Leaving it with a crown of many hues? No more to be the beacon of the world, Nearest the stars? And can those words " no more" Be meant for thee, for all things, save for us, He preserve them, and I not have the power And night by night, thy numbered days and nights. Upon thy coming doom without a feeling Such as-Oh God! and canst thou [He pauses A rushing sound from the cavern is heard and shouts of laughter -afterwards a Spirit passes. Japh. Of the Most High, what art thou? Spirit. (laughs.) In the name Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Japh. By all that earth holds holiest, speak! Japh. By the approaching deluge! by the earth The deep which will lay open all her fountains! Why weep'st thou? Japh. For earth and all her children. [Spirit vanishes. Japh. How the fiend mocks the tortures of a world, The coming desolation of an orb, On which the sun shall rise and warm no life! Why should they wake to meet it? What is here, Spirit. The abhorred race Which could not keep in Eden their high place, But listen'd to the voice Of knowledge without power, Are nigh the hour Of death! Not slow, not single, not by sword nor sorrow, [tion, Nor years, nor heart-break, nor time's sapping mo Shall they drop off. Behold their last to-morrow! 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, For the expected ebb which cometh not: Another element shall be the lord Of life, and the abhorr'd Children of dust be quench'd; and of each hue Shall nought remain Unchanged, or of the level plain; Cedar and pine shall lift their tops in vain: And sea and sky Look vast and lifeless in the eternal eye. Who shall erect a home? Japhet. (coming forward.) My sire! Earth's seed shall not expire; Only the evil shall be put away From day. Avaunt! ye exulting demons of the waste! Who howl your hideous joy When God destroys whom you dare not destroy; Hence! haste! Back to your inner caves! Until the waves Shall search you in your secret place, And drive your sullen race Forth, to be roll'd upon the tossing winds In restless wretchedness along all space! Spirit. When thou and thine have braved The wide and warring element; When the great barrier of the deep is rent, Shall thou and thine be good or happy?—No! Thy new world and new race shall be of wo— Less goodly in their aspect, in their years Less than the glorious giants, who Yet walk the world in pride, The Sons of Heaven by many a mortal bride. Thus to survive, And eat, and drink, and wive? < With a base heart so far subdued and tamed, Than seek a shelter with thy favour'd father, Except the base and blind? Mine As of a different order in the sphere, But not our own. There is not one who hath not left a throne Vacant in heaven to dwell in darkness here, A life like thine to other wretches-live! Envy the Giant Patriarchs then no more, Chorus of Spirits issuing from the cavern. Rejoice! 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 To whom the omission of a sacrifice Is vice; We, we shall view the deep's 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 |