Classic Poem

SCENE — Hades .

Archangel , F ESTUS , D EATH , L UCIFER .

F ESTUS . Almighty God! sustain me. This is Death; —
And this — I knew not, angel! he was here —
Is Lucifer — the fallen, like a bolt
Of thunder forged in intramundane air,
Self-buried in the centre. Lucifer!
Wake from thy sea-like sleep; in peace or wrath,
Rouse from thine age-long trance; arise and see;
The representatives of earth and Heaven
Stand by thee. As for me, I blame no more
The part thou tookest in my mortal life;
'T is gone, — nor spurn thee for delusions dead.
The blood that hath been spilled is sunk in earth,
And run into the rivers, and dried up
Into the air; — and there's an end of it.
What good hath come of it alone I bear
At heart. And we have both offended God.
Let me, though not in nature to forget,
Forgive, what every one hath sometime felt —
The Devil's burning gripe upon his heart.
I see thee with compassion, half with hope.
L UCIFER . Mortal! I bow to thee, and would do to
The least and lowest spirit God hath made:
But still the curse that I am cursed with
Outlasts the elements — outlives all time.
F ESTUS . All curses cease with time; all ill, all woe.
Blessings star forth forever; but a curse
Is like a cloud — it passes.
L UCIFER . 'T was by him —
Yon angel, only not almighty, there!
As with a chain of mountains I was bound
And hurled into this unformed nebulous life;
Stripped of all might when mightiest, struck down
While triumphing the loftiest, — enslaved
When most a monarch o'er both earth and hell,
And made a shadow among shadows here.
It recks not. Let the impenetrable soul
Be ground as through a mill, I only know
In action or inaction equal woe —
Suffering, doing, being, one extreme.
Pass on! we meet again!
F ESTUS . And when we do,
May God forgive, as I! —
Archangel . Behold there, Death!
Throned on his tomb — entombed in his throne;
Just as he ceased he rests for aye — his scythe,
Still wet out of its bloody swathe, one hand
Tottering sustains; the other strikes the cold
Drops from his bony brow: his mouldy breath
Tainteth all air.
F ESTUS . I dread him now no more,
Nor hate. He is a vanquished enemy.
Archangel . Listen! he speaks.
D EATH . To you, ye sons of God,
My latest words I utter. Unto him
Who ever lives, and hath for aye destroyed
Me and my reign, give ye this crown usurped,
And lay it at His feet; and this dulled dart
Which was my sceptre. To the conqueror
Belong these trophies. All the progeny
Of time will soon cease. Lo! the end's at hand.
Archangel . Thus shall it be, O Death! and thus it is.
F ESTUS . And who are these gigantic awful shades
Which fill the midst — the present of the place?
Archangel . These are the mighty nothings man
Made; the dread unrealities by whom
He swore, to whom he prayed, and at whose shrines of old
He sacrificed a thousand times a day: —
His brother falsehoods these, men like himself,
Which mere imagination changed to gods,
Some for their good deeds, others for their bad:
Bel, Odin, Bramh, and Zeus, the Lords of death,
And fire, and judgment, waiting here their death
And fiery judgment — Time and Titan — war —
Beauty, and strength, and light, and the long roll
Of creatural powers and passions Deified; —
Who gave their names to stars which still roam round
The skies, all worshipless, even from climes
Where their own altars once topped every hill.
J OVE . Before the Christian cross and Moslem mosque
My marble fanes have fallen, and my shrines
Shrunk like a withered hand ages ago.
But now all signs and sacred domes for gods
To dwell in are extinet. The world is all
One Temple of the Truth.
B RAMH . The ages feigned
That made Time groan to think how old he was,
And Deities in millions are no more.
Ageless eternity and God the sole,
The royalty of Heaven, is at hand.
B OODH . All things that are shall nothing be at last,
Save what's resolvable in Deity.
F ESTUS . And all these lesser shades, which move like moons,
Half-darkened by the greater — half-illumined —
Are priests and prophets of the mightier ones?
Archangel . They are; — and further round thine eye can mark,
The myriads of adorers of each god,
Confused and prostrate, as their souls awake
To the demoniac madness of their creeds.
Behold! they kneel to those they hailed on earth
As makers — as omnipotent — eterne —
And cry for help, for comfort; none have they
To give to others or themselves. The false,
The base, the brutish Deities give way,
And all their sacred follies in their train,
Before the earthquake truth, engulfing all.
Woe to the false gods, woe! to prophet, priest,
And worshipper, all woe!
F ESTUS . Hark! round the earth
Each soul hath found a tongue and uttereth woe.
Lo! from their thrones the man-made gods descend,
And rend their robes and trample on their crowns,
And hurl away their sceptres. Woe to all
The gods and idols of the heart of man!
Their sun is set forever in the night
Which was ere Light was. Surely it is more
To be true man or woman than false god
And falser prophet. God alone the true,
The God of Heaven, shall be witnessed to
And worshipped.
Archangel . Witnessed, worshipped, too,
By all: the faithful and the faithless — saint
And sinner.
F ESTUS . Lo! the nations of the dead,
Which do outnumber all earth's races, rise,
And high in sumless myriads over head
Sweep past us in a cloud, as 't were the skirts
Of the Eternal passing.
A VOICE . Souls, arise
To deathless life !
Archangel . 'Tis God speaks. Let us hence.
The general judgment is in hand, — God's hand.
The souls of those whom God loves circle us.
For thee, thy lot thou knowest. As a seed
Buried in earth doth multiply itself
Full fifty fold, so will thy nature when
Changed, it lifts head in the air divine of Heaven.
F ESTUS . Out of the depths of earth and the world's womb
Thine unborn angels seek thee, God, all Love !
Now is Thine hour for which all hours were made,
All life created, all things else ordained ;
Be it the hour of mercy, Lord ! to all,
For Thy Son's sake, who, for the sake of man,
Came down from Heaven into the pit of earth,
And lived as one of us and died; — He died
The death of all at once of every age;
The world's accumulated weight of woe,
From its first life unto its last, which none
But the Omnipotent could bear — He bore ;
And all for us. God became man that man
Might become God. Oh, favor infinite !
Now reap the righteous, righteous but in Him
Any, their guerdon. Evil to repay
With good was Christ's command, and earth with Heaven
Is thus the great example of His word.
Enough for sinners this, for all which live.
Do Thou, Lord ! be with us. In Thee we live;
Our treasure, trust, and triumph is in Thee.
Behold the day of our salvation come
Unto the countless all Thou hast redeemed!
The ages sweep around me with their wings
Like angered eagles cheated of their prey,
The ages of all time : the glowing Heavens
Are rushing to receive us. Oh, rejoice
All ye that are immortal — and whate'er
Hath been predestined to eternal end,
The day determined ere all time was dawns!