Classic Poem

Hassan Ben Hadad the wise and grand
Was heir of a royal line.
For him bloomed the beauties of all the land,
For him did her rubies shine.
Yet was he sick of a mystic ill
That baffled human lore and skill.

One morn there met at his palace-gate
An eager, wondering crowd.
As forth he stepped with a mien sedate.
Yet humbled, the people bowed.
" Not so, my worthy friends, " said he;
" Never more shall you kneel to me.

" You note the change in my face and tone
And marvel to see me so.
Draw near that I may not feel alone,
And hear what has brought me low.
Yet a weight is taken from off my breast,
And life henceforward is blithe and blest.

" Last night, when I laid me down to sleep,
A trouble was in my heart —
A deep, dull pain — and I longed to weep,
But the tears refused to start.
And I felt that none in the world could be
So wretched as I in my luxury.

" Then my thoughts flowed on in a turbid stream
(For never a one was gay),
Until at last in a vision or dream
It ended. Beneath me lay
The earth, fast fading, a tiny ball.
And space was round me, — and that was all:

" Stars and space and a viewless power
That bore me through the air!
At once, as opens a tropic flower,
A glory beyond compare
Beamed dazzlingly on my startled eyes,
And I knew I was nearing Paradise.

" There were gates of jasper and streets of gold
And faces I could not see
For their wondrous splendor, — a thousand-fold
Brighter than suns could be.
And all the air with music rang
As countless thundering voices sang.

" Then I heard a voice: and it spake to me
From a white and awful throne.
The broad-flung roar of an angry sea,
Or the mountain thunder's tone,
Were faint compared to those words of doom.
Yet a lofty grief touched them all with gloom.

" " Alone hast thou been in heart and hope,
Alone shalt thou henceforth be
In body, with space for thy boundless scope
Through a blank eternity.
Earth and heaven shall pass away;
But alone shalt thou wander forever and aye."

" Then forth again I was surely driven
Past the ranks of cherubim,
Past the shining portals of happy heaven,
And out in the shadows dim.
Out in the shadowy land of mist,
Borne by a force I could not resist!

" World after world as I passed along
Receded from my view.
From some came the chorus of joyous song,
And wails from some, — and I knew,
For the only time in a splendid life,
How to feel for another's bliss or strife.

" Past happy homes where the loved ones met,
But without the power to stay!
My brow was damp with a horrid sweat.
And I strove in vain to pray
But for a place with my kind once more,
However lowly, however poor!

" Ah, God! how lovely it seemed to me,
This life of my fellow-men!
How boundless the depths of my misery!
How I longed to hear again
The kindly tones of a human voice!
Ah, how it makes my heart rejoice!

" World after world I passed them all
With a burning, mad desire,
And my soul went forth in a dismal call;
But a laugh responded. Fire
Was close beside me, and hellish glare
And writhing figures, — the damned were there.

" And one I saw, in his speechless pain,
Turn with pitying eye
To another who strove, but strove in vain,
From a lot more dread to fly.
But I knew no being would weep for me,
And hell seemed heaven to my misery.

" The very damned were not alone,
But soon they were far behind;
And forth I swept in the great unknown,
The chaos vast and blind.
One by one sickened the stars and died,
And darkness was round me on every side.

On, on, and on in the formless blank,
The palpable, nameless vast,
Where never a sound arose and sank, —
No, not the archangel's blast!
Where thought ne'er travelled nor seraph trod —
Beyond all save the mind of God!

" Still, on and on, and a maddened cry
Surged up from my bursting heart.
Well might its awful agony
Have made the seraphs start.
A cry too hopeless to be a prayer!
But the boundless mercy of God was there. "