Both near, Deposed where now the eagle's offspring Which in the open firmament of Heaven dwells— Have wings like angels, and like them salute How shall he shriek o'er the remorseless sea! Heaven first each day before the Adamites! And call his nestlings up with fruitless yell, Their matins now draw nigh—the East is Unanswer'd save by the encroaching swell;- kindlingWhile man shall long in vain for his broad And they will sing! and day will break! wings, The wings which could not save:- So near the awful close! For these must drop Where could he rest them, while the whole Their outworn pinions on the deep; and day, space brings After the bright course of a few brief Nought to his eye beyond the deep, bis morrows,grave? Ay, day will rise; but upon what? A chaos, Brethren, rejoice! Which was ere day; and which, renewid, And loudly lift each superhuman voice makes time All die, Nothing! for, without life, what are the Save the slight remnant of Seth's seed hours ? The seed of Seth, No more to dust than is eternity Exempt for future Sorrow's sake from Unto Jehovah, who created both. death. Without him, even Eternity would be But of the sons of Cain A void: withoutman, Time, as made for man, None shall remain; Dies with man, and is swallow'd in that And all his goodly daughters Deep Must lie beneath the desolating waters; Which has no fountain; as his race will be Or, floating upward with their long hair laid Devour'd by that which drowns his infantAlong the wave, the cruel Heaven upbraid, world. Which would not spare What have we here? Shapes of both earth Beings even in death so fair. and air ? It is decreed, No-all of Heaven, they are so beautiful. All die! I cannot trace their features; but their forms, And to the universal human cry How lovelily they move along the side The universal silence shall succeed ! Of the gray mountain, scattering its mist! Fly, brethren, fly! And after the swart savage spirits, whose But still rejoice! Infernal Immortality pour'd forth · We fell! Theirimpious hymn of triumph,they shall be They fall! Welcome as Eden. It may be they come So perish all To tell me the reprieve of our young world, These petty foes of Heaven who shrink For which I have so often pray'd–They from Hell ! come! upwards. Enter SAMIASA, AZAZIEL, Anan, and AHOLIBAMAH. destiny of Earth; My father's ark of safety hath announced it; Anah. Japhet! The very demons shriek it from their caves; Samiasa. Lo! The scroll of Enoch prophesied it long A son of Adam! In silent books, which, in their silence, say Azaziel. What doth the Earth-born here, More to the mind than thunder to the ear: While all his race are slumbering? And yet men listen’d not, nor listen ; but Japhet. Angel! what Walk darkling to their doom; which, Dost thou on earth when thou shouldst be though so nigh, on high? Shakes thein no more in their diin disbelief, Azaziel. Knowst thou not, or forgetst Than their last cries shall shake the thou, that a part Almighty purpose, Of our great function is to guard thine Or deaf obedient Ocean, which fulfils it. earth? No sign yet hangs its banner in the air; Japhet. But all good angels have forThe clouds are few, and of their wonted saken earth, texture; Which is condemn'd; nay, even the evil fly The sun will rise upon the earth's last day The approaching Chaos. Anah! Anah! my As on the fourth day of creation, when In vain, and long, and still to be beloved! God said unto him, "Shine!” and he broke Why walkst thou with this Spirit, in those forth hours Into the dawn, which lighted not the yet when no good spirit longer lights below? Unform’d forefather of mankind--but rvused Anah. Japhet, I cannot answer thee; Before the human orison the earlier yet, yet Made and far eweeter voices of the birds, Forgive me Japhet. May the Heaven, which soon no Samiaso. Of death to us! and those who more are with us! Will pardon, do so! for thou art greatly But that the man seems full of sorrow, I tempted. Could smile. Aholibamah. Back to thy tents, insulting Japhet. I grieve not for myself, nor fear, son of Noah ! I am safe, not for my own deserts, but those We know thee not. Of a well-doing sire, who hath been found Japhet. The hour may come when thou Righteous enough to save his children. Mayst know me better; and thy sister know Would Me still the same which I have ever been. His power was greater of redemption! or Samiasa. Son of the Patriarch, who hath That by exchanging my own life for hers, ever been Who could alone have made mine happy,she, Upright before his God, whate'er thy griefs, The last and loveliest of Cain's race, could And thy words seem of sorrow, mix'd with share wrath, The Ark which shall receive a remnant of How have Azaziel,or myself, brought on thee The seed of Seth! Wrong? Aholibamah. And dost thou think that we, Japhet. Wrong! the greatest of all wrongs; With Cain's, the eldest-born of Adam's, blood but thou Warm in our veins, --strong Cain I who was Sayst well! though she be dust, I did not, begotten could not, In Paradise,—would mingle with Seth's Deserve her. Farewell, Anah! I have said children ? That word so often! but now say it, ne'er Seth, the last offspring of old Adam's To be repeated. Angel! or whate'er dotage ? Thou art, or must be soon, hast thou the No, not to save all earth, were earth in peril! power Our race hath always dwelt apart from thine To save this beautiful-these beautiful From the beginning, and shall do so ever. Children of Cain? Japhet. I did not speak to thee,Aholibamah! Azaziel. From what? Too much of the forefather, whom thou Japhet. And is it so, vauntest, That ye too know not? Angels! angels! ye Has come down in that haughty blood Have shared man's sin, and, it may be, which springs now must From him who shed the first, and that a Partake his punishment; or at the least brother's ! My sorrow. But thou, my Anah! let me call thee mine, Samiasa. Sorrow! I ne'er thought till now Albeit thou art not; 'tis a word I cannot To hear an Adamite speak riddles to me. Part with, although I must from thee. My Japhet. And hath not the Most High Anah! expounded them? Thou who dost rather make me dream Then ye are lost, as they are lost. that Abel Aholibamah. So be it! Had left a daughter, whose pure pious race If they love as they are loved, they will Survived in thee, so much unlike thou art not shrink The rest of the stern Cainites, save in beauty, More to be mortal, than I would to dare For all of them are fairest in their favour An immortality of agonies Aholibamah (interrupting him). With Samiasa! And wouldst thou have her like Anah. Sister! sister! speak not father's foe Thus. In mind, in soul? If I partook thy thought, Azaziel. Fearest thou, my Anah? And dream'd that aught of Abel was in her!Anah. Yes, for thee; Get thee hence, son of Noah; thou mak'st I would resign the greater remnant of strife. This little life of mine, before one hour Japhet. Offspring of Cain,thy father did so! of thine eternity should know a pang. Aholibamah. But Japhet. It is for him, then! for the Seraph He slew not Seth; and what hast thou to do thou With other deeds between his God and him? Hast lest me! That is nothing if thou hast not Japhet. Thou speakest well: his God Left thy God too! for unions like to these, hath judged him, and Between a mortal and immortal, cannot I had not named his deed, but that thyself Be happy or be hallow'd. We are sent Didst seem to glory in him, nor to shrink Upon the earth to toil and die; and they From what he had done. Are made to minister on high unto Aholibamah. He was our fathers' father; The Highest; but if he can save thee, soon The eldest-born of man, the strongest, The hour will come in which celestial aid bravest, Alone can do so. And inost enduring:-Shall I blush forhim, Anah. Ah! he speaks of death. From whom we had our being? Look upon our Our race; behold their stature and their | Dost thou here with these children of the beauty, wicked? Their courage, strength, and length of days - Dreadst thon not to partake their coming Japhet. They are number'd doom? Aholibamah. Be it so! but while yet Japhet. Father, it cannot be a sin to seek their hours endure, To save an earth-born being; and behold, I glory in my brethren and our fathers ! These are not of the sinful, since they have Japhet. My sire and race but glory in fellowship of angels. their God, Noah. These are they, then, Anah! and thou? Who leave the throne of God, to take them Anah. Whate'er our God decrees, wives The God of Seth as Cain, I must obey, From out the race of Cain; the sons of And will endeavour patiently to obey: Heaven, But could I dare to pray in his dread hour Who seek Earth's daughters for their beauty? Of universal vengeance (if such should be), Azaziel. Patriarch! It would not be to live, alone exempt Thou hast said it. Of all my house. My sister! Oh, my sister! Noah. Woe, woe, woe to such communion! What were the world, or other worlds, or all Has not God made a barrier between Earth The brightest future without the sweet past- And Heaven, and limited each, kind to kind? Thy love-my father's—all the life, and all Samiasa. Was not man made in high The things which sprung up with me, like Jehovah's image? the stars, Did God not love what he had made? And Making my dim existence radiant with what Soft lights which were not mine? Aholi- Do we but imitate and emulate bamah ! His love unto created love? Oh! if there should be mercy-seek it, find it: Noah. I am I abhor death, because that thou must die. But man, and was not made to judge mankind, Aholibamah. What! hath this dreamer, Far less the sons of God, but as our God with his father's ark, Has deign’d to commune with me, and reveal The bugbear he hath built to scare the His judgments, I reply, that the descent world, Of Seraphs from their everlasting seat Shaken my sister? Are we not the loved Unto a perishable and perishing, Of Seraphs ? and if we were not, must we Even on the very eve of perishing, world, Cling to a son of Noah for our lives? Cannot be good. Rather than thus_But the enthusiast dreams Azaziel. What! though it were to save? The worst of dreams, the fantasies engender'd Noah. Not ye in all your glory can redeem By hopeless love and heated vigils. Who What He who made you glorious hath Shall shake these solid mountains, this firm condemn'd. earth, Were your immortal mission safety, 'twould And bid those clouds and waters take a shape Be general, not for two, though beautiful, Distinct from that which we and all our sires And beautiful they are, but not the less Have seen them wear on their eternal way? Condemn'd. Who shall do this? Japhet. Oh father! say it not. Japhet. He,whose one word produced them. Noah. Son! son! Aholibamah. Who heard that word ? If that thou wouldst avoid their doom, forget Japhet. The Universe, which leap'd That they exist; they soon shall cease to be, To life before it. Ah! smil'st thou still in While thou shalt be the sire of a new world, scorn? And better. Turn to thy Seraphs; if they attest it not, Japhet. Let me die with this, and them! They are none. Noah. Thou shouldst for such a thought, Samiasa. Aholibamah, own thy God! but shalt not; He Aholibamah. I have ever hail'd Our Who can, redeems thee. Maker, Samiasa, Samiasa. And why him and thee, As thine, and mine: a God of love, not More than what he, thy son, prefers to both? Noah. Ask him who made thee greater Japhet. Alas! what else is Love but than myself Sorrow? Even And mine, but not less subject to his own He who made earth in love, had soon to Almightincss. And lo! his mildest and grieve Least to be tempted Messenger appears ! Above its first and best inhabitants. Aholibamah. Tis said 80. Enter RAPHAEL the Archangel. Japhet. It is even so. Raphael. Spirits! Whose seat is near the throne, Enter Noah and SEM. What do ye here? Noah. Japhet! What Is thus a Seraph's duty to be shown sorrow. Now that the hour is near In their immeasurable forfeiture. When earth must be alone? Our brother Satan fell, his burning will Return ! Rather than longer worship dared endure ! Adore and burn But ye who still are pure! In glorious homage with the elected "seven.” Seraphs! less mighty than that mightiest one, Your place is Heaven, Think how he was undone ! Samiasa. Raphael ! And think if tempting man can compensate The first and fairest of the sons of God, For Heaven desired too late ? How long hath this been law, Long have I warr'd, Long must I war With him who deem'd it hard Jehovah's footsteps not disdain her sod! To be created, and to acknowledge him The world He loved, and made Who 'midst the cherubim For love; and oft have we obey'd Made him as suns to a dependant star, His frequent mission with delighted pinions. Leaving the archangels at his right hand dim. Adoring Him in his least works display'd; I loved him_beautiful he was: oh Heaven! Watching this youngest star of His domi- Save His who made, what beauty and what nions : power The wish is impious: but oh ye! With him, or with his God, is in your Raphael. Had Samiasa and Azaziel been choice: In their true place, with the angelic He hath not tempted you, he cannot tempt choir, The angels, from his further snares exempt; But man hath listen’d to his voice, And ye to woman's—beautiful she is, The serpent's voice less subtle than her kiss; And not inquired their Maker's breath of me: The snake but vanquish'd dust; but she But ignorance must ever be will draw A part of sin; A second host from Heaven, to break HeaAnd even the spirits' knowledge shall grow ven's law. less Yet, yet, oh fly! As they wax proud within ; Ye cannot die, For Blindness is the first-born of Excess. But they When all good angels left the world, ye Shall pass away, stay'd, While ye shall fill with shrieks the upper sky Stung with strange passions, and debased For perishable clay, By mortal feelings for a mortal maid; Whose memory in your immortality But ye are pardon'd thus far, and replaced Shall long outlast the sun which gave With your pure equals: Hence! away! away! them day. Think how your essence differeth from theirs And lose eternity by that delay! In all but suffering! Why partake Azaziel. And Thou! if earth be thus The agony to which they must be heirsforbidden Born to be plough'd with years, and sown In the decree with cares, To us until this moment hidden, And reap'd by Death, lord of the human soil? Dost thou not err as we Even had their days been left to toil their patlı In being here? Through time to dust, unshorten’d by God's Raphael. I came to call ye back to your wrath, fit sphere, Still they are Evil's prey and Sorrow's spoil. In the great name and at the word of God! Aholibamah. Let them fly! Dear, dearest in themselves, and scarce less I hear the voice which says that all must die, dear Sooner than our white-bearded Patriarchs That which I came to do: till now we trod died Together the eternal space, together And that on high Let us still walk the stars. True, Earth An ocean is prepared, must die! While from below Her race, return'd into her womb, must The deep shall rise to meet Heaven's wither, overflow. And much which she inherits; but oh! why Few shall be spared, Cannot this earth be made, or be destroy'd, It seems; and, of that few, the race of Cain Without involving ever some vast void Must lift their eyes to Adam's God in vain. In the immortal ranks? immortal still Sister! since it is so, Or stay, And the eternal Lord Father, and thou, archangel, thou! In vain would be implored Surely celestial Mercy lurks below For the remission of one hour of woo, That pure severe serenity of brow : Let us resign even what we have adored, Let them not meet this sea without a shore, And meet the wave, as we would meet the Save in our ark, or let me be no more! sword, Noah. Peace, child of passion, peace! And, when the fatal waters are allay'd, A righteous death, unlike i he seed of Cain's. for thee? And yours to live for ever; Such would it be To alter his intent Obey him, as we shall obey; And bear what Adam's race must bear, and can. The depth beneath us hides our own dear land, Who, who, our tears, our shrieks, shall then command ? And if I look up with a tearless eye, Can we in desolation's peace have rest? 'T'is that an angel's bride disdains to weep. Oh God! be thou a God, and spare Farewell! Now rise, inexorable Deep! Yet while 'tis time! Renew not Adam's fall: Mankind were then but twain, But they are numerous now as are the waves And the tremendous rain, their graves, Cain. Noah. Silence, vain boy! each word of thine's a crime! in passion : Ye, Too much already hast thou deignd May now return with me. Samiasa. It may not be: Then from this hour, And aliens from your God, Farewell! Japhet. Alas! where shall they dwell? Hark! hark! Deep sounds, and deeper still, Thou canst not weep; but yet Are howling from the mountain's bosom: Mayst suffer more, not weeping: then There's not a breath of wind upon the hill, forget Yetöquivers every leaf, and drops cach Her, whom the surges of the all-strangling blossom: Deep Earth groans as if beneath a heavy load. Can bring no pang like this. Fly! fly! Noah. Hark! hark! the sea-birds cry! Being gone, 'twill be less difficult to die. In clouds they overspread the lurid sky Japhet. Oh say not so! And hover round the mountain, where before 1 |
