In the Sun's place a pale and ghastly glare AZAZIEL. Come, Anah! quit this chaos-founded prison, To turn it into what it was: beneath The shelter of these wings thou shalt be safe, Its mother's. Let the coming chaos chafe - With all its elements! Heed not their din! A brighter world than this, where thou shalt breathe Ethereal life, will we explore: These darken'd clouds are not the only skies. (AZAZIEL and SAMIASA fly off, and disappear with ANAH and AHOLIBAMAH.) ЈАРНЕТ. They are gone! They have disappear'd amidst the roar Anah unto these eyes. Chorus of Mortals. Oh son of Noah! mercy on thy kind'! What, wilt thou leave us all-all-all behind? Thou sit'st within thy guarded ark? A MOTHER (offering her infant to JAPHET.) Oh let this child embark! I brought him forth in woe, But thought it joy To see him to my bosom clinging so. Why was he born? What hath he done My unwean'd son To move Jehovah's wrath or scorn? What is there in this milk of mine, that Death My boy, And roll the waters o'er his placid breath? Save him, thou seed of Seth! Or cursed be-with Him who made Thee and thy race, for which we are betray'd! And gushing oceans every barrier rend, Be He, who made thee and thy sire! We deem our curses vain; we must expire; But, as we know the worst, Why should our hymn be raised, our knees be bent Before the implacable Omnipotent, Since we must fall the same ? If He hath made earth, let it be His shame, To make a world for torture:-Lo! they come, And with their roar make wholesome Nature dumb! When Paradise upsprung, Ere Eve gave Adam knowledge for her dower, Or Adam his first hymn of slavery sung), So massy, vast, yet green in their old age, Their summer blossoms by the surges lopp'd, Vainly we look up to the lowering skies-- And shut out God from our beseeching eyes. Fly, son of Noah, fly, and take thine ease And view, all floating o'er the Element, Thy song of praise! A MORTAL. Blessed are the dead Who die in the Lord! And though the waters be o'er earth outspread, Yet, as His word, Be the decree adored! He gave me life-He taketh but The breath which is His own; And though these eyes should be for ever shut, Nor longer this weak voice before His throne Be heard in supplicating tone, Still blessed be the Lord, For what is past, For that which is: For all are His, From first to last Time-space-eternity-life-death The vast known and immeasurable unknown. He made, and can unmake; And shall 1, for a little gasp of breath, Blaspheme and groan? No; let me die, as I have lived, in faith, Nor quiver, though the universe may quake! Chorus of Mortals. Where shall we fly? Not to the mountains high; For now their torrents rush with double roar, Nor leaves an unsearch'd cave. Oh, save me, save! WOMAN, (Enter a Woman.) Our valley is no more: My father and my father's tent, My brethren and my brethren's herds, The pleasant trees that o'er our noonday bent And sent forth evening songs from sweetest birds, The little rivulet which freshen'd all Our pastures green, No more are to be seen. When to the mountain cliff I climb'd this morn, I turn'd to bless the spot, And not a leaf appear'd about to fall ; And now they are not !— Why was I born? JAPHET. To die! in youth to die; And happier in that doom, Than to behold the universal tomb Which I Am thus condemn'd to weep above in vain. (The Waters rise: Men fly in every direction ; many are overtaken by the waves; the Chorus of Mortals disperses in search of safety up the Mountains; JAPHET remains upon a rock, while the Ark floats towards him in the distance.) END OF PART FIRST. |