Classic Poem

Bitterly, that night of August,
All my load of woes upon me,
Bare I witness 'gainst the Serpent
Who had made me see and know.

Far away the Sword was flaming
O'er the gates of Youth and Eden —
Never, never, should I enter
Those celestial Gates again!

And the Woman? Somewhere yonder
She was sorrowing and sobbing —
Never, never, would we wander
Thro' the Garden, hand in hand!

Bitterly I cursed the Serpent!
Bitterly I cursed the Apple!
Honey in the mouth, but wormwood
In the stomach, being eaten!

Suddenly my soul grew conscious
Of dark forms that flitted near me: —
All the pallid Heath was peopled
With the shadows of the Dead:

Woeful shadows, — well I knew them!
Phantoms of the years departed —
Men and women, apparitions
Of the days when I was young!

Never one (and this was strangest!)
Cast a look upon me passing —
Some gazed downward, darkly dreaming,
Others look'd on vacancy;

Lost they seemed in contemplation,
All unconscious of my presence —
Some were smiling, some were weeping,
All were hastening God knows where!

Well I knew one weary figure
Bending as beneath a burden,
Talking to himself, nor heeding
While I sob'd and murmur'd " Father!"

And another, whitely shrouded, —
Thin and spectral were her features
Underneath her locks all golden
As her namesake's, the Madonna's;

And another, tall and slender,
Bright-eyed like the star of morning,
Beauteous as that other David
When he sang to comfort Saul!

And another, bright-eyed also,
Tho' the years had snowed upon him —
('Twas but yesterday, my Roden,
That dear hand was clasp'd in mine!)

Shadows, phantoms, apparitions,
Heedless though I cried unto them,
Though my wounded heart was bleeding
For a look, a loving word;

Shadows dead, yet omnipresent,
Wrapt in Death as in a garment,
Heedless of the living creature
Who implored their intercession,

Ant-like moved they, this way, that way,
Purposeful yet void of purpose
As the ants are, ever thronging
Busily, they know not whither.

Never one stretch'd hand unto me!
Never one would look upon me!
All alone I stood among them
With a void and aching heart.

Far away, the lights of London
Glimmer'd like a crimson crescent!
Far above, the lamps of Heaven
Flicker'd in the breath of God!

While he spake his starry splendour
Faded, ever growing dimmer —
Sadder, darker, stood the Angel,
Fixing weary eyes on mine;

Clouds of woe were gather'd round him
Ev'n as raiment, and upon them
Silvern tremors caught the moonlight,
Glimmering like the Serpent's coils.

" Forth the Exiles fled together,
Knowing not of that dread Angel
Ever following their footsteps
Thro' their weary wanderings;

" From the woman's womb there blossom'd
Little children, and their voices
Fill'd the solitude with music,
While the parents toil'd and gladden'd:

" And the world grew green about them,
God and Eden were forgotten,
Till the Father's voice from Heaven
Cried for prayers and adulation;

" Till that hour of desolation
When the first-born smote his brother, —
And upon him, from the shadows,
Sprang the pallid bloodhound, Death!

" Then they heard a voice above them
Thundering " Out of sin and sorrow,
Thro' that fruit by Me forbidden,
Death is brought into the world! "

" I, the Sapient Snake, knew better!
I, the Outcast, deeply lesson'd
In the book of God's Creation,
Knew the Heavenly Voice was lying! "

As he spake his shape grew shrunken
Into something black and baleful,
Woefully his eyes were burning
Like the eyeballs of the Serpent.

" Death was born in the beginning
By the will of God the Father;
Ever slaying and destroying
Death had crept from world to world!

" Thro' the Universe were scatter'd
Shrouded spheres that once were living;
Everywhere in yonder heavens
Life had broken like a bubble!

" Nay, this very world of Eden
Was a Sepulchre; within it
Countless races long forgotten,
Slain of old by Death, were sleeping.

" Blindly, feebly, God had blunder'd,
Type on type had been rejected,
Race on race had come and vanish'd,
Ere the Human flowered in Adam.

" From the throats of things created
Wails of anguish had arisen,
Since above the waste of waters
Winged flew the pterodactyl.

" In the rocks and 'neath the Ocean
Lay the bones of beasts and monsters;
Ages ere the Pair was fashioned,
Human-featured walk'd the Ape.

" Nay, the very Pair I tempted
Were no separate creation, —
Their perfection had proceeded
From a long ancestral line;

" Ages ere their evolution
God had bungled, God had blunder'd, —
Now selecting, now rejecting,
Harking back, and retrogressing;

" Thus the Archetype was fashion'd
Thro' perpetual vivisection, —
Countless swarms of martyr'd creatures
Mark'd his passage to the Human.

" This I knew, and this I purposed
Teaching long ago to mortals, —
But for many an age of darkness
Mortals mourn'd, but would not listen.

" While the tribes and generations
Multiplied from father Adam,
O'er the world in which I wander'd
Spread the Pestilence, Religion.

" Nations, Jacob's seed and Esau's,
White and red and particolour'd,
Rose, and in the desert places
Swarm'd the soot-black seed of Ham.

" Busy still in every City,
Under every tent and dwelling,
Death abode, and never tiring
Did the bidding of his Master.

" Then in every Nation, shadow'd
With the darkness pestilential,
Priests arose, and woeful altars
Steam'd with sacrifice to God.