LUCIFER.

Thou hast seen both worms and worlds,

Each bright and sparkling,-what dost think of

them?

CAIN.

That they are beautiful in their own sphere,
And that the night, which makes both beautiful
The little shining fire-fly in its flight,

And the immortal star in its great course,

Must both be guided.

LUCIFER.

But by whom or what?

CAIN.

Show me.

LUCIFER.

Dar'st thou behold?

CAIN.

How know I what

I dare behold? as yet, thou hast shown nought

I dare not gaze on further.

LUCIFER.

On, then, with me.

Wouldst thou behold things mortal or immortal?

The things I have not seen,

Nor ever shall the mysteries of death.

LUCIFER.

What, if I show to thee things which have died, As I have shown thee much which cannot die?

CAIN.

Do so.

LUCIFER.

Away, then! on our mighty wings.

CAIN.

Oh! how we cleave the blue! The stars fade from us!

The earth! where is my earth? let me look on it, For I was made of it.

LUCIFER.

'Tis now beyond thee,

Less in the universe, than thou in it :

Yet deem not that thou canst escape it; thou
Shalt soon return to earth, and all its dust;
'Tis part of thy eternity, and mine.

CAIN.

Where dost thou lead me?

LUCIFER.

To what was before thee!

The phantasm of the world; of which thy world

Is but the wreck.

CAIN.

What! is it not then new?

LUCIFER.

No more than life is: and that was ere thou

Or I were, or the things which seem to us
Greater than either: many things will have

No end; and some, which would pretend to have
Had no beginning, have had one as mean

As thou; and mightier things have been extinct
To make way for much meaner than we can
Surmise; for moments only and the space
Have been and must be all unchangeable.

But changes make not death, except to clay;
But thou art clay-and canst but comprehend
That which was clay, and such thou shalt behold.

CAIN.

Clay, spirit! What thou wilt, I can survey.

LUCIFER.

Away, then!

CAIN.

But the lights fade from me fast,

And some till now grew larger as we approch'd, And wore the look of worlds.

To the world of phantoms, which

Are beings past, and shadows still to come.

CAIN.

But it grows dark, and dark—the stars are gone!

And yet thou seest.

LUCIFER.

CAIN.

'Tis a fearful light!

No sun, no moon, no lights innumerable.
The very blue of the empurpled night
Fades to a dreary twilight, yet I see

Huge dusky masses; but unlike the worlds
We were approaching, which, begirt with light,
Seem'd full of life even when their atmosphere
Of light gave way, and show'd them taking shapes