Oh may I live resembling thee, And die at last as thou hast died;So that hereafter men may see, Within the choir, a form of air, Standing with arms outstretched in prayer, As one that hath been crucified!
My work is finished; I am strong In faith and hope and charity;For I have written the things I see, The things that have been and shall be, Conscious of right, nor fearing wrong;Because I am in love with Love, And the sole thing I hate is Hate;For Hate is death; and Love is life, A peace, a splendor from above;And Hate, a never-ending strife, A smoke, a blackness from the abyss Where unclean serpents coil and hiss!
Love is the Holy Ghost within Hate the unpardonable sin!
Who preaches otherwise than this Betrays his Master with a kiss!
PART TWO
THE GOLDEN LEGEND
PROLOGUE
THE SPIRE OF STRASBURG CATHEDRAL
Night and storm.LUCIFER, with the Powers of the Air, trying to tear down the Cross.
LUCIFER.
Hasten! hasten!
O ye spirits!
From its station drag the ponderous Cross of iron, that to mock us Is uplifted high in air!
VOICES.
Oh, we cannot!
For around it All the Saints and Guardian Angels Throng in legions to protect it;They defeat us everywhere!
THE BELLS.
Laudo Deum verum!
Plebem voco!
Congrego clerum!
LUCIFER.
Lower! lower!
Hover downward!
Seize the loud, vociferous bells, and Clashing, clanging to the pavement, Hurl them from their windy tower.
VOICES.
All thy thunders Here are harmless!
For these bells have been anointed, And baptized with holy water!
They defy our utmost power.
THE BELLS.
Defunctos ploro!
Pestem fugo!
Festa decoro!
LUCIFER.
Shake the casements!
Break the painted Panes, that flame with gold and crimson;Scatter them like leaves of Autumn, Swept away before the blast!
VOICES.
Oh, we cannot!
The Archangel Michael flames from every window, With the sword of fire that drove us Headlong, out of heaven, aghast!
THE BELLS.
Funera plango!
Fulgura frango!
Sabbata pango!
LUCIFER.
Aim your lightnings At the oaken, Massive, iron-studded portals!
Sack the house of God, and scatter Wide the ashes of the dead!
VOICES.
Oh, we cannot!
The Apostles And the Martyrs, wrapped in mantles, Stand as warders at the entrance, Stand as sentinels o'erhead!
THE BELLS.
Excito lentos!
Dissipo ventos!
Paco cruentos!
LUCIFER.
Baffled! baffled!
Inefficient, Craven spirits! leave this labor Unto time, the great Destroyer!
Come away, ere night is gone!
VOICES.
Onward! onward!
With the night-wind, Over field and farm and forest, Lonely homestead, darksome hamlet, Blighting all we breathe upon!
They sweep away.Organ and Gregorian Chant.
CHOIR.
Nocte surgentes Vigilemus omnes!
I
THE CASTLE OF VAUTSBERG ON THE RHINE
A chamber in a tower.PRINCE HENRY sitting alone, ill and restless.
Midnight.
PRINCE HENRY.
I cannot sleep! my fervid brain Calls up the vanished Past again, And throws its misty splendors deep Into the pallid realms of sleep!
A breath from that far-distant shore Comes freshening ever more and more, And wafts o'er intervening seas Sweet odors from the Hesperides!
A wind, that through the corridor Just stirs the curtain, and no more, And, touching the aolian strings, Faints with the burden that it brings!
Come back! ye friendships long departed!
That like o'erflowing streamlets started, And now are dwindled, one by one, To stony channels in the sun!
Come back! ye friends, whose lives are ended, Come back, with all that light attended, Which seemed to darken and decay When ye arose and went away!
They come, the shapes of joy and woe, The airy crowds of long ago, The dreams and fancies known of yore, That have been, and shall be no more.
They change the cloisters of the night Into a garden of delight;They make the dark and dreary hours Open and blossom into flowers!
I would not sleep! I love to be Again in their fair company;But ere my lips can bid them stay, They pass and vanish quite away!
Alas! our memories may retrace Each circumstance of time and place, Season and scene come back again, And outward things unchanged remain;The rest we cannot reinstate;
Ourselves we can not re-create;
Nor set our souls to the same key Of the remembered harmony!
Rest! rest! Oh, give me rest and peace!
The thought of life that ne'er shall cease Has something in it like despair, A weight I am too weak to bear!
Sweeter to this afflicted breast The thought of never-ending rest!
Sweeter the undisturbed and deep Tranquillity of endless sleep!
A flash of lightning, out of which LUCIFER appears, in the garb of a travelling Physician.
LUCIFER.
All hail, Prince Henry!
PRINCE HENRY, starting.
Who is it speaks?
Who and what are you?
LUCIFER.
One who seeks A moment's audience with the Prince.
PRINCE HENRY.
When came you in?
LUCIFER.
A moment since.
I found your study door unlocked, And thought you answered when I knocked.
PRINCE HENRY.
I did not hear you.
LUCIFER.
You heard the thunder;
It was loud enough to waken the dead.
And it is not a matter of special wonder That, when God is walking overhead, You should not hear my feeble tread.
PRINCE HENRY.
What may your wish or purpose be?
LUCIFER.
Nothing or everything, as it pleases Your Highness.You behold in me Only a travelling Physician;One of the few who have a mission To cure incurable diseases, Or those that are called so.
PRINCE HENRY.
Can you bring The dead to life?
LUCIFER.
Yes; very nearly.
And, what is a wiser and better thing, Can keep the living from ever needing Such an unnatural, strange proceeding, By showing conclusively and clearly That death is a stupid blunder merely, And not a necessity of our lives.
My being here is accidental;
The storm, that against your casement drives, In the little village below waylaid me.
And there I heard, with a secret delight, Of your maladies physical and mental, Which neither astonished nor dismayed me.
And I hastened hither, though late in the night, To proffer my aid!
PRINCE HENRY, ironically.
For this you came!
Ah, how can I ever hope to requite This honor from one so erudite?
LUCIFER.
The honor is mine, or will be when I have cured your disease.
PRINCE HENRY.