A weakness of the spirit-listless days, the calm Of desolation, and the stillness of Such is the sullen or the fitful state Of my mind overworn. The earth's grown wicked, And many signs and portents have proclaim'd A change at hand, and an o'erwhelming doom The fountains of the deep,how mightest thou While thine-Oh, God! at least remit to her Thy wrath! for she is pure amidst the failing, As a star in the clouds, which cannot quench, Although they obscure it for an hour. My Anah! How would I have adored thee, but thou wouldst not; And still would I redeem thee— -see thee live Enter NOAH and SÊм. Like a dove round and round its pillaged In perpendicular places, where the foot Of man would tremble, could he reach them-yes, Ye look eternal! Yet, in a few days, Perhaps even hours, ye will be changed, rent, hurled Before the mass of waters; and yon cave, Which seems to lead into a lower world, Shall have its depths search'd by the sweeping wave, And dolphins gambol in the lion's den! Alas! what am I better than ye are, Scarce less beloved, where I despaired for her? And can it be!-Shall yon exulting peak, Whose glittering top is like a distant star, Lie low beneath the boiling of the deep? No more to have the morning-sun break forth, And scatter back the mists in floating folds From its tremendous brow? no more to have Day's broad orb drop behind its head at even, Leaving it with a crown of many hues? No more to be the beacon of the world, For angels to alight on, as the spot Nearest the stars? And can those words Shall slumber o'er the wreck of this until So young, so mark'd out for destruction, I 1 cannot save thee, cannot save even her Whose love had made me love thee more; Japhet. In the name Of the Most High, what art thou? Spirit (laughs). Ha! Ha! Japhet. By the approaching deluge! by the earth Which will be strangled by the ocean! by The deep which will lay open all her fountains! The Heaven which will convert her clouds to seas! And the Omnipotent who makes and crushes! The coming desolation of an orb, On which the sun shall rise and warm no life! How the earth sleeps! and all that in it is Sleeps too upon the very eve of death! Why should they wake to meet it? What is here, Which look like death in life, and speak like things Born ere this dying world? They come like clouds! [Various Spirits pass from the cavern. Spirit. Rejoice! The abhorred race Nor years, nor heart-break, nor Time's sapping motion, Shall they drop off. Behold their last tomorrow! Earth shall be ocean! And no breath, Save of the winds, be on the unbounded wave! Angels shall tire their wings, but find no spot: Not even a rock from out the liquid grave Shall lift its point to save, Or show the place where strong Despair hath died, After long looking o'er the ocean wide Another element shall be the lord Unchanged, or of the level plain; All merged within the universal fountain, Man, earth, and fire, shall die, There is not one who hath not left a throne Vacant in Heaven to dwell in darkness here, Rather than see his mates endure alone. Go, wretch! and give A life like thine to other wretches-live! Chorus of Spirits issuing from the cavern. No more the human voice Shall vex our joys in middle air No more Shall they adore; And we, who ne'er for ages have adored The prayer-exacting Lord, To whom the omission of a sacrifice Is vice; We, we shall view the deep salt sources pour'd Until one element shall do the work Of all in chaos; until they, The creatures proud of their poor clay, Shall perish, and their bleached bones shall lurk In caves,in dens,in clefts of mountains, where The Deep shall follow to their latest lair; Where even the brutes, in their despair, Shall cease to prey on man and on each other, And the striped tiger shall lie down to die Beside the lamb, as though he were his brother; Till all things shall be as they were, Silent and uncreated, save the sky: While a brief truce Is made with Death, who shall forbear The little remnant of the past creation, To generate new nations for his use; This remnant, floating o'er the undulation Of the subsiding deluge, from its slime, When the hot sun hath baked the reeking soil Into a world, shall give again to Time New beings-years- diseases -sorrowcrime With all companionship of hate and toil, Until Japhet (interrupting them). The eternal will Shall deign to expound this dream Unto Himself all times, all things; And,gath er'd under his almighty wings, Abolish hell! And to the expiated Earth Restore the beauty of her birth, Her Eden in an endless paradise, Where man no more can fall as once he fell, And even the very demons shall do well! Spirits. And when shall take effect this wondrous spell? Japhet. When the Redeemer cometh; first in pain, And then in glory. Spirits. Meantime still struggle in the mortal chain, Till earth wax hoary; War with yourselves, and Hell, and Heaven, in vain, Until the clouds look gory With the blood reeking from each battleNew times, new climes, new arts, new plain; men; but still The same old tears, old crimes, and oldest ill, Shall be amongst your race in different forms; But the same moral storms Shall oversweep the future, as the waves In a few hours the glorious Giants' Chorus of Spirits. Brethren, rejoice! Mortal, farewell! graves. Deposed where now the eagle's offspring | Which in the open firmament of Heaven dwells But still rejoice! We fell! They fall! So perish all These petty foes of Heaven who shrink from Hell! [The Spirits disappear, soaring upwards. Japhet (solus). God hath proclaim'd the destiny of Earth; My father's ark of safety hath announced it; Shakes them no more in their dim disbelief, Have wings like angels, and like them salute Heaven first each day before the Adamites! Their matins now draw nigh—the East is kindling And they will sing! and day will break! Both near, So near the awful close! For these must drop Their outworn pinions on the deep; and day, After the bright course of a few brief morrows, Ay, day will rise; but upon what? A chaos, Which was ere day; and which, renew'd, makes time Nothing! for, without life, what are the hours? No more to dust than is eternity Which has no fountain; as his race will be Devour'd by that which drowns his infantworld. What have we here? Shapes of both earth and air? No-all of Heaven, they are so beautiful. Their impious hymn of triumph,they shall be come! Anah! oh God! and with her Enter SAMIASA, AZAZIEL, ANAH, and AHOLIBAMAH. Anah. Japhet! A son of Adam! Azaziel. What doth the Earth-born here, While all his race are slumbering? Japhet. Angel! what Dost thou on earth when thou shouldst be on high? Azaziel. Knowst thou not, or forgetst thou, that a part Which is condemn'd; nay, even the evil fly The approaching Chaos. Anah! Anah! my In vain, and long, and still to be beloved! Why walkst thou with this Spirit, in those hours When no good spirit longer lights below? The Ark which shall receive a remnant of The seed of Seth! Aholibamah. And dost thou think that we, With Cain's, the eldest-born of Adam's, blood Warm in our veins,-strong Cain! who was begotten In Paradise, would mingle with Seth's children? Seth, the last offspring of old Adam's dotage? No, not to save all earth, were earth in peril! Our race hath always dwelt apart from thine From the beginning, and shall do so ever. Japhet. I did not speak to thee,Aholibamah! Too much of the forefather, whom thou vauntest, Has come down in that haughty blood which springs From him who shed the first, and that a brother's! But thou, my Anah! let me call thee mine, Albeit thou art not; 'tis a word I cannot Part with, although I must from thee. My Anah ! Thou who dost rather make me dream that Abel Had left a daughter, whose pure pious race Survived in thee, so much unlike thou art The rest of the stern Cainites, save in beauty, For all of them are fairest in their favourAholibamah (interrupting him). And wouldst thou have her like our father's foe In mind, in soul? If I partook thy thought, And dream'd that aught of Abel was in her!Get thee hence, son of Noah; thou mak'st strife. Japhet. Offspring of Cain, thy father did so! Aholibamah. But He slew not Seth; and what hast thou to do With other deeds between his God and him? Japhet. Thou speakest well: his God hath judged him, and I had not named his deed, but that thyself Didst seem to glory in him, nor to shrink From what he had done. Aholibamah. He was our fathers' father; The eldest-born of man, the strongest, |