|
Helen |
I am so happy when with thee. |
Festus |
And I.
|
Helen |
Virtue is one
|
Festus |
I come fresh from thee every time we meet,
|
Helen |
It comes on us
|
Festus |
A large, red egg, of light the moon lies like
|
Helen |
It was not right to overhear me that. |
Festus |
’Twas very wrong to do what I could not help;
|
Helen |
Well, I don’t mind;
|
Festus |
Now were soon enough. |
Helen |
Ah, nothing comes to us too soon but sorrow. |
Festus |
For all were happiness, if all might live
|
Helen |
Dost not remember, when, the other eve,
|
Festus |
Was there?— |
Helen |
A tale out of the poets, about love,
|
Festus |
But I forget such things when thou art by.
|
Helen |
In truth, then, I despair of hearing it.
|
Festus |
But tales of love are far more readily
|
Helen |
Tell-tale, make one, then. |
Festus |
Love is the art of hearts and heart of arts.
|
Helen |
Once! nay, how singular! |
Festus |
But where they lived indeed I quite forget;—
|
Helen |
Most probable, most pertinent, so far! |
Festus |
The lady was, of course, most beautiful,
|
Helen |
Pray proceed!— |
Festus |
That’s all; |
Helen |
Oh, no! |
Festus |
Well, thus the tale ends; stay!
|
Helen |
Do think! |
Festus |
I can’t. |
Helen |
Oh then, I don’t like that:
|
Festus |
Well, in earnest, then.
|
Helen |
Nor I now. |
Festus |
Helen, my love! |
Helen |
Yes, I am here. |
Festus |
It has
|
Helen |
I remember.
|
Festus |
I think I hear him every minute come. |
Helen |
It is not kind. We should be more alone.
|
Festus |
Am I not with thee all day? |
Helen |
Yes, I know;
|
Festus |
My good child!— |
Helen |
Well, I know thou lovest me;
|
Festus |
Then I will not. |
Helen |
Oh, thou wouldst promise me the clock round. Now,
|
Festus |
Magnanimous! |
Helen |
When earth, and Heaven, and all
|
Festus |
Heaven’s beauty grows on us;
|
Helen |
He is here. |
Festus |
Welcome. |
Student |
I thought the night was beautiful,
|
Helen |
Ah! all is beautiful where beauty is. |
Student |
Night hath made many bards; she is so lovely.
|
Festus |
Bat poetry is not confined to books.
|
Student |
Truly. It was for this
|
Festus |
First of all,
|
Helen |
I love to hear of such.
|
Festus |
Kindness is wisdom. There is none in life
|
Student |
Go on, I pray. I came to be informed.
|
Festus |
I cannot tell thee all I feel; and know
|
Helen |
But thou wast telling us of poesie,
|
Festus |
I was.
|
Student |
Tell us more of him. |
Helen |
Nay, but it saddens thee. |
Festus |
’Tis like enough;
|
Helen |
Poor soul! I should
|
Festus |
It is not love
|
Student |
Then he loved. |
Festus |
I said so. I have seen him when he hath had
|
Helen |
Now that was like a lover! and she loved
|
Festus |
Well, perhaps it was so.
|
Helen |
It was a pity, that inconstancy—
|
Student |
It was his way. |
Festus |
There is a dark and bright to every thing;
|
Helen |
A poet not in love is out at sea;
|
Festus |
I meant not
|
Helen |
Describe the lady, too; of course she was
|
Festus |
Why, true. Her heart was all humanity,
|
Helen |
Enough!—
|
Student |
What were his griefs? |
Festus |
He who hath most of heart
|
Student |
Where and when did he study? Did he mix
|
Festus |
He had no times of study, and no place;
|
Student |
I would I had known him. |
Festus |
All things were inspiration unto him;
|
Helen |
Did he love music? |
Festus |
The only music he
|
Helen |
Why, he was much like thee. |
Festus |
We had some points in common. |
Student |
Was he proud? |
Festus |
Lowliness is the base of every virtue:
|
Student |
Was he world-wise? |
Festus |
The only wonder is
|
Student |
Yet it may seem less strange when we think back,
|
Festus |
We do not make our thoughts; they grow in us
|
Helen |
And were this friend and bard of whom thou speakest,
|
Festus |
True love is ever tragic, grievous, grave.
|
Helen |
Whose light is love. |
Student |
Or is it poesie thou meanest? |
Festus |
Both:
|
Helen |
So soon men’s passion passes! yea, it sinks
|
Festus |
Who doth not
|
Helen |
It is unkind to think of me in this wise.
|
Festus |
It is therefore that I love thee; for that when
|
Student |
I pray it may!
|
Festus |
Think then God shows his face to us no less
|
Helen |
But of thy friend? I would hear more of him.
|
Festus |
Ask me not. |
Helen |
But loved he never after? Came there none
|
Festus |
Ah, my life!
|
Helen |
Yes, I think
|
Festus |
I will not tell thee. |
Student |
But tell me
|
Festus |
Love, mirth, woe, pleasure, was in tum his theme,
|
Student |
He wrote of this? |
Festus |
He wrote a poem. |
Student |
What was said of it? |
Festus |
Oh, much was said—much more than understood;
|
Student |
Well, but, who said what? |
Festus |
Some said that he blasphemed; and these men lied
|
Student |
And what said he of such? |
Festus |
He held his peace
|
Helen |
There were some
|
Festus |
Many.
|
Student |
And thought he well of that he wrote? |
Festus |
Perchance.
|
Student |
Take up the book, and, if thou understandest,
|
Festus |
What I can, I will.
|
Student |
How does the book begin, go on and end? |
Festus |
It has a plan, but no plot. Life hath none. |
Helen |
Tell us, love; we will listen and not speak.
|
Student |
Surely.
|
Helen |
’Twere needless that, to one half-witted now. |
Festus |
There is a porch, wherefrom is something seen
|
Helen |
Alas! when beauty pleads the cause of virtue
|
Festus |
A man in love sees wonders. But not love
|
Helen |
I
|
Student |
That we will.
|
Helen |
Oh! yes, now; yes, this moment
|
Student |
We are not. |
Festus |
Yes, let her! |
Helen |
What shall I sing? |
Festus |
Sing something merry, love. |
Helen |
I won’t: I’ll sing the dullest thing I know;
|
Student |
What a compliment! |
Festus |
Sing what thou lik’st, then. |
Helen |
No; what thou lik’st. |
Student |
Well,
|
Festus |
And ’twill be sooner over. |
Student |
And so better. |
Helen |
Was that addressed to me? |
Student |
Well, now resume. |
Festus |
Trial alone of ill and folly gives
|
Helen |
Moonlight and music, and kisses, and wine,
|
Festus |
Mere joys; but saddened and sublimed at close
|
Student |
And be of no use then. |
Festus |
Blame not the bard for showing this, but mind
|
Helen |
What may be
|
Festus |
It is one of death. |
Helen |
Of death! is that all? Well, I too have had,
|
Student |
By Hades, ’twas most awful. |
Festus |
And when love
|
Student |
I look on life as keeping me from God,
|
Festus |
Earth hath her deserts mixed with fruitful plains;
|
Helen |
I do believe
|
Student |
How shouldst thou know aught
|
Festus |
Pray now cease;
|
Helen |
Oh, I could stand and rend myself with rage
|
Festus |
The brightest natures oft have darkest
|
Student |
I will read the book in the hope
|
Festus |
Thou may’st learn
|
Student |
Say what a poet ought to do and be. |
Festus |
Though it may scarce become me, knowing little,
|
Helen |
Now I know
|
Student |
Agreed! |
Helen |
By the sweet muse of music, I could swear
|
Student |
Hear her! |
Festus |
Experience and imagination are
|
Student |
But is the power—is poesie inborn,
|
Festus |
It is underived, except from God; but where
|
Student |
Why I have sat for hours and never moved,
|
Festus |
Many make books, few poems, which may do
|
Student |
What of style? |
Festus |
There is no style is good but nature’s style.
|
Student |
What theme remains? |
Festus |
Thyself, thy race, thy love,
|
Student |
The men of mind are mountains, and their heads
|
Festus |
It is well. Burn to be great.
|
Helen |
Can any thing
|
Festus |
To say sooth,
|
Helen |
My love is like the moon, seems now to grow,
|
Festus |
Man is but half man without woman; and
|
Helen |
Our life is comely as a whole; nay, more,
|
Festus |
My life with thee
|
Student |
Say, did thy friend
|
Festus |
Nothing.
|
Student |
If not a secret, pray who was he? |
Festus |
I. |
XXI
Scene—Garden and bower by the sea.
Lucifer and Elissa. | |
Lucifer |
Night comes, world-jewelled, as my bride should be.
|
Elissa |
Is’t not a lovely, nay, a heavenly eve? |
Lucifer |
Thy presence only makes it so to me.
|
Elissa |
Nay, speak not so,
|
Lucifer |
Then keep thy treasures, lady! I would not have
|
Elissa |
The noble mind is oft too generous,
|
Lucifer |
And thy love ever hangs about my heart
|
Elissa |
I have, stayed the livelong day within this bower;
|
Lucifer |
Sweet one! I raced with light and passed the laggard
|
Elissa |
Speak not so bitterly of human kind;
|
Lucifer |
For thy sake I will love even man, or aught.
|
Elissa |
Thou art too noble, far. I oft have wished,
|
Lucifer |
Nay, think not so! It is wrong.
|
Elissa |
Do thou lead out some lay; I’ll follow thine. |
Lucifer |
Well, I agree. It will spare me much of shame
|
Elissa |
Could we but deem the stars had hearts, and loved,
|
Lucifer |
To me there is but one place in the world,
|
Elissa |
Bright one! who dwellest in the happy skies,
But, dearest, why that dark look? |
Lucifer |
Let it not
|
Elissa |
Nay, look not on me so intensely sad. |
Lucifer |
Forgive me: it was an agony of bliss.
|
Elissa |
Use not
|
Lucifer |
Hopes, lady! I have none. |
Elissa |
Thou must have. All
|
Lucifer |
Yes—one! The ancient Ill,
|
Elissa |
How knowest thou such doth live?
|
Lucifer |
How knowest thou God doth live? Why did He not,
|
Elissa |
God surely lives!
|
Lucifer |
Oh! lady, I am wretched. |
Elissa |
Say not so.
|
Lucifer |
Say, the city earth;
|
Elissa |
I dreamed once that the night came down to me;
|
Lucifer |
It is time we part again. |
Elissa |
Farewell, then, gentle stars! To-night, farewell!
|
Lucifer |
Lady, I know not. |
Elissa |
Say! |
Lucifer |
Never! perchance. |
Elissa |
There is but one immortal in the world
|
Lucifer |
What if I were he? |
Elissa |
But thou art not he; and thou shalt not say it.
|
Lucifer |
I see no beauty—feel no love—all things
|
Elissa |
O earth! be deaf; and Heaven!
|
Lucifer |
Love thee? Ay! Earth and Heaven
|
Elissa |
When wilt thou come again? To-morrow? |
Lucifer |
Well.
|
Elissa |
When will our parting days be over? |
Lucifer |
Oh! soon—soon! Think of me love, on the waters!
|
Elissa |
Scorner! |
Lucifer |
Saint! |
Elissa |
The world hath much that’s great; and but one sea,
|
Festus |
Entering.
It is I.
|
Lucifer |
Thanks! and where is he? |
Festus |
Yonder. He would not
|
Lucifer |
Who is it? |
Festus |
I know not
|
Lucifer |
Remain a moment, love, till I return. |
Elissa |
Nay—let me leave! |
Lucifer |
Not yet: do not dislike him.
|
Festus |
I am sorry, lady, to have caused this parting.
|
Elissa |
We were parting. |
Festus |
Then am I doubly sorry; for I know
|
Elissa |
He is coming!
|
Lucifer |
I must leave thee, love:
|
Elissa |
If to believe that I do love thee always
|
Lucifer |
I’ll believe it—
|
Festus |
Be kind—wait on her—may he, love? |
Elissa |
Thou knowest. I receive him as thy friend
|
Festus |
I ask no higher title
|
Elissa |
Farewell! |
Festus |
Lady! I will not forget my trust.
|
Lucifer |
This parting over— |
Elissa |
Yes, this one—and then? |
Lucifer |
Why, then another, may be. |
Elissa |
No—no more.
|
Lucifer |
Well, then—no more. |
Elissa |
But when wilt thou come back? |
Lucifer |
Almost before thou wishest. He will know. |
Elissa |
I shall be always asking him. Farewell! Goes. |
Lucifer |
Shine on, ye stars! and light her to her rest;
|
Festus |
Yes, in a month or two:—not just this minute. |
Lucifer |
I shall be there and back again ere then. |
Festus |
Meanwhile I can amuse myself: so, go!
|
Lucifer |
And so thou shalt.
|
Festus |
The strongest passion which I have is honour:
|
XXII
Scene—Everywhere.
Lucifer and Festus. | |
Festus |
Why, earth is in the very midst of Heaven!
|
Lucifer |
None to thee. Yet, if
|
Festus |
And yet if not
|
Lucifer |
I say not. |
Festus |
No. So soon when placed beside
|
Lucifer |
Space is God’s space: Eternity is His
|
Festus |
We are things of time. |
Lucifer |
With God time is not. Unto Him all is
|
Lucifer |
To act
|
Festus |
What are ye orbs?
|
Lucifer |
Think not on death. Here all
|
Festus |
I cannot help me, spirit! Chide no more.
|
Lucifer |
An angel weeping—
|
Festus |
See where she flies, spirit-torn, round the heavens,
|
Angel of Earth |
Star, stars!
|
Festus |
Poor angel! Ah! it is the good who suffer.
|
Lucifer |
He made all things of Him. The visible world
|
Festus |
Are all these worlds, then, stocked with souls like man’s—
|
Lucifer |
Ay, they are.
|
Festus |
Can imperfection from perfection come?
|
Lucifer |
How aught else?
|
Festus |
Is God the cause of evil? |
Lucifer |
So far as evil comes from imperfection,
|
Festus |
Oh! let me rest, be it but a moment’s pause!
|
Lucifer |
Alight, then, on this orb.
|
Festus |
Oh! I have dreamed a dream so beautiful!
|
Lucifer |
God visits men adreaming: I, awake. |
Festus |
And my dream changed to one of general doom.
|
Lucifer |
Ay, say on! It is but a dream. |
Festus |
God made all mind and motion cease; and, lo!
|
Lucifer |
A wild fantastic dream!
|
Festus |
Lift me up then!
|
Lucifer |
Ay, all mine own.
|
Festus |
God is all perfect; man imperfect. Thou? |
Lucifer |
I am the imperfection of the whole—
|
Festus |
O God! why wouldst Thou make the universe? |
Lucifer |
Child! quench yon suns; strip death of its decay;
|
Festus |
At nought—not I! Come on, fiend! follow me! |
XXIII
Scene—Hell.
Lucifer and Festus entering. | |
Lucifer |
Behold my world! Man’s science counts it not
|
Festus |
Are all these angels then, or men, or both?
|
Lucifer |
Immortals all. |
Festus |
What numbers! |
Lucifer |
All are spirits fallen through sin
|
Festus |
What do yon fiends! some ’mong them look like mortals:
|
Lucifer |
Nay, hear! |
Festus |
I hear!
|
Lucifer |
Men are they not, but devils at the best;
|
Festus |
I attend. |
Fiends |
|
Festus |
Nay, let me quit! now know I what Hell is.
|
Lucifer |
Can wine destroy the soul? or Hell’s fierce flames
|
Festus |
No more.
|
Lucifer |
Can those who are idolators defraud
|
Festus |
What mean the words
|
Lucifer |
Words and shaped
|
Festus |
In sooth, I know not.
|
Lucifer |
As for these!—
|
Festus |
What was it brought thee hither? |
Spirit |
I was an angel once, ages agone;
|
Festus |
And when
|
Spirit |
I do repent me, and confess it now.
|
Festus |
See!
|
Spirit |
He comes to me—to me! |
Angel |
Hail, sufferer! |
Spirit |
Sinner. |
Angel |
God hath bade me bring thee
|
Spirit |
I dare not come:
|
Angel |
But God will make thee. |
Festus |
Spirit—farewell! and may we meet again
|
Spirit |
Glory to God!
|
Lucifer |
Oh! think, when all are judged, what hosts of souls
|
Festus |
This is not
|
Lucifer |
Hell is the wrath of God—His hate of sin.
|
Festus |
How hate that He hath made? |
Lucifer |
The infinite opposition of Perfection
|
Festus |
But how can the Creator glory find
|
Lucifer |
It is the Son of God!—
|
Son of God |
For men
|
Festus |
This is God’s truth: Hell feels a moment cool. |
Son of God |
Hell is His justice—Heaven is His love—
|
Festus |
Every spirit is to be redeemed. |
Son of God |
Mortal! it has: the best and worst need one
|
Fiend |
Thou Son of God! what wilt thou here with us?
|
Son of God |
Spirit! I come to save thee. |
Fiend |
How can that be? |
Son of God |
Repent! God will forgive thee then: and I
|
Fiend |
Son of God!
|
Son of God |
Come!
|
Spirit |
Angel of light I am again! Look here!
|
Lucifer |
I like it not. |
Son of God |
Hear! ye immortals dead! this I can do.
|
Spirit |
Oh, believe!
|
Lucifer |
Stand thou beside me: I will speak to them;
|
Festus |
Nay, I dread them. |
Lucifer |
Speak!
|
Festus |
But I am here; what recks it how or why?
|
Lucifer |
He says truth. |