Deluge, The - Scene 4
SCENE IV.
IRAD; HAMMON .
HAMMON .
Brother! I sought thee. Turnest thou away
To commune with the airs that answer not?
Thy grief is vain.
IRAD .
Therefore I cling to it.
HAMMON .
In sharing ills the bosom is relieved
IRAD .
When in confession the heart feels relief;
I have outlived hope till I cease to feel
The weight of life.
HAMMON .
We knew thou lov'dst Astarte;
Our brethren say she hath forgotten ties
That thou remember'st.
IRAD .
Weak are human words
To confess inward passion. We grew up
As one; she was the fount and deep when rose
The river of my thoughts to lose themselves
Again in her. A change stole over her,
A shadow, imperceptible, yet felt;
She was estranged.
HAMMON .
Whom thinkest thou she loves?
Thou readest in her face the trusting heart.
She owns not Azoara's pride, yet lives
Apart, as sharing not our sympathies.
Faith is the life of her fine being.
IRAD .
Her eyes,
Or raised or downcast, show an absent spirit.
She answers not, or, answering, her words
Unconsciously are spoken; yet with a look
From Azoara, I have seen her cheek
Suffuse, and her soul mount into her eyes.
These are the signs of hidden feeling.
HAMMON .
Who
Hath changed her thus?
IRAD .
Some power hath wrought on her,
For she was staid, as she is wayward now.
I left her for awhile, to feel, alas!
We cannot flee away from memory;
Solitude bodies phantasies to form,
Till the wind seems her voice recalling me.
HAMMON .
Thus the mind magnifies the thing it loves,
Hiding proportion due with the large wealth
Of its own feeling.
IRAD .
I would liken her
To something heavenly, but cannot shape
Imagined forms more beautiful than earth.
She has not the day's joyousness of change;
She more resembles nature when the eve
Folds her dim vesture round her, when the stars
Shed rays on her half-visionary face;
Meeting of sobered lights, and gentlest hues,
And twilight harmonies without a name.
HAMMON .
Thou art as visionary. O'ercome her pride
With greater; thou dost ill to feed vain thoughts
And phantasies, which, like o'ershadowing plants,
Cling round and waste thy strength. Arouse thy reason;
Subject the mind thou wert ordained to rule.
IRAD .
Counsel heals not the infected breast that taints
All feelings with its hues diseased. Ask not
If grief be reasonable, for that we vex
Our spirit without a cause is ill.
HAMMON .
'Tis she
Hath wrought on her, that heart of pride, her sister;
They ascend Hermon at the twilight hour.
IRAD .
That hour when she is still unseen.
HAMMON .
And Lillah
Hath marked, when shines the star, a light descend
As if an Angel visited the earth.
IRAD .
Mine eyes are opened, yet it cannot be;
Astarte dare not cherish love forbade
By God and nature.
HAMMON .
Spirits walk our earth;
If they love not, they may draw erring women
To their pure beauty and intelligence,
And in their heaven they cannot look upon
A lovelier being than Astarte.
IRAD .
Never!
She is too fearful, young, and innocent.
I know her nature.
HAMMON .
Then thou knowest such
Are easiest moulded to their opposites.
If Azoara owns immortal beauty,
Doubt not the sister's influence.
IRAD .
But the sin
Allying human nature to divine? —
HAMMON .
Prov'st thou not he who loves may cease to reason?
All in absorbing passion is forgot;
Scruples insuperable melt away,
Viewed by habitual eye; till hope flies o'er them,
Heedless of all save reaching its desire.
IRAD .
Angels have walked on earth, rare visitants,
Since every hill made stepping-stone to heaven.
But man is changed as are the elements;
For now storms overthrow their dwelling-homes,
And altars reared to star-idolatry.
Our God is worshipped by our race apart;
Rapine and war are let loose on mankind;
The strong engird themselves; the weak are driven
Forth to the fields and slain; signs manifold
From heaven and earth foretell the wrath to come.
At such a time why linger Angels here?
If they have read the anger of the Lord,
They have departed.
HAMMON .
Why doth Azoara
Look on us as of an inferior race?
Some agency hath changed her.
IRAD .
As Astarte,
Nought else had wrought.
HAMMON .
Brother! whate'er the cause,
She loves not thee; then slight her or forget;
The heart turns not towards repulsion; pride
Indignant spurns the altar where it knelt.
Virtue is effort wrestling with self-love,
And earth the trial-place; our natures are
For labour and progression made; we call
The Almighty good for work that he has done,
And saw that it was good; and sanctified,
Our life imperfect is, and formed to be
A restless effort of process and toil;
The perfect is at rest and effortless.
IRAD; HAMMON .
HAMMON .
Brother! I sought thee. Turnest thou away
To commune with the airs that answer not?
Thy grief is vain.
IRAD .
Therefore I cling to it.
HAMMON .
In sharing ills the bosom is relieved
IRAD .
When in confession the heart feels relief;
I have outlived hope till I cease to feel
The weight of life.
HAMMON .
We knew thou lov'dst Astarte;
Our brethren say she hath forgotten ties
That thou remember'st.
IRAD .
Weak are human words
To confess inward passion. We grew up
As one; she was the fount and deep when rose
The river of my thoughts to lose themselves
Again in her. A change stole over her,
A shadow, imperceptible, yet felt;
She was estranged.
HAMMON .
Whom thinkest thou she loves?
Thou readest in her face the trusting heart.
She owns not Azoara's pride, yet lives
Apart, as sharing not our sympathies.
Faith is the life of her fine being.
IRAD .
Her eyes,
Or raised or downcast, show an absent spirit.
She answers not, or, answering, her words
Unconsciously are spoken; yet with a look
From Azoara, I have seen her cheek
Suffuse, and her soul mount into her eyes.
These are the signs of hidden feeling.
HAMMON .
Who
Hath changed her thus?
IRAD .
Some power hath wrought on her,
For she was staid, as she is wayward now.
I left her for awhile, to feel, alas!
We cannot flee away from memory;
Solitude bodies phantasies to form,
Till the wind seems her voice recalling me.
HAMMON .
Thus the mind magnifies the thing it loves,
Hiding proportion due with the large wealth
Of its own feeling.
IRAD .
I would liken her
To something heavenly, but cannot shape
Imagined forms more beautiful than earth.
She has not the day's joyousness of change;
She more resembles nature when the eve
Folds her dim vesture round her, when the stars
Shed rays on her half-visionary face;
Meeting of sobered lights, and gentlest hues,
And twilight harmonies without a name.
HAMMON .
Thou art as visionary. O'ercome her pride
With greater; thou dost ill to feed vain thoughts
And phantasies, which, like o'ershadowing plants,
Cling round and waste thy strength. Arouse thy reason;
Subject the mind thou wert ordained to rule.
IRAD .
Counsel heals not the infected breast that taints
All feelings with its hues diseased. Ask not
If grief be reasonable, for that we vex
Our spirit without a cause is ill.
HAMMON .
'Tis she
Hath wrought on her, that heart of pride, her sister;
They ascend Hermon at the twilight hour.
IRAD .
That hour when she is still unseen.
HAMMON .
And Lillah
Hath marked, when shines the star, a light descend
As if an Angel visited the earth.
IRAD .
Mine eyes are opened, yet it cannot be;
Astarte dare not cherish love forbade
By God and nature.
HAMMON .
Spirits walk our earth;
If they love not, they may draw erring women
To their pure beauty and intelligence,
And in their heaven they cannot look upon
A lovelier being than Astarte.
IRAD .
Never!
She is too fearful, young, and innocent.
I know her nature.
HAMMON .
Then thou knowest such
Are easiest moulded to their opposites.
If Azoara owns immortal beauty,
Doubt not the sister's influence.
IRAD .
But the sin
Allying human nature to divine? —
HAMMON .
Prov'st thou not he who loves may cease to reason?
All in absorbing passion is forgot;
Scruples insuperable melt away,
Viewed by habitual eye; till hope flies o'er them,
Heedless of all save reaching its desire.
IRAD .
Angels have walked on earth, rare visitants,
Since every hill made stepping-stone to heaven.
But man is changed as are the elements;
For now storms overthrow their dwelling-homes,
And altars reared to star-idolatry.
Our God is worshipped by our race apart;
Rapine and war are let loose on mankind;
The strong engird themselves; the weak are driven
Forth to the fields and slain; signs manifold
From heaven and earth foretell the wrath to come.
At such a time why linger Angels here?
If they have read the anger of the Lord,
They have departed.
HAMMON .
Why doth Azoara
Look on us as of an inferior race?
Some agency hath changed her.
IRAD .
As Astarte,
Nought else had wrought.
HAMMON .
Brother! whate'er the cause,
She loves not thee; then slight her or forget;
The heart turns not towards repulsion; pride
Indignant spurns the altar where it knelt.
Virtue is effort wrestling with self-love,
And earth the trial-place; our natures are
For labour and progression made; we call
The Almighty good for work that he has done,
And saw that it was good; and sanctified,
Our life imperfect is, and formed to be
A restless effort of process and toil;
The perfect is at rest and effortless.
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