u THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED AND OTHER POEMS THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED AND OTHER POEMS BY FREDERICK E. PIERCE NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS MCMXI COPYRIGHT, 1911 BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS Printed from type. 750 copies. September, 1911. Dramatic and all other rights reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES TO THE MOST PATIENT AND LOVING OF ALL MY CRITICS MY SISTER MARY 255792 We take pleasure in acknowledging the courtesy of The Independent, The Pacific Monthly, and The Yale Review for permission to republish poems that have previously appeared in their pages. TO THE READER Out of the lone New England hills, Where fields are rocky and hearts are stern, Where there s much to suffer and much to learn, And men build visions no God fulfills ; Out of the haunted elms of Yale, Where hopes have budded and friendships leaved, And the spirit in which her sons believed Fired hero s effort and poet s tale ; Out of a hope that perhaps was vain; Out of a dream that he ne er will rue, Reader, the author speaks to you In a world of wonder and joy and pain. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE To the Reader vii THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED: Prologue 1 Act I 3 Act II 20 Act III 56 Act IV 77 Act V 109 OTHER POEMS: Armistice 121 The Man-eater 126 Early Death . 127 Voices from Elfland: I. The Appeal of the Fairies . . 129 II. The Stolen Child 130 The Last Night of Capua 133 The Coming of Peace 136 Thoughts on Opening Webster s Diction ary 138 A Vision of Evil . 141 Wasted Seeds . 143 The Butterfly 144 CONTENTS PAGE The Oriole 147 The Night-watch 150 Shakespeare to Imogen 153 Truth 154. The Divine Comedy of To-day . . . 156 A Fairy Story 157 The Seacoast in Winter 160 School-girls 161 The Eventless Tragedy 162 The Visit to the Old Farm . . . . 164 On Placing a Tombstone over My Father s Grave 166 The Farewell to Reason 169 The Corn-buskers 170 The Family Bible 172 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED AND OTHER POEMS THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED PROLOGUE THE EVE OF THE DELUGE The sun sank palled in dread; Birds hushed, on bough; "God is a myth/ men said, As men do now. Beneath the Eternal s frown Loud reveled king and clown; Blood flowed in field and town, None questioned how. The dripping chaplet tied The harlot s brow; Grave statesmen planned and lied, Secure as now. As lions, drowsing, seem To hunt in hungry dream, Purred the great ocean stream Round cape and prow. 2 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Night came; no face was pale; No prayer, no vow. God stood behind the veil, As He does now. Strange tints the heaven tinged, Like light from doors unhinged; And the wild panther cringed, And bird on bough. Bards harped in halls impure; Slaves forged the plow ; Earth dreamed she should endure As long as now. Next morning swam the whale O er throne and altar-rail. Twas an old Hebrew tale; But read it, thou. ACT I. TIME. The morning before the Deluge. PLACE. A hill near the ark, commanding a view over the plain to the east and the city of Cain in its midst. [Enter Noah and a friend.] NOAH. There, kinsman, slow, like God s reluc tant wrath, Comes the last dawning of a world. FRIEND. Tis calm, As mild as mercy s front. For men so long Cherished, forgiven, warned, and spared in vain, Twill neither warn nor spare. NOAH. Is Javan come ? FRIEND. Last night his horsemen signaled from the plain; An hour will bring him. NOAH. Bold was he to linger So far from home beneath the threat of Heaven. FRIEND. Sad news will wait him; he loved Irad dearly. NOAH. So did we all. Alas, the boy ! [Enter attendant.] ATTENDANT. My chief. NOAH. Your errand, sir? 4 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED ATTENDANT. An embassy from Nod. NOAH. From Nod to-day ! What irony works in heaven To send them here to-day? What mission draws them? Well, bring them hither. Will it not seem uncanny To treat with dying states on doomsday morning? FRIEND. And hear them roar as lions do, when, scratched With poison darts, they re doomed and know it not. [Enter Tubal-cain with a splendid retinue.] TUBAL. I bring you greetings from the land of Nod. NOAH. In the same will and temper we return them. Wherein can Noah serve the sons of Cain ? TUBAL. In yielding them their own, too long unclaimed. You hold a boy called Irad, one of us, Ten moons detained as hostage here, a boy Whom much we learned to love. We d have him back; And therefore am I come. NOAH. Is Irad yours Because Cain s daughter bore him, Cainite homes Misled his years till manhood? Nay, his sire Was my own brother, and his blood was ours. Nor held we him as hostage ; his free will AND OTHER POEMS 5 Made him prefer his father s people here, Adopted, not detained. And would to God I had no more to tell. TUBAL. Ay, so you say. Lies nestle green beneath a hoary beard Like wheat beneath a snowdrift. Bring him here; And see if, when the road lies open plain To Nod, he ll feel adopted. NOAH. Not so fast. Love held him here with golden threads ; now here Will j ustice chain him. Dread has been the fruit Of your ill schooling and his mother s blood. The curse of Cain has found his child through you. Enoch, my kin, is dead by him you seek. TUBAL. Yea, so we heard and therefore came. What then? Revenge is for the strong and not for you. Yield up the boy; or, by the serpent s head That lost us Eden, to-morrow you shall hear Our Cainite javelins rattling through your tents. A dreadful day twill be. NOAH. Dreadful indeed. Thou canst not dream what little cause have I To fear thy wrath to-morrow, nor what Arm Shall be my proxy working death on thee. Vaunt on ; I dread thee not. TUBAL. Then hark again. My horsemen hold a captive down below, Your youngest son, your Javan, taken but now, 6 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Surety for Irad s life. To-morrow s sun, If it see Irad on these hills with you, Sees Javan down with us. NOAH. To-morrow s sun See Javan there ! Eternal God forbid ! TUBAL. Or him or Irad ; choose. NOAH. Bring Irad hither. [Exit attendant.] FRIEND. Droop not; God works in this. Per chance last night We judged too gently; blood demandeth blood. NOAH. Let him not die red-handed ! Lord of Nod, How say you if the boy refuse to go, Of his own choice remain? TUBAL. In dreams I see him. NOAH. But if he do, shall Javan then be free ? TUBAL. If he do this, or if the burning stars Turn dancing eastward, then, and not before, Shall you keep both. FRIEND. Knew he what comes to-morrow He then were safe. NOAH. He knows not, yet may stay. Let God inspire his answer, God decide. [Enter Irad.] Irad, the people of the plains demand you; We d keep you still. Here part the ways: with them AND OTHER POEMS 7 The false, bright glamour glittering o er decay Which here you learned to loathe; with us long years Of penance hard and durance, but they form Repentant stairs to God. Though jailers we, Yet friends we are to save you from yourself. Make public choice between us. TUBAL. Choose, boy, choose. We ll back your choice up with our bones and brawn ; And here s my valid signet. (Drawing his sword.) Lad, you re pale. They give you watery diet. IRAD. No, I m well, And glad to see your grizzled face. But this, What s this that I must do? TUBAL. Our wines are flat Without the boy we miss. Come home with us. IRAD. What, now? TUBAL. Why not? What drowsy godliness Have you to pack? Come, share the wealth of friends. We feast the gods to-night. NOAH. Decide not rashly. Strange things you know not are astir to-day Might change your choice to-morrow. IRAD. Had you come 8 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED But yester-morning ! Blood since then has flowed, And made me conscience captive. TUBAL. Let it flow. We were not born to bleat like lambs, my lad ; And our o er-zealous friend harangued too long. Twas a good blow. IRAD. Yes, with a single stroke I ve killed one man and damned another. TUBAL. Tut, tut ! I have been damned for centuries and have thrived. IRAD. I beg an hour ere answering. TUBAL. What! so cool Between our love and dungeons ! NOAH. He is free, May go or stay. Send Javan now to us. Till then, my lord, you are our guest. TUBAL. I thank you. I ll take a nap and sleep away the time. Think on old ties, my boy, think on old ties, Who played with you, caroused with you, and stood Bestriding you in battle. You ll not find Their like in Noah s milk-and-water saints. I ll see you in an hour. [Exit Tubal-cain and retinue. Music.] NOAH. What strains are these? FRIEND. Hither they bring the dead for sunrise rite, Our last farewell. AND OTHER POEMS 9 NOAH (to Irad). Wilt thou withdraw? IRAD. I ll stay. But tell not Javan, add not his reproach. NOAH. He shall not know to-day. [Enter attendants with the body of Enoch.] Here lay him down. Weep not; he journeys to eternal God. All weakness which is flesh s heritage Falls down like ashes burnt ; and the clear fire, Through aether leaping, seeks the sun that gave it. Alas, my brother, yet rejoice. Farewell! [The Noahites move in procession around the bier, each laying a white wreath on it as he speaks.] FIRST NOAHITE. Farewell. SECOND NOAHITE. Farewell. THIRD NOAHITE. Farewell. FOURTH NOAHITE. Farewell. FIFTH NOAHITE. Farewell. SONG Where shall the champion rest, The brave, the eager, Who filled his Lord s behest In field and leaguer? 10 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED For him all j oys are blent, Long Sabbath keeping Soft in Jehovah s tent, Like children sleeping. More grand than stone could rear His tomb is founded, The sea that wraps the sphere, Blue and unbounded. Farewell ! Hard task have we New worlds restoring. Some day we ll rest with thee, Our God adoring. Where the great feast is spread And lamps are lighted, Shall we beyond the dead Be yet united. I RAD. And shall I also dare to say farewell ? Stern hast thou been, yet may st relent to know Who sent thee hence now mourns. Alas my deed ! So far from all I purposed ! Is it true That in my veins wells up the ancient curse ? Am I a thing at odds with life, akin To upas-tree and tiger ? Must the world Kill me or die by me ? In what far years Did my dead fathers rob their heirs of hope, Blasting their self-control? AND OTHER POEMS 11 [Enter Javan.~\ JAVAN. Where lies our dead? NOAH. Behold. JAVAN. Can heart so fiery be so still? Rash was thy tongue and stern, unhappy man, Which hath provoked too much some son of Cain. Forgive me that in life I j arred with thee. Rest happy and farewell. NOAH. Bear hence the dead. And, Javan, as thou lovest Irad well, Remain and speak with him. The Cainite lords Wait here to bear him back. [Exeunt all except Irad and Javan.] JAVAN. You play with us. You cannot think in earnest you will go. IRAD. Why not? The voice that calls the hom ing wren Calls me where I was born. Look down where stands Cain s ancient city, while the morning hush Descends on amphitheater, park, and dome. There lie my mother s and my father s graves ; There lives my grandsire, Jared, weak and old, Who calls for me in vain. There watches Adah, My love, abruptly, cruelly left by me. Shall these not draw me home ? JAVAN. All there is evil. Good with the good should bide, and you with us. 12 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED I RAD. Oh, never say that all in Cain is evil, That roseate glow in which prosaic life Grows beautiful, imperial, strong. To-night They hold their feast to Niloh, god of harvest. All barriers broken, there the joy of life Pours out in flood : all wealth of nature s realm, In fruit or blossom or enchanting wine, Or mystery of love, the whole night long Observed by happy youth; all wealth of art, Heaped up by lake or fountain, piled profuse In dome or gallery, pouring on the ear In melody to which in earth and star Breath universal moves. Is Niloh evil, Great source of life and life s romance as well? JAVAN. Yet ever at his name my father frowns. Wouldst thou that I should worship Niloh? IRAD. No. JAVAN. Why not, if he is good ? IRAD. He is not good. That I unsay; incarnate sin is he; But sin that makes all life enchanted ground. Tis virtuous winter here; and I d be gone, Like birds that migrate to the sunny south, To find where rapture dwells. JAVAN. Dwells it not here? Oh, yes, all beauty, joy of youth and bard, Untainted and eternal joy. But now, On yonder mountain, scratched along the stone, I found an old and rainbeat stave of song AND OTHER POEMS 13 Which legends tell that martyred Abel made. Men say he used to climb Niphates peak, From whence his eye looked like an eagle down On the Forbidden Garden. There he drew The beauty of the landscape through his soul Like breath through nostrils ; poured it out in song That made all life seem miracle. And more,, Emotion warm as day and vast as night, Lives musical among the sons of Seth. Stay here with me. You taught me first to know The joy of being. I ll teach you in turn To find it on our wild and healthful hills, Free as in yonder city. IRAD. So you might, Came memories not between. Last night I dreamed You stood and watched me through a bloody glass, And through that glass would watch me evermore, Seeing my face as hideous. JAVAN. What is this ? IRAD. A dream, no more. But dreams like this will come To break my rest, while here I wait and pine In the dull chill of unaccustomed ways, A tolerated alien. And in Nod Foams the rich wine that makes the heart forget. I ll mourn thee, Javan, more than thou wilt me; But go I must. JAVAN. Now by Jehovah, no ! 14 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED IRAD. Yea, lad; my will is fixed. We ve long been friends; But now tis parting time. J AVA N. So mad ! Then hear What still from thee we kept, a truth so dread To one whose friends and kindred dwell below I d fain conceal it still. When first you came Did not my father tell you earth was doomed? And that tremendous ship at anchor near, High on this mountain lake, a century s work, Know you not why he built it? IRAD. Yea, I know. Doomsday is coming; but tis years away; And I and mine may live, be glad, and die, Ere the great Deluge swell. JAVAN. Nay, there you err. Not years nor months nor even days, but hours Shall be your life in Nod. The time is now. Even at this moment God s avenging Flood Is gathering o er the nations. I RAD . You are mad ! JAVAN. Look westward where I point. Just visible Beyond those hilltops lies the ocean shore In the blue distance. Look, do you not see Strange clouds of smoky mist, that heavenward Roll from the deep, and pile themselves aloft Like rocks that soldiers pile on city walls To hurl upon invaders ? Breeze is none, AND OTHER POEMS 15 And still they stand. But with the night shall blow A western wind to drive them, dark with doom, O er earth, and pouring from their cup the sea. And hark ; with straining ear can you not catch From that same west a strange, deep, boding sound ? There crack the dykes of ocean ; there awakes, Reluctant from the sleep of centuries, A monster huger than leviathan, The dim, dread deep itself. The hour has come. To-day the race of Cain, the land of Nod, Rejoice at Niloh s knee. At dawn to-morrow Race, god, and country, all that glittering life, Its beauty, blasphemy, and glory, and sin, Shall pave the ocean bottom. There from the west, Where break the fountains of the deep, and loom The freighted clouds of judgment, even now Comes God to cleanse His world. IRAD. Eternal Powers ! JAVAN. At noon must all embark, the doors be sealed. And all on whom those doors shall close, all life, Man, bird, or animal, or crawling snake, Is doomed. You shall not go ! IRAD. Oh, stand aside! Leave me to my own thoughts ! [Javan withdraws to the side of the scene.] Is this a dream? 16 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED There s not one thing in field or town or air But seems as it hath seemed ten thousand times In life s untroubled course. The face of heaven, Oft called the countenance of the Living God, Appears one kindly smile. And far and near With such infectious confidence move on The race of men, what heart can help but feel With them that all is well ! Worlds should not die Puffed out like candles, blown away like mist. Yet one I trust declares it so from Heaven. O God, if God Thou art, is it not terrible To think old homes and ties, ancestral graves, Friends once beloved, those landmarks where our lives Took root and grew, should mix with ocean mud; And all we worshiped, loved, and lived for, be One blank of waters ! Never, never, never ! Heaven would not be so stern. Men mark alone The tilted scale ; God knows what mountain loads Of human goodness tugged the wavering beam With earth s tremendous guilt. It cannot be! Be merciful, be merciful, O God ! [He throws himself on his face and is silent. Then after a pause he speaks again.] Suppose it true, shall I in Noah s ark Crouch like a dog while friend and kinsman drown ? There watch the corpse of Adah drifting by, Her hair afloat like sea-weed, and her bosom AND OTHER POEMS 17 Nosed by the shark ; and when the Flood goes down, Serve aliens o er my dead, while from his toinb Enoch shall haunt my sleep? [Enter Tubal-cain.~] Oh, is it you? Come, brother spirit, you can laugh at death, Given or received. Come, and we ll laugh together. One whole long day of j oy is ours ; away ! JAVAN. Irad, where go you? IRAD. Where my people are. Into the joy of one last Niloh s feast, Into the night where dim oblivion dwells, And guilt has peace; where my hot murderer s heart May sleep as quiet as my great father Cain s ! Sorrow to sorrow calls, and crime to crime ; And theirs I am for earth and for all time ! [He rushes away.] TUBAL. His choice is made. Adieu. JAVAN. One question first. Enoch is dead. TUBAL. I know it. JAVAN. Know it ! How ? Were you his murderer? TUBAL. Think so if you will. I ll ne er object. 18 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED JAVAN (turning from him). His blood is on your soul. Forgive me, Irad, what I dared to think. (Calling) Wait, friend, one moment! TUBAL. Youngster, not so fast. You stir not hence a step till he is safe O er yonder boundary where my horsemen wait. JAVAN. Ruffian, I ll dog thy flight but he shall hear. TUBAL. Good friend, you are too young to loathe your life. Take my advice and bide on Noah s ground. There s danger yonder. JAVAN. What fiend made you so strong? TUBAL. He mounts and rides; they wait for me. Farewell. [Half draws his sword with a menacing gesture, and exit.] JAVAN. Gone, gone ! [Enter a Noahite.] NOAHITE. Is Irad fled? JAVAN. Fled to his doom. NOAHITE. God s will is hard. JAVAN. At friendship s call he dies. Shall I do less ? Look there ! Against the dawn How high towers Himenay o er the mountains round ! AND OTHER POEMS 19 Has God not said when seas o er mountains flowed On Himenay s peak the ark should find dry land ? NOAHITE. Even so. JAVAN. Enough ! A god might stand on tiptoe, And yet not reach its crest to pull you down. What think you, man? NOAHITE. How now? Your looks are wild. JAVAN. Go, bid them bring my horse. NOAHITE. Ride not to-day. At noon the doors are sealed ; when that is done Noah s own child might knock unheard. JAVAN. Be gone. I shall not knock after the doors are sealed. CURTAIN. ACT II. SCENE I. TIME. The eve of the Deluge. PLACE. The great square in the center of Cain s city. In the background is a statue of Niloh, the harvest god, "the reaper of delight." On one side are lofty buildings; on the other the grounds of a magnificent park. Beyond is a glimpse of the western horizon piled with strange looking clouds. The scene begins at twilight, but night gathers as it progresses. A crowd gradually forms around the pedestal of the statue. [Enter four gallants singing.] FIRST GALLANT. Come, gather, friends ; one more carouse, While stars benign in heaven house, And tinkling lyre and torch invite To taste the joy of Niloh s night. SECOND GALLANT. The darkened hours begin to bud On Time s old trunk for us to pull ; Enchantment warms the lover s blood; The vineyard s magic tide is full. AND OTHER POEMS 21 THIRD GALLANT. Deem not the gods forbid to drink The cup of joy they deign to brew; The throned immortals laugh and wink At what they would and would not view. FOURTH GALLANT. Waste not what Nature ne er renews; She ll warm no more the faded flowers, Nor offer twice what we refuse When life and lovely youth are ours. FIRST GALLANT. But remember before we part that you are all to come down to-morrow and share my villa in the hills. Everything which you wish shall be there at your disposal. Would you feast, we have loaded our tables with meats and wines. Would you hear musicians or see paintings, we have the best in Nod. Would you sail on the waters of Dreamland, we will launch you with lotus and poppy. Nay, if you wish, you may even find the roguish Loves playing at hide-and-seek in a corner. Gardens are there as pleasant as old Adam s Eden, and unlimited time before us to enj oy them. You ll come ? SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH GALLANTS. We ll not forget. SECOND GALLANT. Will the poet Iban be there? FIRST GALLANT. He joins us later. THIRD GALLANT. He is a genius, Iban. 22 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED FOURTH GALLANT. I preferred Bahran ; he had the fire. SECOND AND THIRD GALLANTS. Oh, no, Iban forever! What technique! FIRST GALLANT. We start at noon to-morrow. (It lightens in the west.) [They move on. Two corpses are borne in and halted before the shrine. Enter Javan and a Cainite.] CAINITE. There stands the shrine; there soon your friend must come. JAVAN. What dead are here? CAINITE. It is the poet Bahran. JAVAN. He looks like Irad. Oft my cousin praised him. Did Heaven love him that he died to-day, Or mark him first for wrath? What boy is this ? CAINITE. Did you not know? He was the prettiest lad. Bahran left wife and mistress, friend and home For love of him, adored him, hung their chamber With curtains worth a province, built sweet foun tains By which they lay together. JAVAN. Was their bond Pure or polluted? CAINITE. Let their foes inquire, AND OTHER POEMS 23 Their friends but say they loved. The boy died first. He had the fever ; Bahran watched with him ; And when he saw the form he loved grow cold, He killed himself. "Nor man nor woman more Shall share my love," he said, and speaking died, His arms around his playmate. JAVAN. Irad s Bahran. CAINITE. His home was like a palace, and his gardens The loveliest thing on earth ; a nation praised him. JAVAN. Where goes he now? CAINITE. All night to lie in state Within the dome. His funeral is to-morrow. Sad day twill be. Adieu. [Exit.] JAVAN. He looks like one Whose vice entombed a dead and nobler self. [He stands aside. Enter a man and woman.] MAN. Will you not yield ? It is the lovers hour. Clear trills the bird of love, and twinkling beams The orb of lovers. I have wooed you long. Why was this beauty given you ? Why to me This burning blood and power to taste delight ? WOMAN. I have a husband. MAN. So has many a woman. I know a fountain welling up in stone 24 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED As fair as you. Its waves are ever sweet, Though more than one has tasted. WOMAN. Ever sweet While tasted only. Should you plunge and wallow, Who d care to drink that gentle fountain then? Restrained delight is dearest. MAN. Not forever. WOMAN. To-night my husband and myself must watch In Niloh s worship; but, beloved, to-morrow Ah, then MAN. Oh, much will mean that word "to morrow" ! No eye shall see us where we re lying then, Nor any husband know. WOMAN. And now goodnight. How sweet is life ! And twill be doubly sweet To-morrow! (It lightens in the west.) [They pass on. Enter Irad.] JAVAN. My cousin Irad! IRAD. How, misguided boy ! What evil genius led your wanderings here To-night of all the years ? JAVAN. The name of friend. IRAD. Wilt share my fortunes, then, and fly with me? JAVAN. To earth s four windy corners, if you will. AND OTHER POEMS 25 I RAD. Look yonder where the mountains loom; up them We ll climb past ocean s reach. JAVAN. Nay, nay, not there. In three short days those puny peaks will be But rocks in ocean s bed. I ve risked my life To show a safer way. Tis yonder, see, Up Himenay s peak ; for there, as God has said, After the Flood the ark shall find dry land. IRAD. That way is long, the Deluge close. JAVAN. No more! Take that or nothing; lesser heights are death. [Enter Tubal-cain.] IRAD. You empty-handed too, nor found our friends ? TUBAL. They march in Niloh s column, this I learned. We ll wait it here and meet them ; better so. IRAD. I ve wasted golden hours in this pursuit We ill could spare, and traversed all the town, Home, hall, and council chamber. TUBAL. Well, be calm. Long absence weaned you from our life ; this tour Of high and low refreshed the faded lines, Renewed the picture. IRAD. Work of burning pencils Were not more vivid. Eager everywhere 26 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED The people trod each other s heels, as though There were a million morrows. TUBAL. Well, there are. IRAD. The lords in council voted richer hangings Around their hall. Near by were masons laying A castle s corner-stone. Beside the way I met three children gay as crickets dancing, Who, when I asked their cause of gladness, piped: "The holidays have come, the holidays Begin to-night." And one, a little maid, Whose face was like a blossom, cried, "To-morrow We ll gather Niloh s roses." Then a mother, With sunken face, but smiling, told a neighbor That now her griefs were done, her son, imprisoned Long years ago, would be released to-morrow. You would have thought the hoarded bliss of earth Was in that word "to-morrow." TUBAL. What s all this r IRAD. I ll let thee know at dawning. TUBAL. Hark, the music! Tis Niloh s trumpet that the choristers Are blowing as they march. Our friends are coming. [Enter in procession the priests of Niloh, led by the high pontiff. They are dressed in purple with golden ornaments, and as emblems carry broken fetters. Last in the procession moves the blind Jared, led by another priest. They AND OTHER POEMS 27 circle three times around the idol, singing to music. ] SONG We dwelt in the valley of thunder, And the Elohim sat on the edge ; The Heavens were holding us under, And the lightning came down like a wedge. And the cherubim, armored and sworded, Flew sentinel, dreadful to see ; While like misers we garnered and hoarded Life s treasure for ages to be. But Niloh came manteled in beauty Through the valley of woe and affright; He hewed down the thorn-tree of Duty, And planted the rose of Delight. Through pleasure exulting or tender He led us like monarchs released ; And he housed us pavilioned in splendor, And placed us forever at feast. Let our children from cycle to cycle Lament that their coffers are void; But though Eden is guarded by Michael, Despite him we ve lived and enjoyed. And our fame till the mountains are leveled, Like a cloud that the sunset has laved, Shall tell in what glory we reveled On the wealth that the ages had saved. 28 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED [Irad draws aside Jared and his companion, while tine other priests move on.] JARED. What voice is this I hear? Is it not Irad? IRAD. Ten moons you heard it not. Is it so dear You know it now? JARED. Ah, boy, these blind old eyes Have wept thee many an hour. IRAD. Your blessing, sir. JARED. All Niloh s joys and length of years be thine. PRIEST. Your face makes summer in an old man s life. You ll feast with me to-night ? IRAD. Your pardon, sir; I ve other work. PRIEST. A-ha! this other work! Young blood, young blood! I have been young, and known What Niloh gave, the wondrous body of youth. I am not jealous. Tis a sightly night; Dark clouds along the west, but clear above. How dim the stars are! What s that light that burns Behind Orion yonder? TUBAL. There s another Off to the north, and eastward gleams a third. AND OTHER POEMS 29 PRIEST. They come and go. There shines another out, As if a window opened in the sky And closed again. JAVAN. Adown the south they gleam Like rents in burning walls that part and totter ! PRIEST. What mean these silent fires in open heaven ? TUBAL. Now I was ever a cheery augur, man. I deem the gods, carousing in the sky, Are sprawled in ecstasy, upsetting round Celestial torch and cresset. And if so, Why, well do what we please, and drowsy Heaven Be none the wiser. JAVAN. That s a daring jest! TUBAL. Nay, Sethite; thought so reverent never lit Thy dingy brain, devising gods of whey. Where the Great Reaper, girt with lambent life, In life s wild maelstrom which his pulses share, Reels on through nodding heaven and rushing star, There is a deity, an existence there Which scorns your pap and swaddling laws divine ! PRIEST. The western wind blows keen. O er Noah s hill How black the tempest heaves ! TUBAL. I m still perverse. That biggest cloud, just o er the central peak, 30 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Appears a giant cask,, that jovial gods Would stave o er earth in oceans. IRAD - Hark, the music ! [Enter a chorus of Bacchants. They wear gar lands in which bunches of grapes are entwined with lotus leaves and the flowers of the opium poppy. In their hands some carry goblets of wine, others leaves of lotus or heads of poppy. They circle around the idol, singing.] SONG Which has more power, And who shall determine? Fruitage and flower, Or king in the ermine ? Which has more use To heighten life s meaning, Petal and juice, Or gold of thy gleaning? Wrapped in the rind, Instilled in the stamen, More in its kind Than fighter or flamen; Stored in the stem, Enclosed in the anther, Fairer than gem, And fiercer than panther; AND OTHER POEMS 31 Deeps of desire And manhood amassing,, Focused like fire On the hour that is passing; Doomed by decree, And falsely forbidden, Here is the key Of the hoard that was hidden. Bards beyond count Till ages are hoary, Fed from the fount, Shall sing of its glory. A BACCHANT. Tis Irad. Welcome, welcome back to Nod ! BACCHANTS. Ho, Irad, Irad, join the dance with us! IRAD. No, not to-night. Comrades, farewell, farewell ! [The chorus moves on. Enter a conspirator, ap proaching Javan,~\ CONSPIRATOR. Hist, brother. JAVAN. Who are you? CONSPIRATOR. Nay, be not strange. What will the morning prove? JAVAN. A thing of dread. CONSPIRATOR. Then he you are to whom they sent me here. 32 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED It works apace. All s ready, all in train; Your trumpet blown will throw a kingdom down. JAVAN. When so? CONSPIRATOR. At sunrise ; thus tis understood. JAVAN. At sunrise be it. CONSPIRATOR. Then we ll meet again. Laugh, giddy crowd. From mendicant to king, None dream but us of what the morn will bring. Speed, hours of night ; for while ye hold the sky We are but men, as men may fail and die. But soon will dawn the wished for day, and we Be lords of all the land our eyes can see. [He moves on. Enter a chorus of poets and artists of all kinds. They bear various instruments of their different callings. In their midst on a splendid litter they carry Adah, enthroned as the Goddess of Beauty and Pleasure. They circle the idol and sing.] SONG Wherefore should art Upon conscience be founded, Searching the heart Like an ocean unsounded? Why should it point To a path for pursuing, Vainly anoint Eyes weary of viewing? AND OTHER POEMS 33 Art is divine But softer and sweeter, Lovely in line, And mystic in meter; Waking the nerve O er the wisdom that slumbers, Graceful of curve, And noble in numbers. Bound in its mesh Is the fay that was fleeing, Joy of the flesh And beauty of being. Life in its bowl To a drop it condenses, Lulling the soul, And charming the senses. Vainly the years Would banish or bind it ; Deep it inheres, And the future shall find it. [Adah descends and places her tiara on the knee of Niloh. The chorus kneel while she does so, and then move on. As Adah turns away from the statue she meets Irad.~\ ADAH. Whence comest thou unlocked for ? IRAD. Lo, I m kneeling And weeping, Adah. Thou art pale. How far I sinned in flight from what I deemed as sin! 34 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED ADAH. Art thou returned? Why didst thou leave me so? IRAD. I ll tell thee later, but forgive me now. ADAH. From what fair daughter of the race of Seth Com st thou to me for change? I RAD - No woman s face Has filled my heart but thine. Thy only rivals Were dreams that now are dead. Wilt thou for give me? ADAH. What else can woman do ? Too well you know Our hearts are clay where yours are hammered steel. IRAD. Are these hot drops that tremble on my cheek Like metal plummets ? Do my warm lips feel Like chilling iron? JARED. Clasp each other close. Tis Niloh s night, and Niloh s blessing falls On love and lovers. I m a gray old stump, But in my children s joy my youth reblossoms. [Enter a procession of young men and women marching in couples chained together with flowers, and accompanied by little children dressed as Loves. They circle around the idol, and sing.] AND OTHER POEMS 35 SONG Why should the bee Become bound if it settle, Whose flight might be free From petal to petal? Why should the pear Fall fresh and untasted ? Or unbreathed be the air Round the jasmine, and wasted? Why should we thirst Among fountains for quaffing? Why two be accurst When both might be laughing? Why was the sun Made common and cheering If light we should shun, Or feed on it fearing? Strength may decay, But its uses are over; The puny can play, And the least be a lover. God is ensealed In the peach, as its Former; But more sweetly revealed In what s rounder and warmer. Hosts have no hire, And archers are idle, While Youth and Desire Go marching to bridal. 36 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE MEN. Ho, Irad, Irad, clasp thy love and come ! THE WOMEN. Come,, Adah, come! Ten moons thy life was cold Because thou loved st one, and he is here. The night is Niloh s; clasp thy love and come! IRAD. Stern gods forbid. Playmates, farewell, farewell ! JAVAN. Let us go hence ! God comes at dawn. IRAD. Yea, true. Grandfather, Tubal-cain, draw near to me. Tis Niloh s night when he is lord supreme; His slightest breath we must obey as law. But now, delivered through his aged priest, To me his summons came. He bids us all, Before his hour is past, in pilgrimage To seek his temple on Mount Himenay, A rite that all should do, that never yet Our family have done. Our horses wait All ready saddled, and the god commands. Our servants are at hand, all things prepared. Let us be gone. JARED. Ha, ha, impulsive boy! Is Adah s heart so hard to reconcile, Her love so unlike others, nought will serve But holiest ground ; and we must post all night To find what s here at home? Come, lad, I m old, Unfit for such wild gallops. Niloh s orders, AND OTHER POEMS 37 Oh, well, I know him; he s a kindly god; He ll wink and laugh. Be reasonable, stay here. IRAD. I have a litter borne on horses near For you and Adah. Come ! ADAH. Wait here till morning. We ll travel warm in sunlight where the road Winds high above the sightly earth, and look For miles below us. All the land will be One glorious picture in the light to-morrow. We d lose all this at night. IRAD. Twill be a picture No, let that rest. Oh, haste! What comes ere dawn Would justify a hundred times as much. TUBAL. A storm is blowing up ; look over there. Twill strike us now before we reach the mountain. Stay here by j oily fires and good dry halls ; Who d wander drenched among the rainy woods Such nights as this will be? JARED. Feel how the wind Is rushing from the west. My aching bones Do prophesy an evil night for them. There comes the thunder. JAVAN. What a flash was that ! It looked as if the floor of heaven were split, And eyes could peer beyond. ADAH. What lights are those Which move like spreading cracks along the sky ? There s something strange abroad. O Irad, stay ! 38 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED IRAD. By heaven, I ve reasons such as ne er were man s. We race with death. On, ere that tempest come ! TUBAL. We are not children; give us reasons why, And I ll ride with you to the devil s jaws. Without them I ll not budge. IRAD. Are we alone? TUBAL. No soul but us. IRAD. Then listen. As I reached the town to-day, Kneeling in Niloh s temple to make prayer For my success, twas the hour, Tubal-cain, When you had left me on your own affair, The high priest saw me there, and drawing me Apart behind the altar said: "Young man, I love your family well, and this you know ; But there are others here whose hate to you Is deep as is my love. In Niloh s name I order you and yours on pilgrimage To Himenay s top ; and see that you be gone Before the midnight ring. If here you stay, I say not whether wrath of gods or men, But something you must fear." JARED. Ah, there it is. I ve watched them creeping into coil; and now They d strike on Niloh s eve. Well, well, we ll go. Better the rain a-patter on our heads Than daggers in our ribs. AND OTHER POEMS 39 TUBAL. Yes, get to horse ! To-night well ride for life ; but red will be Our reckoning when the fatal see-saw turns. JARED. Are we provisioned for a siege like this ? TUBAL. The stores of years are in the temple vaults. I RAD. On, on! for fast and dread are those behind ! [Exeunt] CURTAIN. SCENE II. TIME. Somewhat later on the same night. PLACE. A ferry at the foot of Mount Himenay. [Enter Javan, an attendant, and the ferryman.] ATTENDANT. Here lies the landing; here the rest must gather. We ll hunt no more through night and mud; wait here. FERRYMAN. Then more are coming? ATTENDANT. We lost them in the dark. Have you a boat to ferry us to the mountain? FERRYMAN. It lies below. JAVAN. Go you and see it ready. I ll wait them here. [Exeunt attendant and ferryman.] Whom wait I ? What are these, My cousin s people? Is he one with them, A part of that I ve seen? From what wild forces Arose a world so beauteous and so bad ? Where, where and what am I, and what the future That waits for me and Irad, drifting far From safe tradition o er uncharted seas? God of my fathers, reach me down Thy hand, That I may clasp it in the night. I fear. AND OTHER POEMS 41 [Enter an overseer of the farming district and a merchant.] Is Irad come? Are ye his followers? MERCHANT. Nay. OVERSEER. Nay, if by Irad you mean lord Irad of the great city, we come even now from discard ing his livery. Many a year these estates were his and his mother s before him. They have nourished his pleasures well, though they never saw his face. Now his reign is out; let them serve the pleasures of others. JAVAN. These, then, are Irad s lands ? MERCHANT. They were, sir, but are no longer. For all these ancestral acres his claim is forfeited. At sunrise they re mine. OVERSEER. You will find them sadly dilapidated. Nowadays men drive estates, like horses, till they drop. Present gain, present gladness, that s all they think of; and the accounts of the future may be settled by the poor devils who re born then. MERCHANT. Well, sir, why should not the men of the future pay the bills of the future ? OVERSEER. Because, saving your worship, the world doesn t go that way. Our fathers laid foun dation for our prosperity; and if we lay none for our sons, who shall? MERCHANT. If our fathers worked so hard to make us happy, heaven forbid that we should dis- 42 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED appoint them. The toil of their vine-dressing effer vesces in our wines ; the sweat of their masons floats in cool breezes through our summer villas ; the ach ing eyes of their weavers have made the couch of my mistress downy. Every pleasure which I deny myself means that a day s work of some ancestor was done for nothing. OVERSEER. Think of these roads they built, these dams and granaries of hewn stone. We use them while they last, and, instead of repairing them, spend our surplus on baths and pavilions. Yonder our fathers ditched morasses into meadows; and now the children gulp down the profits and let the meadow sink back into a morass. They are so busy squandering money in midnight banquets that they cannot stop for mending a rotten sluice to preserve the patrimony of their children. MERCHANT. Tis meadow yet; twill last our lifetime. (Aside to Javan.) But tap one of these ancient barrels with hoary cobwebs around its chin, and out spurt the praises of "the good old days." (Aloud.) You have a wide variety here in your farming. OVERSEER. We raise everything which the mar ket demands; all kinds of drugs, from lotus and poppy for making your friend happy to hemlock and strychnine for making your enemy sad; wines and sauces in abundance; and all these other new fangled notions which, after a thousand years of AND OTHER POEMS 43 comfort, men have suddenly discovered to be neces sities of life. Also our hillsides rear boys and women, though they grow not on stalks; but that lucrative industry is a special perquisite of others than the landlord. JAVAN (aside). Is this the tillage which re places the sweet gums and orchards of Eden? (Aloud.) What parodies of humanity come here? [Enter six laborers. ] OVERSEER. Yonder men are laborers on the estate. MERCHANT. What a dog s life is that ! Why do these fools persist in living when they re so cadav erous that the light shines through them? OVERSEER. For the same reason that your fine nobles persist in living when their nerves are so racked with feasting that hell squirms through them. JAVAN. What work can so deface the body God made ? OVERSEER. No two have the same. The first works in the poppy fields ; the second s a mason on the new villa ; the third raises herbs for a sauce ; the fourth cultivates silkworms for ladies mantels; and the last two serve the cause of art. JAVAN. How so? OVERSEER. One of them quarries out marble for 44 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED our finest sculptors, and the other forges metal for the best harps in the city. JAVAN. Did they ever see statue or hear harp ? OVERSEER. They see nothing but work and hear nothing but threats. How else should I raise my lord s revenue? JAVAN. And how long do they last before nature takes pity on them? OVERSEER. Some three years, some five. There are plenty more when these are gone. MERCHANT. I confess that I am never more happy than in the presence of these wretches; for then, like one whose fortunes are safe while another s are burning, I thrill with the sense of my own blessedness. What says the song of Bahran? Life that is pink in the sky and the maiden s cheek, And the peach when it flowers, Life that has tasted much and has more to seek, Is ours, is ours. What the grudging old gods had meant for the many, distills Its bliss for the few. The vineyards and fruits that grow on a thousand hills Are for me and you. Leave the bird in the net, And the bud o er the scythe; Let the laborer sweat, AND OTHER POEMS 45 And the sufferer writhe; To the camel his load, To the Sethite his code ; But the dream of the magic herb, and our myrtle bowers, Where we eat of the substance of others, are glad, and forget, All that Old Eden possessed, and what Eden ne er showed, Are ours, are ours. Well, let us go in. There s a fearful storm mustering overhead; pray heaven it hurt not my crops or buildings ! OVERSEER (moving away, while a faint gleam of light gives his face a momentary likeness to a death s-head). I will report, sir, in the morning, that we may take a survey of your new property together. [Exeunt overseer and merchant.] JAVAN. What men are these, whose rustic cots have life Wondrous and wicked as the town s itself? [He sits down in a small arbor which conceals him from the center of the scene.] The fatal hours run on, yet wherefore fear? Things worse there are than death, that threaten here. 46 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED FIRST LABORER. Ugh! I m tired. SECOND LABORER. Rain coming. THIRD LABORER. Let it come. FOURTH LABORER. Give me a mouthful. I ve no food. FIRST LABORER. Not I. SECOND LABORER. Nor I. THIRD LABORER. Every man for himself. FOURTH LABORER. No drink either? I m faint. FIRST LABORER. None to spare. FOURTH LABORER. I ve worked day and night. SECOND LABORER. Who hasn t? FOURTH LABORER. One drink, as you d like it yourself. THIRD LABORER. Not I. Will your guzzling wet my gullet? FIFTH LABORER, Wild night up there. SIXTH LABORER. What s the difference to us ? FIRST LABORER. We work, rain or shine. SECOND LABORER. Look there. (Shows broken hand.) THIRD LABORER. Well, what of it ? SECOND LABORER. That s what we masons have to work with. FIRST LABORER. That s nothing. Look what we do. FIFTH LABORER. Raise lotus and poppies? FIRST LABORER. Break men s backs to put gentlemen dreaming. AND OTHER POEMS 47 FOURTH LABORER. Got any lotus ? FIRST LABORER. Some I stole. No, you don t get it. THIRD LABORER. And we kill ourselves to make a sauce. SIXTH LABORER. What for? THIRD LABORER. To make gentlemen hungry. FOURTH LABORER. Let them fast. SECOND LABORER. Not they; they re always feasting. THIRD LABORER. And the sauce keeps them healthy and hungry. FIFTH LABORER. Yes, and poor men starve a year to get them one meal of birds tongues. THIRD LABORER. That what you do ? FIFTH LABORER. Not now. Working in quarry. See there. (Shows scars.) SIXTH LABORER. Stone for building? FIFTH LABORER. No, statues. FOURTH LABORER. One leaf of poppy? FIRST LABORER. Get out! Can t you earn your own supper? FOURTH LABORER. I ought to. I work hard enough. FIRST LABORER. Doing what? FOURTH LABORER. Weaving silk mantels. I m going blind at it. SIXTH LABORER. So am I. SECOND LABORER. What, working in the forge? 48 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED SIXTH LABORER. Yes, the glare burns my eyes. THIRD LABORER. Ugh, I dreamed I was a lord last night. FIRST LABORER. The more fool you. THIRD LABORER. Kept others working while I feasted. Twas fine. FIFTH LABORER. Dreams go by contraries. THIRD LABORER. Thought I got angry and killed two of them. SIXTH LABORER. Look out or they ll kill you. SECOND LABORER. Much he d care or any of us. FIRST LABORER. That s right. What good s life to us? FOURTH LABORER. If I could only go to sleep to-night and know I d never wake up again, I d be happy. SIXTH LABORER. So would I. THIRD LABORER. Only I wish the rich could die too to make things even. FIFTH LABORER. No hope of that. Come, we ll crawl off to our kennels. SIXTH LABORER. And to work again in the morning. [Exeunt laborers. Enter Irad, Tubal-cain, Adah and ferryman.] FERRYMAN. Be not angry, sir ; tis a slight delay. We had not dreamed that any would tempt the ferry to-night. AND OTHER POEMS 49 TUBAL. Sit down, man, and be calm. We have driven as if Panic were our jockey. Your lunatic haste will mean nothing but final delay. To brain our guide for misleading us, that is a hopeful way of making speed. IRAD. Ah, you know not what Terror pursues me. But indeed I meant not to kill him. FERRYMAN. Step within, sirs, and be sheltered. The boat will be here in a moment. [Exeunt all except Irad and Adah. They seat themselves near the arbor, in which Javan remains unseen.] IRAD, Nay, Adah, stay with me ; this bench for us. Love keeps apart and private. Twine our fingers. We plunge in darkness ; and we ll feel, like children, Less frightened hand in hand. ADAH. How black it grows, How wild o erhead ! Strange air for Niloh s night. Thy flesh is cold that should be warm with love. Is t weariness or fear? IRAD. Press closer, love ; Let thy warm bosom beat away my fear. What think st thou, Adah if our death be nigh, Is life beyond the grave? ADAH. Oh, far beyond Our quick, warm youth the grave. Why should we vex 50 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Our soul for what s beyond that dim beyond? Here grow the flowers of love to-night, and thus I pluck them while they bloom. I RAD. May they be green In memory long. But sleepless visions here, Upleaping from the downy present, pace The cold, dark, echoing future. ADAH. Morbid fancies. Recall that nursery rime the children sing: The present is a festal bark, In which we float o er waters dark. While in the present still we dwell The banquet waits and all is well. When from the present forth we leap We drown in ocean strange and deep. We ll change our theme. My too forgetful lover Did never ask me how the moments fled When he was absent. IRAD. Let me hear thee tell; Twill charm my gloom away. ADAH. Long every hour Unshared with thee, and sad. I never knew How mournful harp and flute, how empty seem The marble hallway and the echoing stair Till then. And waking lonely, I have often Clasped the cold moonlight reaching out for thee, Pressed my warm bosom on the chilly paving, AND OTHER POEMS 51 And buried in the unresponsive night The kiss that begged return. IRAD. No more thou shalt ; Forgive me, love. Were all thy kindred kind? Were wealth and comfort yours ? ADAH. Unbounded wealth, All ancient Elmin owned ; for Elmin s dead, And we his heirs. IRAD. Old age has claimed him then? ADAH. It might be age, or else an ointed gown My brother gave him when he lived too long. I never asked, not I. You shudder, dear; Is it the damp night wind? IRAD. No, no, go on. ADAH. But bitter twas to watch the love of others, Happy while I was loveless ; when dim night Barred out the world s intrusion, to remember What was and what might be. Eldanah s palace Lay next to ours. He and his gentle lady Were glad as once were we. IRAD. Did not Eldanah, For so I heard, wed his own daughter? ADAH. Yes. Why not ? Tis common now. They grew together Like bough and bud. Heaven willed it. IRAD (aside). Did it so? And what said Noah then, and Noah s God ? 52 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED ADAH. True love was that. They prized each other dearly; And when he perished, murdered, none know how, His daughter pined and died, and sleeps with him. IRAD. Know st thou what Noah would have told thee, Adah, Had he but heard? ADAH. I half believe I know. IRAD. He would have said like breath from charnels blew Through thy dear lips the life that God forbade ; And, quoting God, had told what murder means, And incest; what dread ripples roll from them, Which make them crime. He d ask how you so calmly Could plaster o er the stain of blood, and paint The bridal blush on love s unnatural leer. ADAH. And would his whilom pupil say it too ? IRAD. I might, but words are breath. ADAH. Hast thou unlearned Thy former life ? Hadst thou been Elmin s heir, Poor, one old man between thy hopes and thee, And he the man of men thy soul did hate, Here tedious prose and his triumphant sneer, And there delight and revel and revenge, Would Elmin live? Couldst thou not hear the call Of life and freedom summoning to enjoy? Already thou hast heard it, at its call Shed Enoch s blood, as others that of Elmin. AND OTHER POEMS 53 [Javan starts violently.] Or had I been thy daughter, dear as now, Would st thou inquire what fountain poured the wave That cooled thy thirst? Oh, you have learned by heart Some parrot words; but look on life itself As these beheld it ; glad are Elmin s heirs, Sweet was Eldanah s love. Wilt thou recant The creed of years ? Canst thou not feel as I ? IRAD. And if I could, God give me strength to keep That feeling ever dumb! ADAH. Again you shudder, As though with fear. IRAD. Know you the fairy tale We heard as children, how a mermaid dwelt With men till she grew human? But one day, On the blue edge of ocean, while she heard Its far^ unearthly music calling, calling, The strange old longing of the deep came back, And drew her downward, half as mermaid longing For that dim fatherland, and half as mortal Afraid to drown. And while she felt the waters Roll deeper, deeper as they claimed her, then She shuddered too. ADAH. But yet became a mermaid. IRAD. No, there the story halted. If I tell it To son of mine, how shall I end it, how? 54 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED [Unnoticed by them, Javan steals from the arbor, and moves to the other side of the scene, where he meets an attendant.] JAVAN. Are you lord Irad s man ? ATTENDANT. I am. JAVAN. I pray you, If he shall ask you for a friend called Javan, Tell him these words of mine : There is a legend That Lucifer and Michael love each other, But never meet nor can, so clash and jar The adverse worlds in which they move; and I Love Irad ever, but we meet no more. Goodby. I ride for Noah s mountain. ATTENDANT. Stay, My youthful lord. The night is wild ; ere dawn Streams will be freshets and the bridges lost. You risk your life to go. JAVAN. I dare not stay. If fortune aid me I shall live to-morrow. But if I die, and future ages know Three sons of Noah only, better that Than what is here. Forget not thou my message. [He moves on and vanishes in the darkness. Enter Tubal-cain and ferryman.] TUBAL. The boat is ready. But by my advice Here shall we bide. I never viewed a sky Like that to westward. Come but here and look. AND OTHER POEMS 55 Earth seems not earth beneath it. Here are herds men, Who swear the sea is loose, and tidal waves Abroad on inland plains. Hark ! was that thunder, Or earthquake s rumble? FERRYMAN. Yonder cloud will burst, A liquid avalanche. Mark the sapling crouch, The lake blown into white-caps. Rushing mist Rides up the peak before us. You are mad To journey further. IRAD. Those are mad who stay. Death gallops fast behind our heels. Away! (Exeunt.) CURTAIN. ACT III. TIME. The small hours of the morning on the same night. PLACE. A cave part way up Mount Himenay. It is dark, save for the faint gleam of lightning that comes through the entrance. A fearful uproar, though somewhat muffled, is heard from without. A narrow passage winds back into further recesses of the cave ; and from here comes the noise of fighting and dying groans. Enter Mizraim from the passage, as if in fear. He hides in a cleft of the rock. Enter a wounded man, who falls with a groan and dies. The noise within grows less, and is wholly lost in the roar of the storm. Then enter from without Irad carrying Adah, Tubal-cain, Jared carried by servants f and several attendants. ] IRAD. Hello! OTHERS. Hello ! IRAD. A cave. Turn in and halt. AN ATTENDANT. This rain is more than human strength can bear. It weighs us down like pushing hands. My god ! How good it seems to rest ! Will nothing lift This blinding bandage of the night? AND OTHER POEMS 57 TUBAL. A torch. Be careful there ; the wind will blow it out. IRAD. More torches, quick, beneath this boulder s lee. Hold one above her face ; I think she swooned. Stand over it ; the air comes eddying down, And makes it flare. AN ATTENDANT. It blows a hurricane. ANOTHER ATTENDANT. What awful medley of unearthly sounds Is that keeps rolling from the plain below Through this blind horror? Oh, for one short glimpse Of what earth looks like now ! The very flashes Are drowned in rain, one solid mass of blackness. What s that which happens down below? Who tells? IRAD. Here, fold my cloak together for her pillow, And give me yours to wrap her. Bring some wine. She stirs; her eyes are opening. ADAH. Where am I? IRAD. Safe here with me ; we re on Mount Him- enay. ADAH. Is the rain ended? IRAD. No, we re in a cave. JARED. Hark, Irad, Tubal-cain, do you not hear Through all the rushing of the storm, and splash Of driving water ? Hark, what sounds are those ? 58 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED I RAD. You re happy not to know. TUBAL (going to the entrance). More fast and keen It lightens; now well tell what floods are loose. There comes a flash would light the ocean bed Through solid brine, and shows JARED. What, what? (No answer.) Speak, man. IRAD (going to entrance). All black again. I ll tell you when it comes. JARED. There, there! That peal was like a crashing world. You must have seen* (Pause.) Speak, Irad, where are you? IRAD. I m at thy side; and, as for what I ve seen, Bless Heaven that made thee blind. JARED. Thy voice is hollow, Like breath from Horror s chamber. Where s thy hand ? Tis Irad s hand. Go on. IRAD. Before I fled From Noah s tent, they told me, and confirmed, No matter how, that that dread God of theirs, Incensed at earth for His neglected shrine, Prepared to-night to drown the world. I fled ; And with such frail excuse as time allowed By lies have led you up this mountain peak, And saved you so. For know that Noah s God Has kept His word. Already fathoms deep, AND OTHER POEMS 59 And deeper every moment, whirl the floods O er Nod and all its people. JARED. You are mad! Speak, friends, where are you all? It cannot be. Oh, for one hour of blessed sight to know What things and whom to trust ! IRAD. Can you not hear? Is that dread sound that slowly gathering grows Aught that you ever heard in life before? TUBAL. Tis true, old man. What forces are at work Let priests inquire ; but all the world is sea. ADAH. Where art thou, Irad ? What alarms you all? IRAD. Say nothing yet. {To Adah.) Rest, dear, we all are safe. Tis a wild night, and tragic things, I fear, Have happened elsewhere; but they touch not us. ADAH. The hour of love has rung. We ll build our bower In some dim grotto winding far within. Hast thou forgot what hallowed night is this, Made doubly dear by waiting? IRAD. Nay, but years Remain for that; postpone all pleasure now. O Adah, this has been a fearful night; And dying groans are floating up the sky As thick as rain. ADAH. But we, we are alive. 60 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED IRAD. I m sick at heart. Nay, Adah, talk no more Of love to-night, but tend me as a nurse, That, lapsing back to childhood, I may lose All memory of the present. ADAH. What strange mood Is this on Niloh s eve ? Yet have your will, For, truth, your eyes are lit with fever s gleam. Untimely thoughts are there, like stars of night In wells at noonday. Rest, 111 be thy nurse. \Tubal-cain in examining the cave discovers Miz- raim. ] TUBAL. Who s here? MIZRAIM. Oh, mercy, grant me mercy, sir! TUBAL. Come here and show your face. A stripling boy. Why skulk these dainty limbs in such a den On night as wild as this ? MIZRAIM. But spare my life. TUBAL. Perhaps I will when thou canst show me cause. March here between the torches, full in view, In our mid circle. Throw thy weapon down. And now be prompt and pointed when I ask. First then, your name. MIZRAIM. Mizraim. TUBAL. Your parents who ? AND OTHER POEMS 61 MIZRAIM. None know but Niloh, from whose rites I sprung. TUBAL. A goodly pedigree, yea, common too In our abstemious race. How came you here? MIZRAIM. I marched among the rebel host of late. And when our army broke and scattered wide Before Togarmah, here the remnant fled, A handful merely. Here the others died This very night, and I was left alone. TUBAL. How died they all? MIZRAIM. In quarrel o er the spoil, Which rose at feast when heads were hot with wine. Perhaps you doubt my word ; then come with me Down yonder passage. There youll find them all Still palpitating, warm, nay, some in whom Yet lingers life. TUBAL. Go on, I follow thee, My knife against thy neck. Deceive me not. [Exeunt Tubal-cain and Mizraim.~\ IRAD. Draw back in darkness. ADAH. Why unsheathe your blade, And point your j avelin at that line of light ? The dead are harmless. IRAD. And the living, liars. Behind me, love ; I would not for the world Have ill betide thee. ADAH. Thou art brave and strong; 62 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED And Tubal-cain is of the giants old. Why need we fear? IRAD. I fear not for myself. God bless thee, Adah. Ne er till danger s hour Knew I how dear I held thee. Here they come. [Re-enter Tubal-cain and MizraimJ\ TUBAL. Well, such is human folly. There they lie Amid the wealth they died for, piled like logs In rotten woodlands, every fool in turn A murderer and a victim. JARED. All are dead? TUBAL. Some dead, some dying, all past mischief now. IRAD. Methought I heard them groan. Twere mercy s part To ease their dying hours. TUBAL. Nay, let them lie ; They re nought to us. Now, sir, come here again. I fought with those before Togarmah s fort, Your adversary there. What blight came down To shrivel up your fine array so fast ? We looked defeat in the face ; and, presto ! change ! Our dread snow-man had melted. MIZRAIM. Those rich valleys Were too indulgent for a soldier s life. And drinking deep all joys of nature there, We lost our pith and edge; found pleasure soft, AND OTHER POEMS 63 Ambition hard and foolish; passed the word From ear to ear, till our whole host became A martial farce, a flimsy, painted cloth, Which war s first rumor blew to tatters. TUBAL. So. A set of puny boys, whom pleasure melts Like ice in August. We old veterans, too, We had our joys; but we could stand the pace. Yet, half our army being young like you, Had you but charged that night instead of fleeing, You had found us rotten ramparts. Such is life. W T ell, sit you there. Well give you orders later. IRAD. Is this the nation of the giants, Nod, Whose armies, like colliding thunder-clouds, Jarred earth in meeting ? Have we fallen to this ? TUBAL. Oh, we have warriors yet can whack a helmet, Old hoary-heads; but these green boys are fog. Just sixty years ago that very field Saw such a shocking where our armies clashed As would have stunned them with its noise alone. [Enter from without Iban and several revelers.~\ I BAN. If ye be men whom e er compunction touched, Beauty, or love of art, receive us kindly. I am the poet Iban, these my friends, Shipwrecked but now against this mountain s base, 64 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Half dead from bruising rock and pounding wave, And rain that weighs like lead. IRAD. Tis he himself. Welcome, old friend, familiar faces here You see, and kindred bosoms. IBAN. Praise the gods ! What, Irad, Tubal-cain, can this be true? The muses guard their own. TUBAL. Sit down, sit down. You re white and pant like deer. IBAN. Have ye a fire? I ve ocean dripping from my back; and all The clouds of heaven have soaked me. IRAD. Nought but torches. MIZRAIM. So please you, sir, within the further cave Is fuel plenty. Only give the word, This crevice was our fireplace. IRAD. Quickly then. [Mizraim brings out fuel from within and starts a fire.] IBAN. What boy is that? IRAD. Last of a bandit gang ; The rest have killed each other. IBAN. What s his future? Do you adopt him ? IRAD. Twas but now we found him. AND OTHER POEMS 65 TUBAL. Nay, no adopting waif and stranger here To load us down. We ll use his wits to-night, To-morrow end him. JARED. Ay, the simplest way. We ve servants all we need. IRAD. Now God forbid ! Is he not human, feeling joy and grief To which our natures echo, kindred man ? TUBAL. Why, yes, he has a heart, a pair of lungs, Like us or wolves or jackals. What of that? He ll profit nought to me ; if you enj oy him, Why, keep him then. JARED. Twill be another mouth. Why stint our guests and us for God knows who ? IRAD. Is there no joy in grateful eyes, no pang In dying groans, when dreams identify Our lives with those we mold? TUBAL. Why should there be? This comes from Noah, sounds like old wives tales Of amputated stumps and aching limbs. IBAN. Ay, Noah s folly. Sweeter far is love When focused warm, intense in narrow ring, Than thus diffused. TUBAL. "Glad homes," the proverb says, "Are lined with love and moated round with blood." IBAN. Friend, favorite, mistress, these are magic words ; 66 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Outside, what matters ? Yet this boy is fair ; And beauty is too rare and hardly won For reckless usage. Let us keep him still. JARED. Ay, now you mention it, his step is light, And soft his voice as woman s. Fair, you say. Would I could see him. TUBAL. Ah, our reverend friend Begins to feel the spell of Niloh s mount. JARED. Come hither, lad. (Mizraim ap proaches.) Thou rt comely, I am told. The only eyes which blindness has are these, That yet would view thy beauty. {Feels his face.) Every line Like chiseled marble ; and this healthy warmth Declares the blush of youth. I like thee well. What say st thou, lad? Wilt thou be friends with me, The solace of my age, as Bahran s boy Was joy to him? MIZRAIM (with a quick glance around). Yea, sir, if so you will. IRAD. Sir, I implore you, let this matter wait. In hourly danger still, no time have we For aught but vigilance to save our lives. Our safety s first of all. TUBAL. The lad is right. All things in proper time. Hear reason, man. And you, gay youngster, shall be butler here, For your dead band had cellars. Come with me. AND OTHER POEMS 67 [During the following dialogue between Irad and Iban, Mizraim and the attendants, under the direction of Tubal-cain f bring in from the further cavern an extemporized banquet table, and load it with all the paraphernalia belong ing to a splendid feast.] IBAN (aside to Irad}. A sickening offer, dotage wooing fear, And profanation of that tender tie For which poor Bahran died. IRAD (aside to Iban). The scene fits well With that outside. If eyes above look down What thoughts must be in heaven. IBAN. Yea, the gods Will smile behind the scenes. Yet, after all, So dear the hours of youth and young delight, Who d blame the old, though loth to let them go ? IRAD. How shall I judge a man who callous thus, Yea, o er the deathbed of his fatherland, Affronts both God and nature s whispering law ? And this but sample of a lifetime gone, As well I know. Yet not through blood alone but deeper ties He bids me pause in judgment. That gray beard Has wagged above my boyhood s play, and drooped Tear-drenched o er beds of fever. Hours I ve sat Perched on his knee, while we like statesmen weighed 68 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED The worth of hobby-horses, balls, and drums. Tin catapults and bastions. Then in youth My exploits made him weep with joy; he d cheer me Did I compete for prize in dance or song, And hang the tiger s pelt with golden claws Because his boy had killed it. Gracious heaven ! When thus the flower and stinking weed entwine, Which shall we count the man ? IBAN. You re too severe. View human follies close with candid eye, Not thus through Noah s twisted lens, you ll find The sin that plucks an apple through a fence Is venial, ay, and universal too. The strife twixt law and longing sweetens life, And there romance is born. I RAD. So once thought I. I had begun to reason otherwise. IBAN. This mystery life is like a lovely girl, Who cries, "You shall not," when she hopes you will, Rewards the bold transgressor well, and chills Sheep-eyed Obedience with her frosty praise. And toward her genial warmth I stretch my hands, As toward this welcome flame. TUBAL. Now, gentle friends, Our neighbors having piled our board, and then By opportune demise removed themselves, We ll banquet even here. IRAD. What! here a feast! AND OTHER POEMS 69 IBAN. The gods be praised! ne er needed like to-night. Here s food to cheer the faint, and kindly wine To laugh our horrors down. TUBAL. Be seated all. THE REVELERS. On Niloh s mount the god pro vides his own. TUBAL. One place is vacant. IBAN. Why does Irad wait ? IRAD. Go on nor notice me; I m not in mood For revelry to-night. TUBAL. Nay, come, lad, come. What sullen devil lurks in you of late ? IBAN. Your empty place will haunt us, like the chair In Bahran s lay. Come, you look dark as men Who weigh some tragic matter pro and con. The sadder earth, the more we need what cheers. Sit down and laugh with us. IRAD. I m not in mood. ADAH. Art thou in mood to please a lady s wish, And one to whom thou owest grace as well For cold refusal past ? Shall I alone Have emptiness for partner ? Noble sir, I do entreat thy company at feast. IRAD. Hast thou forgot what night it is ? ADAH. Nay, nay, Tis thou forgettest; this is Niloh s night. Be earth undone ; but let our rosy ring 70 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Be pleasure s magic circle, friendship s, love s; On that enchanted ground no noxious thing Intrude, or painful thought. Two talismans I offer thee, of power to make this den Appear a palace, we the king and queen. The one this cup contains ; perchance my lip Might hold the other. IRAD. How thou gildest o er What seemed corruption. Which the trulier sees, The eye bewitched by Noah or by thee ? ADAH. Which one, indeed? Be thou impartial judge. And if thou deem st my magic more than his, Be pleased to come with me. I RAD. Ah, well, I yield. Thy witchery s more, be wisdom where it will. IBAN. A toast, a toast! the victor comes and brings Her captive train behind. ALL. A toast, a toast! IBAN. Pour, servant, pour. The night may rave without ; What care we now how leap and howl beneath The baffled hounds of ocean ? REVELERS. Doubly sweet Is safety after danger. IBAN. Ay, it is. This warms the blood. I shudder when I think, Had I remained below, what cold blue hand AND OTHER POEMS 71 Had drawn my morning curtains, and what face Peered in on mine. IRAD. Who brought you safely here? IBAN. A power that willed not Cain should cease to be. The lure of ocean drew us. Three whole days We sailed the main, while like a sounding shell Our vessel rang with music. Then arose This awful storm that hurled the sea on land, And us therewith, swept o er the drowned domain, The billows plaything. Last on rocks below, Once inland cliff but now the ocean s edge, We dashed and shattered. Yet such grace was ours From god in love with art, or pitying muse, Entire our band were saved, though all the rest, Page, woman, slave, and brawny seaman, drowned. IRAD. Not one of all your number gone ? IBAN. Not one, Though ne er alive through such a boiling foam, Methinks, came man before. IRAD. A priest would deem Some special providence of gods indeed Had held you worthy saving. IBAN. Yea, for we, Though humble lamps, preserved the ancient flame That ocean else had quenched. IRAD. I drink to thee, Whom- powers inscrutable have chosen thus Ambassador from former worlds to new. 72 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Drink deep; I ll drink with thee, till in the cup We find thy message for the men unborn. FIRST REVELER. Peace, peace, ye yelping clouds. Have we no harp Of power to drown their discord ? SECOND REVELER, Sheathe your fires, Ye hunters of the night ; the game is flown. THIRD REVELER. Let ocean bellow, while the mountain laughs, And makes its rage a foot-bath. IRAD (aside). Yet one sound Ye cannot hush nor mock, the kindred cry, Now shrill as if beneath the murderer s blow, Now myriad-voiced in ocean. Fill the bowl. These others drink and hear it not. Drink thou. For ne er till abstinence unbraced thine ear Heard st thou or heeded. ADAH. Fearful must have been The scenes you witnessed, Iban, sailing thus O er what was happening yonder. IBAN. Fearful, strange. I know not whether theme of future verse, Or memory dread to paralyze all song In me forever. Dim and foggy broke That fatal morning. Sultry heaven sucked The moisture of the deep in rolling mist, That steamed aloft unceasing, wall on wall, To one gray roof. There all day long we rowed Through cloudy corridors, down whispering aisles, AND OTHER POEMS 73 Whose waters murmured low, like multitudes When hushed in some great awe. But close on night Wind, mild at first but freshening keen and fast, And shouldering Titan-like the clouds along, Went blowing inland. Dark the world became; And sounds mysterious under ocean ran, Like noise of crunching rocks or settling walls When props are knocked away. Then heaving deep, As if its bed were tilted up, while sank The land in equal scale, whate er the cause, The mighty stream rolled inland. Earth beneath Convulsive groaning heaved the liquid hills, That far subsiding rolled. Overhead was storm, Black cloud and lightning flash, a roof of night, Whose rafters all were fire; while yet the rain Hung pendulous, nor fell. Now on our lee Loomed up the halls of Cain, like rocks awash, Beneath that awful gleam. The crawling brine Had filled their streets; and waves like battering- rams Demolished home and fane. On beetling roofs, Yet stedfast, jutting dark against the fire, Moved frantic forms, whose cry methought I heard Through stormy miles between. Then fell the rain In tumbling rivers, making earth and sky One formless blot. ADAH. Ah, may my sleep to-night 74 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Be free of dreams ; for if a vision came What pictures might it draw. IBAN. These eyes could weep A second flood for what the first destroyed. I saw the marble domes a thousand years Had built with toil of thousands, hewing flat Whole mountains for the stone, I saw them racked From their foundations; arch and aqueduct, The marvels of all time, in frothy foam Made scaffolding for coral. Park and lawn, The walks we loved, far rides along the hills, Wide stretch of landscape flecked with countless homes, All now are nothing. IRAD. Just beyond the town A villa lay where I was born and reared. I knew its every acre, every curve Of slope or river; twas my world, twas home. Such ties the Deluge broke. A REVELER. Fill high the bowl, Else Goodman Gloom may tweak our nose. Drink deep; Old Lady Care would edge into our midst; We ll send her packing. IBAN. Ay, you re right, you re right. Enjoy the fire that burns; the fire that s cold Will ne er inspire the young nor warm the old. TUBAL. The night is done. Let now the cup of sleep, AND OTHER POEMS 75 Infused with drowsy lotus, walk its round. A health to dreamland, friends. ALL. A health to dreamland. ADAH. On shores afar the peaceful waters lap. And winds at play among the rustling boughs Are calling for their playmates. I RAD. Wait, we come. Thy hair is soft, beloved, and thy breath Like April meadows. Fair is earth indeed. Great mother Life, why should thy children lack? Sweet hall of dreams, receive the wanderer back. [They all fall into drowsy attitudes, and nothing is heard but the uproar of the storm outside. A long time elapses. Then Irad awakes while the others remain asleep, and with the gleam of unnatural excitement still in his eyes goes to the mouth of the cave.] IRAD. Art thou there, Enoch, wandering in the night ? Let him who wishes life be wise, nor tempt The sons of Cain. Thou pay st thy folly s fee. And thou dark speck beneath the lightning s gleam, If thou be what I think thee, journey on To thy dull destiny. Not Seth alone, Cain also shall survive, and I with Cain; And life with us, not flaccid life and lean, But such as through the inmost vein of being Mines out the treasure hid. Still vext pursue 76 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED A phantom future, lay foundation walls; We ll clasp the present, feast in halls that are. CURTAIN. ACT IV. SCENE I. TIME. A number of days later. PLACE. A small temple to Niloh on the topmost point of Mount Himenay. The scene is a square colonnade. At the back it is open and gives a view of the storm outside and the waste of waters, which now are not far below the top of the mountain. Far off appears a half submerged rock which was once the summit of a high mountain peak. In the foreground are rugs, couches, and all the fur nishings of luxury. The scene begins in the dim gray twilight of daytime, which darkens into pitch- black night at the end. [Enter the Antediluvians as if from banquet. ] IBAN. Let heaven roar and rain! Who cares? Its flashes Are festal lamps to us, its thunder music. Let the wet patter ; let the wind it drenches Blow cool our fevered cheek. TUBAL. Climb, ocean, climb. Your waves besiege a fort provisioned well. One drop of life-infusing wine can conquer All your damp horrors. 78 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED IBAN. Ocean s but a stage, Postprandial theater, our panorama. Ring up the scudding mist with thunder, gods ; And well enjoy the tableau. TUBAL. Reverend Noah, Afloat there in the storm, eats moldy cheese, Drinks the flat, tepid rain, and lies in straw Where cattle house. Who d share his cruise with him Who that can live with us on dainty fare, Drink foaming vintage, lie on purple couches, Feel like the gods warm blood and breathing fra grance ? IBAN. Ay, let the world go under ! What care we In joy s asylum? ADAH. Only all these garlands Are withered ones; I miss the living wreaths. The rich old earth is bankrupt now of blossom. And I so prized them all, the rose and lily, Proud garden queen and mistress of the meadow. When buds the earth again ? When shall we cull Flowers on the hills ? IRAD. Ask Him who sent the Deluge. If still He rule the deep, He knows. But often A crushing terror grips my heart that He, Stunned by this endless rush and roar, and deafened By the eternal lashing of the storm, AND OTHER POEMS 79 Has dropped the reins of power; and the wild waters, Like horses masterless, gallop on forever. ADAH. A fairer dream was mine. Methought the sun Beamed as of old; and earth to meet him slipped Her robe of waters from her like a bride. His lip was warm on peak and hill, that swelled Like breasts of love, and warm his arms of light Around the blushing planet. From their union Grew life anew. Beneath the mantling sea-weed, Like arbutus through withered leaves of March, Peeped all the flowers of spring. The parting ripple Went lingering from the moistened hills, that gleamed Like meadows after rain. IRAD. I am a churl To shatter dream so fair; but we must arm Our hearts beforehand for the hard, stern truth. For when the Flood goes down, if e er it do, The earth will be no bride but one great corpse; And that grim desolation, huge and haunting, Will hang persistent on the eye, and crush The soul within us, valleys black with slime, Gaunt, ribbed hills, the skeleton of a world, And drifted silt, through which the wrecks dis mantled Of the great past will point like dead men s fingers. 80 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED There too we ll find the death of ocean piled High on dry land, strange corpses of the abyss, Tremendous, whale and kraken where they died ; Who knows? perhaps leviathan himself Stretched in portentous bulk along some hill, Athwart the sunset like an ominous cloud. And we must live, one lonely colony, In alien scenes of death, till gradual time Enshroud them deep in herbage. I am cruel, But tis the surgeon s hand. TUBAL. This comes of fasting, Fasting and lack of wine, this gloomy mood. You have not drunk to-day. Here, boy, but taste. Here s alchemy transmuting woe to bliss, And fool to sage. IRAD. We all have drunk too deep Of that charmed cup ; would I might never taste it In life again. IBAN. Oh, tis the magic glass Through which all time grows rosy, life s quin tessence, Romance and beauty. Could you live without it One fleeting moon, to drink from j et and puddle Insipid, bare existence? TUBAL. He has tried it, With solemn oath abjured the god of wine For three whole days, and on the fourth returned With thrice threefold devotion. IRAD. What we could do AND OTHER POEMS 81 I know not well ; but what we must I know. Have you e er thought what hardship we must bear When all these vaults are drained? Left empty- handed On the denuded hills, we must strip off The soft traditions of a hundred years, And delve like Eve and Adam. ADAH. Nay, but surely We ll be the lords of earth. IRAD. And who our servants ? Alas, dear head, will miles of barren mud Yield thee one dainty mouthful? Will the winds O er continents all empty blow together A home for thee? When time has worn away This gorgeous robe, think you its like will grow On wayside brambles? Iban and myself Must till old earth for bread ; and thou, sweet love, Even if we spare thee toil, must yet endure With us privation. IBAN. Ah, you re like the plague ! Your mood s infectious; and my sickening fancy Already weaves the picture, sordid want With horror mixed, where hunger drives us on Through that great cemetery once a world. Here march we swart and haggard ; tired at night Lop trees for shelter, bed on clammy moss ; Drive down our pick on buried thrones of kings, Cheap now as limestone ; gnaw our blackened crust O er stones that jut from halls of former feast; 82 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Turn with irreverent blow the bygone bones That once had slept with us ; and when the thought Of death and what s beyond has chilled our blood, Read on some kinsman s enigmatic skull, "I know, but tell not." Never ! drink and revel While revel lasts ; and after that we ll sleep. IRAD. So say you now ; but would you quench so lightly That lamp of thought that none can reillume, Dreams even to drudges known, and whispering hope Intangible and sweet o er weary pillows, Leave this, and sleep forever, none know how, With nothingness or nightmares ? What had Adam And our first mother more than we to charm them ? We ll dig as they did, and perhaps like them Be root of some great nation. TUBAL. Ah, I see you In vision, youngster, practice what you preach. Old Adam pshaw! his was a bovine race, That grazed, and suckled young, and lived for others. We re tigers, boy. On others for ourselves We ve learned to live, grown sleek and terrible By that warm diet. Can we now, so late, Unlearn the lesson of the centuries? No. We ll live the tiger s life, and die his death When our fat oxen fail. IRAD. The very tiger AND OTHER POEMS 83 Would chew the grass and live, if his grim maw Could make it food. TUBAL. Ay, but it cannot feed him ; Nor can we live and drudge. The pastoral age Went long ago. Oh, I am old, I saw it. They knew no better; ignorance like dew Made life a morning fresh. The dew is dried. They built the world and we enjoyed it well. Why should we build like fools for others ? No ! When the long banquet s done, out lights ! to bed ! We ve had our hour and used it. I BAN. Ay, our fathers Went drudging on, and lived because they lived, Ne er asking why. We ve learned to think, to know What a poor piebald robe of curse and blessing Is life at best ; at worst a poison tunic, Which wisdom spurns. IRAD. Had God not sent the Deluge What hand had built for future years, and saved Wisdom and health for them, while we were wasting The hoard our fathers piled? Those mighty muscles, That have withstood unwrecked a lifetime s waste, Debauchery and soft joy; these brains of ours, In which the genius of a maddening world Flares up before it dies, these are the savings Of the long, healthy years before we came. What body, mind, and soul were we bequeathing To future nations ? 84 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED I BAN. Would you have the world Forever in the same prosaic furrow Crawl on in stingy leanness? Rather think Our fathers were the root, and we the flower, The perfect blossom. Twas for us they sucked The j uice of earth ; and, had we never bloomed, They too were vain. The dream of what we are Cheered on those plodding sires ; and what we were From monolith and parchment shall inspire The years to be. We are a flame that o er The sordid hills of time interprets life As something splendid. FIRST REVELER. Is not that the theme Of your new drama? IBAN. Surely. ADAH. Oh, the drama ! We have not heard it; you must read it, Iban. SECOND REVELER. No, no ! we ll act it. FIRST REVELER. Act it ; that is better. ADAH. What is the plot? IBAN. The Power that rules the world, Arraigned in court for drowning man, is brought Before old Time as judge. The Spirit of Beauty Is his accuser; he defends himself. The verdict ends the play. Tis a mere fragment, Thrown off at random. FIRST REVELER. Iban shall be accuser, Old Tubal-cain, throned here in state, be Time, And I the offending Power. We know our lines. AND OTHER POEMS 85 Now for the play. IBAN. The scene s the hall of Time. TUBAL-CAIN (as Time). We fill our throne of judgment. Who appear In this great court of last appeal, to hear The sentence of old Time? IBAN (as the Spirit of Beauty). So deep a wrong As never sons of Beauty yet nor Song Have known I bring. That Power which from the void The world created and the world destroyed I here accuse, that his own child he slew, The earth which at his knee in beauty grew ; And heaped the scum of waves and drifted silt O er what my hand and thine, old Time, had built. TUBAL-CAIN (as Time). A fearful charge ; what answer, Lord of Spheres, Mak st thou before the dread and searching years ? FIRST REVELER (as the Power of the World, and mimicking the manner of Noah). All measures in vain Would the measureless span ; And what .word shall explain The eternal to man, 86 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED In what dim recesses The mystery lurks That curses and blesses And endlessly works? When the world that was doomed Was engulfed in the wave, Then my wrath but resumed What my clemency gave. And the reasons that stirred me, The will that inflamed, Know those only who heard me, When nature was framed. O er a glory immoral, A beauty profane, Now branches the coral And darkens the main. TUBAL-CAIN (as Time). Hast thou no more? Speak on, accuser. IBAN (as the Spirit of Beauty). Lo, The saddest witness court did ever know I bring thee here, and call to life again The spirit of that city built by Cain. Sea-weed and wreckage line her marble floors; Night keeps the temple now where none adores; For thrones imperial whale and serpent vie; And dead within her arms her children lie. AND OTHER POEMS 87 There infants are who scarce began to bloom, And babes unborn that died within the womb, The little hand that just had learned to reach The mother s face, the gaze that longed for speech. What law of God or nature ever broke The helpless arm, the lip that never spoke? There lie, cut off untimely, girl and boy, Whose only fault was that they dared enjoy What Heaven and nature gave. And here the seas Rolled dark o er those who drew from breathing keys Delight unknown before, from wire or pipe, Or metal s clang ; and those, when time was ripe, Who mirrored life on canvas, wall and frieze ; And bards divine, who sang of art and ease, Delight and dream and life without alloy; And learned men, who found the cup of joy In the dark mine of life, and gave the power To taste without repentance answering hour. And mighty men of old renown are there, Whose like come nevermore, whose strength could tear The lion s jaws. Unworn a lifetime long They drank the exhaustless rapture of the strong, Warred, loved, and reveled; and their torch burnt red, Yet unconsumed. Lo, judge, for all these dead I make appeal. The light is quenched that none Can reillume, the day of glory done, 88 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED The life that was, the life that none restore, The life that earth shall equal nevermore. TUBAL-CAIN (as Time). Hark to the judgment of old Time. Thou Power That hast consumed thy children, from this hour Resign thy throne, nor hope to fill it more Till thou the glory thou hast quenched restore. And, final act of thy now forfeit might, Quell thou the storm, rekindle heaven s light, Roll back the waves, and call the earth to bloom. FIRST REVELER (as Power of the World). Lo, here submissive I accept my doom. Even as I speak rain, wind, and cloud have ceased; The floods withdraw, the morning walks the east. And what thou hast not asked, repentant now I will perform, and seal it with a vow. The sad survivors of the world that s gone I ll love and cherish as the doe its fawn. Still as his father did the son shall do; And the old world be born in them anew. IBAN. So ends the play. ADAH. And well deserves our thanks. Irad, is that not so? Why do you stare So fixedly at the storm ? No word of praise For what has charmed us? AND OTHER POEMS 89 IRAD. Oh, twas doubtless well. Only the Power outside there in the rain Seemed somewhat different from your mimic one. [He walks to the edge of the colonnade and holds up his hands into the storm that drives over him. At the same time there comes an un usually loud peal of thunder.~\ Here s His cold message ; there you hear His voice Proclaim His will to man. Shall you and I, Think you, by his decree renew on earth The life we used to live ? And that dark water, Pitted and wrinkled by the spouting floods Of yet augmenting anger, is the seal Of His approval on our past and future. ADAH. You are unwell. IRAD. Oh, yes, I am unwell, Sick of a thing they call the curse of God. You too are sick and know it not, all, all. But the physician s coming. ADAH (to others). Pray you, leave us. [Exeunt all except Adah and Irad.~\ ADAH. Thou art alone with me. Come, rest thy head Upon my bosom, let me lull thy fever. Thy forehead burns. IRAD. Then fold thy kerchief there. 90 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Not sick in blood am I but sick of heart, And need no medicine but companionship. ADAH. Liked you not Iban s play? I RAD. Twas mockery, mockery. He played a wedding march ; and through the win dow I saw the bride s white skull. ADAH. You will go mad If thus you watch that water. Gone is Nod, The beautiful city of our childhood s gone ; But we, we live ; and in the city of love We ll still be happy. IRAD. Oh, but shall we be? Or is our love a transitory thing, Far from life s root, one petal of that flower Which God mowed down in mercy ere it withered ? On thy soft forehead burns no brand of Cain, No saint s more fair. Had we grown old in Nod, And God ne er sent the Deluge, could we two Have kept the genial torch of love alight When blood and bone were cold ? What think you, Adah? Weak, old, and wrinkled, had we still been dear Each to the other? ADAH. What persistent wind Thus blows your mind on rocks of wretchedness ? We re young; if now we dream of being old, When shall we have our youth? IRAD. Is love a lamp AND OTHER POEMS 91 To burn on sense and fade when sense is gone ? If so,, we ll light it and inhale its breath Now while we may. But there s another love, Ne er found in life yet seeming meant to live, That comes in dreams and haunts my waking hours. In that the passing glow of youth became A furnace fire,, wherein the soul was forged To beauty s image; and the heat grew cold, But left the soul it forged still beautiful. And oft I ve dreamed one woman dwelt with me In a small cottage out among the trees As brother might with sister, only closer, In sweeter union, weaving soul in soul; Have sat long nights beside her hand in hand, In lonely chambers, where no stifling air With incense loaded came, but meadows breathed Through open windows. For our torch the moon Shone pure and tranquil. In that hour we might Have grown unbodied spirits, mixing still In incorporeal winds, and still have loved. Our drink was all the brook; and calm within Flowed strength that never from the wine-cup welled. We toiled, accomplished, builded, felt in little What must have been the great Creator s joy. And the grave hills looked down, and placid heaven Smiled kindly at us. Slowly we grew old Among our children, yet the moving years But drew us closer. Is all this a dream ? 92 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Or can we live so, Adah, you and I ? ADAH. Nay, you are feverish ; let the future go ; For none can tell what power or wish were ours On ways untried, and woman least of all. Where thou art not is desert ; where thou art I clasp thy youth, and none can wrest it from me. Let the great clock tick on ; we ll stuff our ears And never hear it. IRAD. But the cry of children, Our own, will come. What life shall they be taught ? ADAH. What else than that of time s old race, the blood Of Cain and Irad? IRAD. Shall our little daughter Grow up to worship Niloh? And our boy Learn life as I did? ADAH. Would you have him other Than what you are, the manliest son of Cain? What in your nature vexes you? IRAD. O Adah, There s something in my nature killing me. Why turned my fancy thus to rural life, Untainted love and labor s healthy vigil? Twas as the traveler, dying parched in deserts, Might dream cool water near, and gulp the sand In helpless longing. Night and day there comes The vision of a life I cannot live, Such as God meant for man, and which my fathers AND OTHER POEMS 93 Bartered for this ere I was born. I said, Calm peace shall drive out anger ; in an hour I was a murderer. Temperance, then I said, Shall spread my table; four short days had passed, And wine and lotus claimed me. Yet, I cried, My love for woman shall be pure as dew. But oh ! though pure and fair my love for thee, And rooted deep in all that s noblest here, Yet ever on that rose of beauty crawls The loathsome worm that Niloh s worship spawned. Nor can I pluck it from my brain. ADAH. Be calm. You see the world through black delirium s glass, Which colors all you do. Who d have a man Meek as a peasant, dieting like children, Loving he knows not what ? The thing that frights you Is life as all do live. You re not yourself. Rest and forget. IRAD. Oh, these are on the surface, Mere ripples from within. But deeper, deeper Goes the dread thing I have not words to tell. Tis my whole view of life. Ambition, friendship, Love, pleasure, worship, God, and hope, and beauty, And good and evil, all these things on me, Like some fair hillside glassed in turbid waters, Come fouled and darkened. I am like a man Whose limbs the surgeon lopped but yesterday. Still in his brain the restless nerves reach out 94 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED To clasp, to move, and nothing there responds. So day and night my spirit reaches out To be the man God meant me; but the power To clasp that dream my fathers rent and severed Ere I drew breath. ADAH. What would you do or be That you cannot ? Are you not envied heir Of what the centuries gathered, fair and strong, A lord of men ? IRAD. Oh, yes, a blessed heir. Our grandsires made the torch, our fathers burnt it; Tis at the socket now. ADAH. Have you not friends To make you cheer? IKAD. Yes, but that angry ocean Brings such a loneliness as none dispel. There speaks the wrath of God, and night and day Frowns in on me. ADAH. Let the dark despot frown. We ll scorn His tyranny. I RAD - Were He a tyrant Then I could bear, retorting scorn with scorn. But wiser, deeper, tenderer than the love Of man is His; and while He frowns on me, He smiles on others, beautiful beyond words. Oh, lonely, lonely past all speech to feel The anger of the good ! I am the blot AND OTHER POEMS 95 On His fair world, the gnarl upon the bough,, Which He must pare away. ADAH. This road is madness. You must not, shall not brood on things like these. Hark,, and I ll sing thy restless heart to sleep With an old tune we love. SONG What calls from the distance And beckons us on? Tis the joy of existence Ere morning be gone. The blossoms are swelling, The dawn s in the east; And the soul in its dwelling Rejoices at feast. While to harmony moving All blessings unite, The loved and the loving Drink deep of delight. The gods have grown heedless, They all are so old. Oh, why, when tis needless, Should pleasure be cold? IRAD. I thank thee, dear. And now thou rt weary ; leave me here a little. I d be alone and silent. 96 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED ADAH. Dare I trust thee To thy dark thoughts alone? IRAD. They re fleeing fast, Chased by thy gentle touch. Goodby, sweet love. ADAH. But stay not long alone, for I shall miss thee. [Exit Adah.] IRAD (alone). The night grows dense within and wild without. The torches are burnt low, and in their sockets Flicker and fade. There, the wild gust has quenched them. Come, Darkness, and shake hands ; for I and thou Are of the shadowy things that must make room When God brings in His morning. [Walks to the edge and looks at the water.] Rising still. Where on these waters dark is Noah now ? Two empty places in his ark there are, Mine and my victim s. What dark spot is that Which floats against the rock and hangs there? Strange, It looks a floating coffin. Something white Peeps out beneath the lightning. Tis a skull. Thou dreadful herald from the realms untrod, Why knock st thou here? Nay, rather, wandering waif, AND OTHER POEMS 97 What hospitality dost thou need more? Does lack of burial haunt thee ? Has that brought thee Thus battering at my gate? Wait, then, I come. [He descends to the water, and soon returns with a human skull in his hand.] Sit there, ambassador. I d talk with thee. I ll seek thy country shortly, and I d know Its customs, folk, and language. You live longer Than we do here ; pray, does the time hang heavy ? Do the dead know each other ? Can young lovers Still find each other lovely? Does God come there To smile on these and frown at those ? No answer ? Oh, you re a diplomat; you ve learned out there To hold your tongue. Nay, you re but bones and offal. What answer should the brain in my warm skull Expect of this dry pod? Thou rt but the husk Of some abortive grain which winds have blown From God s great threshing-floor. Poor, kindred thing, Cast on the dump-heap of the world, while God Finds pleasure elsewhere! Yet he did not die Beneath the Deluge; see, these bones were cracked By club or staff. What Cainite son of Cain Took thee for Abel? Half methinks I know The face that once you lined. Did Noah send thee Afloat to me ? Or has the Flood scooped up 98 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Thy new-dug grave, that thou art come to stare At my sick conscience thus ? Preach on, preach on ! I know thy text, admit its truth ; and yet Thou might st have mercy. Even in death persist ent! Or hast thou come to tell me that those eyes Have seen the Deluge, as thou swor st they should, And I did swear they should not ? Get thee gone ! Wert thou alive again I d kill thee still! [He strikes the skull, which rolls along the floor. Then after a pause he speaks.] And yet the will to murder ! [From the next room comes an outburst of drunken revelry.] Oh, great Heaven, What things are we that we have lived so long? Come, Death, beneath thy mantel cover up The horrid glass that shows us what we are. Blow wind, and tumble rain, and ocean swell ! Why are you tardy? Haste your cleansing work. Wipe us from that creation which we blot ! Come, bury us, bury us from the face of God Under your waters forever and forever ! CURTAIN. AND OTHER POEMS 99 SCENE II. TIME. Four or five days later. PLACE. The same as in the last scene. The storm, however, has ceased, and the moon shines occasionally through the clouds. [Enter Iban and Tubal-cain.~\ IBAN. The rain has paused ; is ocean rising yet ? TUBAL. No, not two fathom down beneath our feet The waves have halted. Through the grated cloud There glints the moon at last. IBAN. And hope with her Returns at length to tell a kindlier future Than this cold, fishy death we feared. TUBAL. Even so. The balance turns. Life may have something yet For all of us. IBAN. No, not for all; for one That cup is emptied. TUBAL. Adah? IBAN. She is dying. TUBAL. But three days ill, and all to end to-night. The race of men grow frail, young generations That wither in the bud. The hoary fathers 100 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Who drowned of late o ertopped their dwindling sons. The mighty lived; but might was born no more. Nor length of days. Could wind as light as this Detach a fruit unripened? IBAN. Fate is jealous Of all that s fair. The things that charmed our life He filches one by one. [Exeunt Iban and Tubal-cain. Enter Irad bear ing Adah.] IRAD. Here rest thee where the moon s rekin dling beam May light thy brow. ADAH. Tis gone. IRAD. Twill come again. There exiled life returns to all mankind; Canst thou not share it? ADAH. Oh, the wish to live Burns up anew, but not the power. All s done, The glamour and the glory, warmth and beat Of life s glad, transient dream. I pant for breath. Ah, me! IRAD. Here rest thy head. Thou rt better now ? There gleams the moon again, as when it lighted Our loves of old. ADAH. But not the same ; its ray Is cold, that once was warm. AND OTHER IRAD. The same bright key Is this which once unlocked our golden hours. ADAH. The golden hours are gone. Ah, who can tell Behind the door that key unlocks to-night What waits for me ? Perhaps old Elmin s ghost Will ask me on the threshold of the dead Why he was poisoned; with malignant leer May tell my soul tis at his mercy there. IRAD. You did not kill him. ADAH. No, nor would have done. But yet he ll know I smiled and let him die, And shared his wealth. IRAD. What justice can he claim, Himself more criminal than thou? ADAH. But he, He may be mighty yonder. Were he weak, Then I d not fear. Fold me in thy strong arms; A horror chills me. IRAD. Fear not, I am near. And where thou goest I will follow too. ADAH. Ah, but once parted in the boundless night How shall we meet again? IRAD. We ll trust to Heaven. ADAH. A specter haunts me, a dread, nameless Nothing. I call the dead to ask them how they fare, And Nothing answers. I would read the future 109 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED With shuddering heart; and through the parted curtain I see that Nothing waiting. IRAD. These are nightmares. For even though death were one eternal sleep, We ve slept long hours in life and held them precious. ADAH. We slept to wake again, found slumber here One narrow rift between the blooming days. What sleep is that whence none awaken? Surely Tis like no thing on earth. Oh, I am faint. IRAD. Canst thou yet hear me? Speak, or move thy hand. ADAH. I dig my fingers in the shore of life, But the great current draws me. IRAD. Ho there, help ! [Enter Tubal-cain.] Her hand grows chilly. TUBAL. Say your last adieu. Tis come, and none can stay it. IRAD. Hast thou more, Message or last petition? ADAH. I have loved thee. Forget me not if thou dost call my name, And Nothing answer. Could we relive our lives Unchanged, the same, how sweet it were. Goodby. (Dies.) AND OTHER POEMS 103 I RAD. What, is it ended? TUBAL. Let us veil her face. I RAD. No, wait a while. The moon holds down its torch To learn if this be death. The muscles move. She d speak again. TUBAL. Tis the deceiving light. There, clouds encase the moon ; and in the dark You cannot hear her breathe. IRAD. All silent, yes. TUBAL. May none disturb her tomb. IRAD. One night in sport She donned my armored glove, which tight I gripped, And swore to hold her thus against a world. But playful, slipping back the hand within, She fled and mocked me. What I held was cold, Empty and hollow. So these earthy fingers I hold as in a vice ; but that within, Beyond my reach, has slipped from me and gone. TUBAL. Last daughter of an ancient line was she. And in her childless bed the race of Cain Forever ends. Ah, well, tis better so. I m old; I ve watched the withering world too long To gild illusions. Yet it leaves us lonely, We cold survivors. IRAD. "Better so." You too Would echo Noah. Never child shall heir 104 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED That growing curse that like a river swelled, In which each reckless generation poured Its tributary taint. And yet was not Her soul a thing of wonder, and her life A lamp mysterious, lighted from on high? Is God so wasteful when He plans a world Of such rare marble as the lives of men, He ll count as worthless rubbish every stone Found useless in His building? Will He not, In some great treasure-house beyond the grave, Preserve them still, nay, find them fitting there Into some vast design unhinted here? TUBAL. Think that which gives you joy. I ve watched too long What mad economy those prodigals Who rule the world employ. And life is hewn From quarries inexhaustible, more cheap Than any wayside stone, tis everywhere. My loves have quarried out a thousand blocks ; My hate has cracked a thousand. Let it go. Yet a few hours I ll roll into my grave Like a lost pebble. But the time till then, That interval is mine ; my life to me As precious as tis cheap to God. Nay, boy, Ne er rack your head nor break your heart against A granite wall. We ll bury her in state. And then we ll live. IRAD. . Not I. The time is past When thus I reasoned. Were no life beyond, AND OTHER POEMS 105 No justice here, yet in my dying hour, If I could feel I d toiled for something more Than life and pleasure, I d create myself What gods denied, and dream it into being ; Project my spirit through eternity From that one hour as center, and drink in What earth could never give, the blessed sense Of widening sympathy, the calm approval Of that still monitor who in our breast Weighs good and evil. TUBAL. Where have you unearthed This ancient heirloom conscience ? Did gray Noah, With other musty relics of old days, Preserve you this ? I mind when I myself Had such a plaything. Memory s a strange world. Sometimes there is a kind of phantom boy Comes from its realm to vex me. IRAD. What was he? TUBAL. Like and not like to me. He found the way To fuse the steel from heaven s pelting rocks; And he en j oyed some things that you and I Would find but tedious. Well, your path is yours, And I ll go mine. Pray, can I serve you further? IRAD. Only, I pray you, see that none intrude On our last parting. TUBAL. None shall dare. Goodnight. [Exit Tubal-cain.] 106 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED I RAD (alone). How ghastly in the moonlight shows the print Of death upon her features, how unlike The rosy glow of sleep, whose breathing lip Still murmurs with the drowsy whir of dreams. She tells me nothing. Has she aught to tell? Is she more wise than I, or is all wisdom For her one blank ? Shall we e er meet again ? And should we dwell in everlasting joy, Whose joys were all perverted here, what pleasure, Acceptable to God, were sweet to us ? Or shall we change our inmost nature so That what was dull grows dear, and former sweet Becomes abhorred ? Such fundamental change Would loose the bonds of being, and dissolve All cherished attributes and human ties. Or is all evil such by local laws, Though penal here permissible elsewhere? In vain we query, yet our bankrupt souls, On earth impoverished, long for wealth in Heaven, And knock and knock, though never answered. Hark, Thou God entrenched in night and nothingness, Thou God of Noah, who by word and sign Told him the Flood would come. I ask of Thee One token only, which mere man would grant, Had he the power. If those You cancel here, Unfit for earthly needs, find home beyond, AND OTHER POEMS 107 Grow pure beside Thee and are blest indeed, Let the moon shine unclouded while I pace This chamber s length. But if in worlds beyond, Even as in this, we prove abortive seed, And destined for decay, then let yon cloud O ershade the orb it neighbors, bringing night In my mid journey. [He paces slowly the length of the colonnade. The moon meanwhile shines uninterruptedly.] Shall I hold it true? The windy vapor licked its golden round, Yet turned and blew not o er it. Once again, Great Lord of Heaven, now I ll change the sign. If death have life in store, make dark the moon In my mid path; but if tis all despair Then keep her beaming. [He paces the colonnade again. The moon shines uninterruptedly as before.] Ah, tis even so. God needs must be, else how had Noah known What never man could guess ; but that dread God Has other business in the growing worlds Than cheering wasted lumber. Be it so. Come, thou cold sweetheart, lay thy breast on mine. We re something each to other yet, or were. 108 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED We ll pray no longer; God s forgotten us In the great plan of things ; but we, beloved, We ll not forget. We ve yet some hours till dawn. CURTAIN. ACT V. TIME. One or two days later. PLACE. The edge of the mountain top not far from the temple. The waters are almost on a level with it. [Enter Irad and Tubal-cain.] TUBAL. The skies grow dark anew. IRAD. Their gleam of light Was sent in mockery. Once again the winds Blow damp and boding; clouds entomb the sun, Reviving night and fear. TUBAL. Is ocean rising? IRAD. Not yet, but soon it must. An evil grin Goes wandering o er its corrugated face, Anticipating prey. TUBAL. A gruesome sight. IRAD. Ay, is it not? See where for leagues it stretches, All flecked with foam, like mottled pards at play. There swim the rotting planks of nameless wrecks That vainly dared the Deluge. Forest trees, Washed out from guttered hills, go floating by With bones amid their branches. There we read Our own to-morrow. 110 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED TUBAL. Yonder waits in ocean Our old white-bellied friend to give us greeting. Well, tis his hour. Why should I tear my lungs In the vain howl for mercy ? [Music is heard from the temple.] IRAD. What is that? TUBAL. A knell, or equal. Our good friends have sworn, I ban and all the rest, if death must come, To die like Cainites reveling. Three whole days They ve kept a banquet sauced with poison waiting The signal of the sky. They view it now All draped in death. They re at their final feast. We two are left. IRAD. Why drank you not with them? TUBAL. The mere brute instinct hugging life perhaps. A tough old leaf am I, that tightly clings Even on the wintry tree. Or sportsman s blood, That loves to fight the battle out, nor whine Because we lose. IRAD. For two nights past I ve had A haunting vision, never taking shape, But whispering hope and comfort. TUBAL. Well, to-morrow You ll test its prophecy. IRAD. Not so; it pointed Beyond the morrow. If it whisper truth AND OTHER POEMS 111 Death s but a turnstile ; if deluding dream, Then let me die deluded; better so Than drugged in drunken stupor. TUBAL. As you will. I ve caused a thousand deaths, nor ever asked About the future; I ll not plague it now For my one funeral. IRAD. All is hushed behind us. TUBAL. Yea, Iban s rhapsodies are done. He As often earlier, o er his cup; nor knows What ushers come to bear him hence, nor fears Though they be strange and cold. IRAD. Twere wrong to leave them Neglected as they died while life is ours. Come, let us lay the dead in reverent state, And say a last goodby. TUBAL. Small care have they Who wrap their winding sheet or close their eyes, We now, or ocean soon. But yet we ll go. [Exeunt Irad and Tubal-cain. After a pause the ark of Noah floats near the mountain peak and anchors. Noah appears on it. Enter Irad from the temple with his head bowed in emo tion. ] IRAD. I had not thought to care; but such a scene, 112 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED The grim burlesque of joyful banquets gone, Is ghastly contrast. Ha! what s here? NOAH. Thou being That tread st this lonely eyrie, marked by God Last haven for His chosen, who art thou, Survivor or wan phantom? I RAD. Who I am Thou need st not know nor question. Weigh thine anchor And get thee gone. This rocky buttress here Will crack thy hull like nutshells if the wind But veer behind thee. NOAH. He who wields the wind With me is pilot. Thou art gaunt and worn, But like to one I knew. IRAD. If thou knew st good Spare thy dull eulogy; if thou knew st evil I ve suffered that should make detraction dumb. My part in life is ended; count me dead, Nor vex me more. Land not thy laughing crew To mock our shore of mourning. Turn thy prow To happier havens. NOAH. Art thou Irad? IRAD. Nay, I m but a cipher which the waves will wipe From off the slate of being. NOAH. Thou art he. Unhappy man, the storms that wrenched thy life Have left their traces. AND OTHER POEMS 113 IRAD. Yea, if you would know it, The dead have had revenge. Didst think to find me Obese and pampered, who have daily watched The death of all I loved, and nightly lain Upon the rack of conscience ? But our nerves Grow numb with suffering. Speak whate er you will; Tis naught to me. NOAH. One dear to both of us Pursued thy flight. IRAD. Ask not for him ; God took him. I would have burned in fire by inches for him. Fate willed not so. NOAH. Ah, well, we held him dead; Yet hope dies hard. IRAD. God curses all who love me. NOAH. He lives in heaven, is spared the lifelong toil Of earth s lone pioneers. He died for thee, Bequeathing thee to those he loved. IRAD. Would rather This head had been the first that ocean drowned ! NOAH. Arm not thy heart in this defiant mood, As if thy kin were foes ; nor think reproach Is on my lip. What s done is done, abhorred Alike by me and thee. Thy past and thou Be kept forever separate. IRAD. Would they were, That I, rejoicing, like a babe new-born 114 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Might feel thy love, if thou canst love me still. But tis not so. NOAH. Thy gloom has tutored thee To read all life awry. IRAD. Nay, rather turned These eyes within to read a truth severe. My lesson s learned. I ll blot no more with blood The record of my life, which sealed to-night Goes up in God s great archives. NOAH. Heaven forbid! The wind of death blows o er thy rock ; the waves Already make it slippery. Come with me. The love of God is wide, and meaner souls Float here to safety; why should one like thine Go down in darkness? Haste, embark; we ll steer For the glad haven of a fairer world. IRAD. And wilt thou venture this, remembering all? NOAH. And will I not ? I left thy doom to God, And God preserved thee. Now I ll fight no more Against the welling love within me. Come ! IRAD. Where should I go? to lay foundation deep For some new world to last till time is gray ? Wilt thou dig up the grave of Cain, that thence The plagues God buried there may walk again, And taint thy healthy children? NOAH. These are words. Thou rt wild with want and suffering. AND OTHER POEMS 115 IRAD. Nay, I m wise With wisdom burned upon my brain in fire. The love was deep that would have sheltered me, For that God bless thee. But my part in life Is all to cease, my praise and duty there. Thou know st not what a cursed heritage Is blood of Cain. With me the evil stream Goes ever underground. No child through time Shall call me father ; but the peopled years Will bless my name that I d no part in them. In that I ll know a patriarch s joy. Go on. Here I remain. NOAH. Will God count one whose courage Would die as martyr for mankind, to save The nations from himself, unworthy saving ? What stolid seaman, picked for life with me, Had dared as much? IRAD. Perchance, but, brave or mean, Their veins are full of growth and mine decay. If there be life beyond the grave, we ll meet Where we may live forever and be glad. If not, twill be some consolation still To gain my long-lost reverence for myself, And die a man. NOAH. Thou speak st like one whose purpose Was breathed from God. Who shall gainsay His will? Yet this gray head will whiten in a night If here I leave thee. 116 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED I RAD. Mourn not thou for me. And yet forget me not, for I may soon Live only in thy love. NOAH. No, life eternal Is waiting yonder. God Himself declared it By seer and vision. IRAD. Yea, these gilded creeds, I trust them not; in death they ring but hollow. Let others lull the heart with lotus dreams Of certainties unproved, I scorn their charm. But throwing all upon a gambler s chance, I ll dare to count the odds and yet believe, In blindness clinging. NOAH. Scorn not thou religion. It is the rainbow where the light of truth Broke up on human tears, a thing of earth, Yet sign of light in heaven. IRAD. So we ll trust. The winds are wheeling round, the waves roll inland, All churned in froth and dotted deep with rain. The storm is here. Begone, nor dare to tarry. Thou bear st a world; wreck not such precious freight By longer dallying. NOAH. Yet you will not come? VOICES FROM THE ARK. There, cut the anchor or we re lost ! Away ! AND OTHER POEMS 117 IRAD (as the ark floats away). Farewell! forget me not ! In our adieu New world and old forever say goodby. NOAH (from the distance). God be thy friend! We ll meet again beyond. [Enter Tubal-cain.] TUBAL. The night comes tumbling down like caving sand, With rain and whirlwind. Tis a noble hour To bide here lonely with the dead. Hello ! Ho, Irad, boy ! IRAD. I m here. TUBAL. Thy voice is strange. Give me thy hand. Is it the ocean spray Makes it so clammy cold? IRAD. No ghost am I, If that s your fear. How sweeps before the wind The feathery foam; and bolts begin to peal And bicker overhead. Were it not easy To shock with death beneath such martial music, That keys the will to battle ? Let it come ! TUBAL. This waiting chills the heart. Would ocean took Corporeal form with which a man could fight; Or sent as champion from its dismal camp Some monster of the deep. We d warm our blood In deadly grapple, sweetening with revenge The pang of dying. 118 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED IHAD. How the thunder grows ! What doors blow to in heaven ? who enter there ? What messengers of haste to tell the news That Cain s last remnant dies to-night, the race That vexed the eternal council is no more. Oblivion absolute beyond belief Mows down their memory. Never king nor sage Shall model laws from them, nor sculptor view Their cunning carvings ; bard nor architect Be taught by them. Nor shall the coming years Know aught except that like a glorious flame They burnt and passed away. Their name shall be A synonym for all that God abhors ; And buried deep beneath the wave-washed hills Their splendor lie forever, while the law By which they perished molds creation still. FINIS. OTHER POEMS ARMISTICE There lies a world far off in central space Where men have perished all, and beast and bird Have followed after. Nothing there has life, Save the rank vegetation, hiding deep In its soft lap of shade and living green Forgotten bones and tumbling walls of towns. Here Michael and the lost archangel once Met in their wanderings. Years had passed by thousands Since their last meeting. Sad was Satan s face, And sad grew Michael s gazing. Days of old Came rushing on the memories of them both, When by the courts of God as friend with friend They moved, and conscious strength that knew no peer Save in each other, drew their spirits close In mutual brotherhood, twin stars of Heaven. Then Satan spoke: "We meet where man is gone, This bone of old contention; nought is here To fight for longer ; now let battle rest. Come, ancient brother, one short day and night Let good and evil be a thing forgot, And all these bitter centuries. Let us sit And talk together here beneath the trees, As we were used in Heaven long ago." And Michael answered not, but doubting stood; 122 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Then Satan took the angel s harp, and sang To music sad a song of meaning strange. And dost thou shrink to clasp thy hand in mine? We both are servants of the will Divine, And thou shalt know it well by proof and sign In that far day when all shall have reward. Nor saviour here art thou, nor tempter I, For all the race of man are things gone by; None curse me here beneath this empty sky; Why dost thou linger, why am I abhorred? Nor good nor evil dwells in stones and herbs, Or where the hand of God the thunder curbs ; Nor good nor ill the ocean s deep disturbs ; In man alone we ever met and warred; Sweet peace was ours before his race began; Harsh battle since through all the ages ran; Now in this world that hears no more of man Why dost thou linger, why am I abhorred ? Worlds, worlds enough there are where we may meet To war in peopled square and clashing street; But now one hour of armistice were sweet, In deserts wide one fount with living sward. Thou knowest not what lonely things we are, Cold shadows from the Light that walks afar. Come, brother, come ; no cause is here for war. Why dost thou linger, why am I abhorred? AND OTHER POEMS 123 Thus sang the Soul of Mystery, and prevailed. And all day long upon a grassy knoll. Princes of good and evil now no more, But friend with friend, they rested. Far below In a great valley lay the skeletons Of some old battle, whelmed in weeds and fern, And roots of banyans curled around their bones. Northward, a huge square mass of shimmering green, Its corners beveled by the wind and rain, Vine-clad a crumbling fortress lay. No flag Fluttered above its ramparts; none could tell If this were tyrant s hold or Freedom s shrine. Southward a heap of grassy mounds proclaimed Where once had been a city ; homes and baths, Soft haunts of luring sin and dungeons dread, And churches towering Godward, all were now But tangled hillocks and the mantling brier. The upas dripped its poison on the ground Harmless; the silvery veil of fog went up From moldering fen and cold, malarial pool, But brought no taint and threatened ill to none. Far off, adown the mountain s craggy side From time to time the avalanche thundered^ sound ing Like sport of giant children, and the rocks Whereon it smote re-echoed innocently. Then in the silence Lucifer again Struck music from the angel s harp and sang. 124 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED I am the shadow that the sunbeams bring, I am the thorn from which the roses spring ; Without the thorn would be no blossoming, Nor were there shadow if there were no gleam. I am a leaf before a wind that blows, I am the foam that down tke current goes ; I work a work on earth that no man knows, And God works too, I am not what I seem. There comes a purer morn, whose stainless glow Shall cast no shadow on the ground below, And fairer flowers without the thorn shall blow, And earth at last fulfill her parent s dream. Oh, race of men who sin and know not why, I am as you, and you are even as I ; We all shall die at length, and gladly die; Yet even our deaths shall be not what they seem. Then Michael raised the golden lyre, and struck A note more solemn soft, and made reply. There dwelt a doubt within my mind of yore, I sought to end that doubt and labored sore ; But now I search its mystery no more, But leave it safe within the Eternal s hand. The tiger hunts the lamb and yearns to kill, Himself by famine hunted, fiercer still; And much there is that seems unmingled ill ; But God is wise, and God can understand. AND OTHER POEMS 125 All things on earth in endless balance sway, Day chases night and night succeeds the day; And so the powers of good and evil may Work out the purpose that His wisdom planned. Eternal day would parch the dewy mold, Eternal night would freeze the lands with cold; But wise was God who planned the world of old; I rest in Him, for He can understand. Yet good and evil still their wills oppose; And, serving both, we still must serve as foes On yon far globe that teems with human woes ; And Sin thou art, though God work through thy hand. But here the race of man is now no more ; The task is done, the long day s work is o er; One hour I ll dream thee what thou wert of yore, Though changed thou art, too changed to under stand. All day sat Michael there with Lucifer, Talking of things unknown to men, old tales And memories dating back beyond all time. And all night long beneath the lonely stars, That watched no more the sins of man, they lay, The angel s lofty face at rest against The dark cheek scarred with thunder. Morning came, And each departed on his separate way; But each looked back and lingered as he passed. 126 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE "MAN-EATER" The night is calm, nor threatens ill, Save where two glow-worms glimmer still In shadows distant. Unmoving while the moments go, Beyond the Kaffirs tents they glow, Bright, strange, insistent. Beneath the moonlight s ghostly hush Low crouches in the lonely brush A figure tawny, Like some old sphinx in granite carved, With hollow flank and visage starved, And muscles brawny. Patient, as heathen priests of eld Round gods of blood their vigil held, He waits unsleeping, Yet tense as springs of bended steel, With lip drawn back and planted heel, His vigil keeping. A fearful god he worships there, To whom our fathers offered prayer When earth was younger, A power for whom those burning eyes Are altar lamps of sacrifice, The god of hunger. AND OTHER POEMS 127 EARLY DEATH Down in the grasses that girdle the stream Sits she in light where the summer is warm, Claiming the promise of maidenhood s dream, Weaving the wonders the future may form. Daisies in dozens are round on the mold, One she has plucked and its petals has told To a rime that her grandmother chanted of old. Rich man poor man beggar man thief, Doctor lawyer merchant chief. Which shall it be that the sibyls unfold, Hero or hireling^ the weak or the well, Poverty s shadow or sunshine of gold? Nay, I could tell thee but shudder to tell. Wan are thy features and wistful to see; Others may dream of a bridegroom to be, But what have such maidens in common with thee? Rich man poor man beggar man thief, Doctor lawyer merchant chief. Rich is he, rich with the plunder of time, Poor in the pity a lover should bring, Beggar he is for the joy of thy prime, Thief of thy youth and the dream of thy spring; Doctor he is who all sorrow can heal, Lawyer whose pleading no tongue can gainsay, 128 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Merchant whose traffic no lip may reveal, Chieftain of chieftains whom all must obey. Slowly drop through thy fingers lean Petal and prophecy, can it mean That thou knowest the bridegroom who comes unseen ? AND OTHER POEMS 129 VOICES FROM ELFLAND I. THE APPEAL OF THE FAIRIES We make our home among the gurgling brooks, Or through the woods beneath the fragrant pine ; We tent beneath the autumn leaves, and float O er star-lit lake on flower and walnut shell. A happy life is ours, we never knew The pain or grief or care that mortals know, Nor ever steeped within our bubbling cup The stagnant herb of bitter melancholy. Yet oft the groans of mortals, and the breath Of passionate storms that shake their spirits, come To jar our placid world. The victim s blood Flows gross and feverish from his burning heart Around our dewy grass; and everywhere We hear the voice of aspirations vain, Till the hot air is from your cities blown As from a prairie fire. We come to loathe Your fierce extremes, your hate, your sultry kiss, Your joys that burn themselves to pain, your all. We hate your crucifix, for there survives Man s endless anguish on the dying face; We hate your creed, which forces on our lives Your alien sorrows ; grief has made your drops Of holy water scald like burning tears. Sweet flow the hours when ye are far away ; 130 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Beneath the moon we lie at rest, and breathe The scent of leaf and blade, and water-falls Made pure by winnowing air. And blest it was, Ere man had lived, o er earth to roam at will By tranquil lake and laughing sea, and valleys Where never grave was dug nor tear was shed, While yet the world was ours, nor yet had come With you the clamorous war of sense and soul. Mad creatures, mixed of clay and fire, whose eyes Are blinded with your tears, whose ears are deaf With dying sobs, that ye nor see nor hear When hills are fair and cataracts call aloud, What do ye in this lovely world of ours ? Here, like a stranded fish or drowning bird, With glazing eyes, in foreign wonderlands Ye pant for wonders in far, kindred worlds, And live not here nor there. Then leave to us This earth, whose use you never understand. Here, when your stormy race has ceased to be, On moon-lit nights our happy feet will dance Above your grassy hillocks, undisturbed By those burnt ashes from Prometheus torch. II. THE STOLEN CHILD Beneath the reddening oak tree Margery found A crowd of little people, some in green, And some in red and brown. In the faint light Their dress seemed all of withered autumn leaves. The dim, gray twilight and the starbeams mixed AND OTHER POEMS 131 Above their quaint, peaked faces, and grotesque Unchildlike forms, that yet were childish small. Then one among them blew a trumpet flower ; And all the rest from harps of elder, strung With spider s film, or else through flutes of grass Sent up a piping music, mixed with song. "Come, little princess, come with us," they sang; "We waited long; and long has waited too Your happy home with us, your fairy home. "Tis dark and none will miss you. Sweet it is In elfland. Little princess, come with us. Our fathers lived with yours in Paradise Ere Adam sinned ; brothers they were, so close Were once our bloods. We are the only race Who never ate the sad Forbidden Tree. Man ate, and good and evil tear him daily; The angels ate, and even their joys are stern; And Satan ate, we will not talk of him, Nor know him. Little princess, come with us. But all the elves through all the years have lived Like happy children; still for us alone The old untainted Eden breathes from clumps Of hazel thicket or from running brook, Or orchards dropping with the peach and pear. Where evil is not is no need of good; And where nor good nor evil is, is peace And peaceful dream, all the sweet, innocent joy Of childhood. Little princess, come with us. You are our cousin, so we come to love you; 132 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED You dream like us, and so we understand you ; You are a child, we ll keep you so forever. If you grow old with men, the fatal juice Of that sad Tree will work within your veins Hopes never satisfied, and maddening storms You wish not. Little princess, come with us." Dusk deepened into night, and morning came ; But Margery came not, nor was seen again. AND OTHER POEMS 133 THE LAST NIGHT OF CAPUA Far off beneath the stars Camped cold on dewy grass The wolf-nursed brood of Mars, Hacked helm and stained cuirass, And shields of dinted brass. The old centurion s cheek Wrinkled with laughter grim; "Dream-children of the Greek^ Who soften heart and limb O er lyre and bumper s brim, "Ye had your gold and pearls, Your feast and perfumed bath, Your song and laughing girls; Ye had, the Roman hath; Now wake and feel his wrath. "Strength rules the world and will, The strength despising joy That lives but to fulfill; Such force shall Rome employ To build, or to destroy." 134 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED II High arched the halls and rich O er gem and purple gown; From fount and graven niche The marble gods looked down On those in Capua s town. Rare wine in golden bowls The mantling poison held, While o er their parting souls Luxurious music swelled, Their sires had loved of eld. "Farewell to life," they cried, "To Rome defiant scorn; Like men we lived and died, And drank from Plenty s horn Glad night and joyous morn. "White arms have lulled our rest, Old wine has warmed our veins ; We shared with friend and guest Carved hall and chiming strains, And all that Greece contains. "Jeer on, ye Roman powers, Who toil, ye know not why; The wiser choice was ours, Strength to be glad and die; Sweet were the days gone by. AND OTHER POEMS 135 "Life s fairest gift we gained, Soft bliss and golden ease; Now that the cup is drained Let Rome enjoy the lees." So darkness covered these. 136 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE COMING OF PEACE "When cometh Peace?" the heathen wailed of old From rack and blazing home; and God replied: "Not yet, while passions fierce and uncontrolled Make Peace a nation s harlot, not a bride. Not while the pang that searches nerve and vein Alone can rouse to life the stagnant soul In brutal lands, where ease from war and strain But heralds lust and fills the drunkard s bowl." "When cometh Peace?" went up the Orient s groan. Not yet, while life becomes it own worst foe With teeming birth, and War s red axe alone Through human forest hews the room to grow; Not yet, while power is still the victim s dream, And tyranny the meanest slave s delight, Where Tamerlane and Ghengis Khan but seem Composite pictures of the men they smite. "When cometh Peace?" is now the world s appeal. Not yet, though far her hastening steps we hear ; Not while her bristling angels, armed in steel, On cowering lands impose the truce of fear, Not while we force a code on murmuring foes Which our own rulers violate and annul; Not while the only peace each nation knows Would give themselves the Land Debatable. AND OTHER POEMS 137 "When cometh Peace?" Upon the mountains now Those beauteous feet the gladsome tidings bear; But I shall see her bridal not, nor thou; Nor man shall win till man has learned to wear. No cry of bards, no long-conferring kings Shall ever make the battle s thunder dumb; When winter s blasts are o er the violet springs, When earth is ripe for Peace then Peace will come. 138 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THOUGHTS ON OPENING WEBSTER S DICTIONARY I turn with awe this ponderous volume o er, This household counselor, these finely wrought And hammered keys that open door on door Through the vast treasury of a people s thought. I linger here o er Milton s quoted phrase As Indian rajahs o er a diamond may, And see sometimes within its facets blaze A gleam that flashed from God s eternal day. And these old roots of words, that seem to stand So dull and dry upon the printed page, Take on beneath imagination s hand The charm of history and the rime of age. Here s evolution more than Darwin taught In these ancestral footprints; here behold The spirit growth of nations, word and thought Developing each other from of old. What spirit first upon his lonely beach Felt solitude like ocean round him roll, And launched the ships of passion-laden speech, Columbus-like, to find a brother soul? AND OTHER POEMS 139 What words were those that ventured outward bound, Those clumsy craft, those first rude pioneers, Where now the mighty galleons of sound Waft on the thought of twice a thousand years ? Were they the brute s low call of pain and greed, Or sounds man echoed back and knew not why ? Or growing notes to voice a growing need, Like Caliban s half- formulated cry? And through the centuries since what change was here As click and guttural s broken hints were turned To spirit-molded music, breathing clear, To bear what Plato dreamed and Newton learned. Still mid the minds that think and hearts that feel, Expressing what was never yet expressed, New ships of sound are launched on chiming keel, To bear some new Columbus through the west. Still many a word is token and no more, Frail envoy of a thought no speech can bear ; Who shall interpret, say, these letters four, This one word "Life"? The universe is there. 140 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Or take this other, "Love"; its meanings go From height to depth through vast creation s whole, From flowers that waft their pollen to and fro To God s all-seeing eye and moving soul. And here, the joy of life, the balm of death, The star of martyrs, comfort of mankind, Is this word "Faith," a syllable, a breath, A marsh-fire s lamp, and boundless night behind. Brave Webster, noble Webster, you did well; But yet through many a year must language grow Ere man to man shall have the power to tell One half the things that now we think we know. AND OTHER POEMS 141 A VISION OF EVIL I saw a realm at midnight still, (Who knows if this be dream or true?) Where earth s discarded souls of ill The scorn of God together blew. There floats unceasing to and fro The chaff from heaven s threshing floor, Through endless ages waning slow, For evil fades for evermore. They waste like leaves on winter s tree; (Who knows if this be dream or true?) The newly come are fair to see, As when they walked with me and you. But souls of eld are faint and thin Like vapors blown on ocean shore, And life is moldering deep within, For evil fades for evermore. There moves Napoleon splendid still, (Who knows if this be dream or true?) With flashing eyes and kingly will, As when he rode to Waterloo. But Timur scarce has form of man, And pride and memory all are o er; The stars gleam through his phantom wan, For evil fades for evermore. 142 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED The queen Antonius loved and kissed, (Who knows if this be dream or true?) Is thinner now than parting mist. And mind and will have withered too. And nought is left of Priam s boy, Who drew the ships to Ilion s shore, For, sinful wrath or selfish joy, All evil fades for evermore. And round them moves, a ghostly blur, (Who knows if this be dream or true?) The Soul of Evil, Lucifer, As he has done the ages through. He thinks no more of thrones and wars, No trace is his of glory o er; He floats like fog across the stars, His power is fading evermore. AND OTHER POEMS 143 WASTED SEEDS The seed that never grew Had life within the germ; But skies withheld their dew, And fields but gave the worm ; What matter? Earth has seeds to spare and not a few. The soul that never bloomed Had dreams of God within; But want its life consumed, And curse for others sin; What matter? Earth has souls enough though these were doomed. The tribe that fades away Had visions fair as we; But withered stalks are they, Whose race shall cease to be ; What matter? Earth has tribes enough though these decay. What matter? Yet the cry Goes up and is not stilled; Life s verdure waxes high Where love and wisdom tilled; But who shall hush the sob of wasted seeds that die? 144 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE BUTTERFLY THE MAN Dancer throned at Summer s board, Butterfly, Even while thy wine is poured Death is nigh. One short hour of balm and sun Thou hast had; Lo, at thy feast the skeleton; Why so glad? THE INSECT Hast thou ever known extreme Joys and fears? Did not then a moment seem Like to years ? When thy heart was keen with grief, Or with glee, Were not hours to others brief Long for thee? Time s a word ; whole worlds are found In drops of dew, And eternity s vast round In moments few. AND OTHER POEMS 145 While I sip the wine of youth From the cup, Dreams that last as long as truth Bubble up. Ages past and more to come Live I through While but once the pendulum Swings for you. When I part from summer s beam, Leaf and flower, All eternity will seem But an hour. THE MAN Art thou fly or Psyche, thou, Learned so deep? What do human spirits now, Do they sleep? THE INSECT Fly or Psyche, who can tell? A voice am I, Speaking things you shall know well By and by. Life for me will be forgot When I am through ; You must ask your Father what It is for you. 146 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Yet if they sleep, a dream has blest The eyes that slept Which all eternity compressed Within it kept. AND OTHER POEMS 147 THE ORIOLE Chorister of air, On the bough of spring, What melodious throat and where Taught thee thus to sing? From what isle remote Out of man s control, Came thy clear, untroubled note, Oriole? What did Eden lose That doth here endure, Gushing forth as waters ooze, Effortless and pure? Why can I not know, God in shape and role, Whence thy heart rejoices so, Oriole ? When God made thy brain Like a silver bell, Forged He other nerves of pain, Other joys as well? Was the dream that poured Music in thy soul Older than the Flaming Sword, Oriole? 148 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Nay, too surely, bird, More thy song conveyed Through this human brain that heard Than the brain that made. Not thy voice, but one Echoing in my soul, Hints all truth, revealing none, Oriole. Yet at Wisdom s feet Was learned thy mimic trill; Soulless echoes thus repeat God on Horeb s hill. Deep in learning s maze Delve we like the mole; Thou hast drunk the Maker s days, Oriole. Truths there are that here Reason cannot find, Where her eyes are piercing clear, Nathless color-blind. Lights there are whose hues Change creation s whole, Which thy thoughtless song renews, Oriole. AND OTHER POEMS 149 Music like thy staves Surely ne er can flow From our gilded galley-slaves, Living but to row. Mightier lamps are dark, Dry wick and empty bowl; What oil has fed thy tiny spark, Oriole? God, whose fingers press Life s unthinking keys, Pouring thoughts that none express Through such pipes as these, When the skies are rent Like a rending scroll Tell me what Thy music meant, Thy oriole. 150 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE NIGHT-WATCH (From a painting representing lions prowling at night around the ruins of Nineveh.) Slowly at midnight lone Round dust and nodding stone Of Nineveh o erthrown The night-watch makes its round, Bright burning eyes of awe, Low purr and stealthy paw, Soldiers that know no law Which man has found. Well might the Buddhist seer Think buried kings severe Came back incarnate here In kindred beasts of prey. And so we too the while, Half with a doubting smile, May dream, while that grim file Moves on its way. Speak, thou mysterious guard, Lank cheek and body scarred, Find ye your penance hard Through all this vast of time, AND OTHER POEMS 151 Souls of the kings of eld, Who against God rebelled, Proud of the realms ye held, Drunken with crime? Where now your answers glib, Starved throat and hollow rib, Long-fanged Sennacherib, Tiglath with yellow mane? What wine has vengeance poured In realms yet unexplored For those who by the sword Slay and are slain? Say, has a power been found More strong than monarchs crowned? Have those sharp swords you ground Failed there, so mighty here? Have ye no truth to tell Might fit the present well, Where still your sons would swell The reign of fear? Here where your wine ye quaffed, At captives anguish laughed, And notched the hunter s shaft, What thoughts to-night are yours? Cannot those silent jaws Ope once in Mercy s cause, To tell us God has laws And God endures? 152 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Pass on with stealthy tread, Brutes ravening to be fed, Or souls of tyrants dead, Whiche er ye be, goodnight. O er Nineveh s decay For lions comes the day, And for dead kings the sway Of Peace and Right. AND OTHER POEMS 153 SHAKESPEARE TO IMOGEN Dear saint, my soul was marred and stained That built thy shrine; But holy, sweet, and unprofaned It treasured thine. Let this reveal while I and thou Through years endure, How worldly, sinful men may bow To women pure. Thou art not I, but art of me, My child of thought, The thing that I had longed to be, And yet was not. 154 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED TRUTH Truth veiled her face from men In days of eld ; Glimpses alone since then Have we beheld. The Hebrew moved aside That curtain s fold; "Worship is truth/ he cried O er rituals old. The Greek with trembling hand That face laid bare; What he could understand Was Beauty there. Her veil the Roman drew With martial awe; He saw but what he knew, And whispered, "Law." The monk of Europe dreamed In cloisters dim; As inward vision seemed Her face to him. And we in glimpses rare On that high brow, O er rights that all may share See Freedom now. AND OTHER POEMS 155 Ah, Truth, the world s long dream But shows us thee As in some whirling stream The stars we see. Sweet face in fragments glassed On waves that break, Who shall from these at last Thy image make ? 156 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE DIVINE COMEDY OF TO-DAY INFERNO Three faces in the crowd; What saw st thou there? Like Farinata s one was scarred and proud, And still for all its pride left quivering bare Sin s agonized despair. PURGATORIO Three souls amid the crowd; They passed like dreams; With tearful eyes the second head was bowed ; But o er it shone, like light on bitter streams, The sorrow that redeems. PARADISO Three worlds amid the crowd, So near yet far; Joy kindled all the third like burning cloud; Love rose, like Beatrice from her mystic car, To lead from star to star. Three faces in the crowd, Life old and new. Oh, soul of Dante, thus by God endowed, Six centuries men have lived and died since you; And yet your song is true. AND OTHER POEMS 157 A FAIRY STORY "Now tell me why is your hair so white, You stern old man from across the way; And why did you wait so long to-night By the grassy grave where the roses lay?" "You are young, my child, and to understand You must live and suffer -for many a day; Come, I ll tell you a story of fairy land, To help you in whiling the hours away." Far under the wilds of the storm-swept snow In the silent caves of the Northern Pole, Where over the plains the whirlwinds blow, Was the home of the elf-king Imranole. All bright with silver and veined with gold Were those caverns hammered by gnome and troll; But lonely ever and wintry cold Was the heart of the elfin Imranole. But once on a night that was fierce with frost, When the ice would burn you like burning coal, A mortal maiden, whose way was lost, Came, none know how, to the Northern Pole. The icicles hung in her yellow hair As her trembling feet o er the threshold stole; Without was the dark and the polar bear, And she made her dwelling with Imranole. 158 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Never a whisper nor mortal sound Was heard in those caves of the Northern Pole, Where the maiden sat as the years rolled round, Taught and tended by gnome and troll, Till her terror died, and a mighty love Over her heart like music stole; And the bridal lamps gleamed bright above, As she knelt by her lover, soul to soul. But there came a call from the realms of death, From the God of Sorrows, whom none control, So hard is heaven to earth beneath; And she died on the bosom of Imranole. They laid her deep in the frozen clay, And heaped the snow in a wintry knoll, Where the Northern Lights at midnight play O er the buried bride of the Northern Pole. And there when the winds blow wild and bleak From ancient glacier and icy shoal, The tear drops freeze on the withered cheek Of a lonely watcher, tis Imranole. His hair streams white on the howling blast, And his beard waves white, like a floating scroll ; And I know his grief by a sorrow past, And the silent bond of a kindred soul. "But really, truly, and was it so, You stern old man from across the way? And why is your voice so strange and low, And why are you crying at what you say?" AND OTHER POEMS 159 "0 child, sometime you will understand, My friends are few, and my head is gray; But this was a story of fairy land. And the Northern Pole is far away" 160 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE SEACOAST IN WINTER The stinging winds alternate freeze and burn; Chill gleams the twilight where the sun went down, Four threads of cloud across it, faint and stern, Like scars across the lost archangel s frown. Cold, dark, forbidding heaves the wintry surge; The frozen rocks are drenched with icy spray ; One lonely steamer on the horizon s verge Seems numbed and torpid, crawling on its way. A fierce, strange thrill pervades all out-of-doors, Grip of wild hands, half friendly and half foe ; The iron night grows darker down the shores ; Suffering yet glad I breast the winds that blow. Here stirs the life that warmed the old sea-kings To scoucge the laggard blood in heart and vein, The warrior joy that like Athena springs Full armed and conquering from the head of Pain. AND OTHER POEMS 161 SCHOOL-GIRLS They pass like flowers afloat On summer air, Gold locket at the throat And wind-kissed hair. Still fresh the dew of youth Around them falls; Through visions robed like truth The future calls. Speak not, their dream revere; Yet mourn we may For other school-girls here Who dreamed as they. How fare those now for whom Life beckoned splendid? Unlike their dream and doom, Their vision ended. No mighty grief nor wrong Could they disclose; Dream tragedies are song, But life s are prose. Yet mournful from the past Their words float hither: "Few hopes will thunder blast; But many wither." 162 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE EVENTLESS TRAGEDY A DYING WOMAN SPEAKS Sister, remain and watch to-night. There are ghastly hours between twelve and morn; And I think of what never has come to light, Of all in my life that has died unborn, Till the air seems filled witk the whisperings Of the haunting ghosts of the unborn things, Now that my evil and good are done. There was love, twofold in its mystic thrill, With its soft inweaving of will in will, And two worlds made one through the eyes of two ; But its death was old ere its life was new. And Sloth and Mammon bend hushed above The beautiful face of that still-born Love, Now that my sordid life is done. There were voices of children in elflands green, With a mother s ease like a hedge between ; Eyes she had longed for and dreamed of seeing, Eyes that she never had called to being. And the air seems filled with the moan forlorn Of the clinging ghosts of the babes unborn, Now that my indolent life is done. AND OTHER POEMS 163 There was joy of nature and song and art, That I might have nursed in my lonely heart, Soft shoots that time would have rendered firm. But they shrank and withered in bud and germ. And my hours of boredom are coffined there Where the thoughts of the mighty were mine to share, Now that my aimless life is done. There was need without and my wealth within, And the pleasure that makes us of God s own kin In a sympathy wide as the race of man. But its whispers died ere they well began. And the clerks of hell are in Midnight s tent To audit the books of the trust I spent, Now that my thoughtless life is done. There were life-giving dreams for that near unseen, That died in the march of our dull routine, Things that God never had meant to die, But we killed them within me the world and I And the shades are in judgment, the doom defer- ring Of a soul that quickened and died in stirring; And the clocks of midnight are tolling one For a life that was ended but ne er begun, For a life that was wasted, and now is done. 164 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE VISIT TO THE OLD FARM Far lies the cramped and clanging street Where now my paths of life are cast ; Like withered leaves the buried past Seems rustling here around my feet. No tree that buds on all these lands, Nor tumbling wall, nor sagging rail, Nor tufted sod on plain or swale, But bears the touch of buried hands. Tis haunted ground, rock, hill, and spring. Five generations of my dead Have worn it with their lifelong tread, And made the soil a kindred thing. In dreams through changing visions rolled Forgotten toil my hands pursue, While wakes the spell my childhood knew, The unlonely loneliness of old. Again behind the plowman s share The robin pecks with watchful eye; And through the blue and boundless sky The darting swallows wheel in air. The daisy falls, a twinkling spark, Where through the grass the mower drives ; And childlike shrinks between the knives The flower that bore the meadow lark. AND OTHER POEMS 165 Through yonder woods in winter hoar, When drearily moans the forest bleak, And frost makes tree and timber creak, We fell the hermit trunks once more. Loud rings the axe in woodlands lone; And gnarled oak and tapering ash With warning crack and shattering crash Come thundering down on bush and stone. Penurious life it was, and hard; But boundless sweep of vale and hill Enringed our day, and vast and still Looked down the night from heaven o er- starred. Streams choose a random course, but then Flow ever there; our youth no less Builds random laws of happiness By which we laugh or weep as men. Still breathes the charm from rock and fall, From sprouting corn and crumpled fern, Lone, somber, sexless, dumb, and stern, But luring as the siren s call. Still solitude will own her child, And harsh old mother Nature hers; Unlaid the ghost of memory stirs, The dream, the summons of the wild. 166 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED ON PLACING A TOMBSTONE OVER MY FATHER S GRAVE The air is hushed, and quiet all the scene ; In sunlight gleam the kindred graves around; As o er these summer grasses, springing green, We place this stone above this lowly mound. Unmarked he lived and unregarded died Who slumbers here; much dared, endured, and willed ; Seemed great to friends and God and none beside, Foundation deep where fates denied to build. Yet, dust beloved, couldst thou but know how crowd Thick coming memories round thy noteless bed, Thou might st be proud to know thy children proud Of their unknown, unstained, unconquered dead. Obscure and shunned the path twas his to go, Yet one at which the boldest heart might quail, Through bitter, hopeless years descending slow Disease s dark, Apollyon-haunted vale. Despair and anguish round on every hand, And Reason rocking on her crumbling throne, Few sympathizing, none to understand, He fought his dreary fight unhelped, alone. AND OTHER POEMS 167 The hero s death is all his children s pride. Is not his praise as great who dared to live, When every day in lingering pain he died, And death was all that life had left to give ? Less brave than Plassey s conquering chief or more Was he, who watched through nights with anguish long, To shun, Ulysses-like, that fatal shore Where floats the opiate siren s drowsy song? Failed every hope whence youths their manhood draw; And Reason setting knew what night ensued; Such foes as happier courage never saw Walked through the dusk, and found him unsub dued. And still his love for those he left behind, While yet one spark of dying memory stayed, Like sunset flames lit up that ruined mind, Till darkness gathering wrapped the whole in shade. O father flesh and brother spirit, still From out thy dust thy voice ascends to me; Whene er in life shall bend my wavering will Here will I kneel and draw in strength from thee. 168 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED Thine was the Roman face and Roman soul Of old Pompeii s sentry ; father, thou Saw st clouds more dread than his o er heaven roll, Stood st faithful at thy post, and sleepest now. Thou need st no further honor, art but one Of many more, a long, unnoticed line ; Yet not in vain thy nameless task was done ; The strength of nations roots in graves like thine. Here o er his dust we raise this humble stone ; And be the dying words of Paul for him, "A goodly fight I fought, my race I won, My faith I kept." Away, the night grows dim. AND OTHER POEMS 169 THE FAREWELL TO REASON Sweet Comforter of other years, I hear thy soft withdrawing tread ; Thy voice is yet within mine ears, But sounds like echoes from the dead. Now child and drudge and Folly hoar Shall share at least some glimpse of thee ; But, blest Interpreter, no more Shall thou and I companions be. We traced the dome that Darwin piled, With Herschel saw the planets roll, And oft the evening hours beguiled With Mozart s lyre and Plato s scroll. Through thee the voice of wife and friend Came chiming soft and silver clear; Twas thine those angel notes to blend Which ruined mind shall never hear. But now these chords too finely spun, This spirit-harp within my brain, I feel them snapping one by one, Amid the dread no words explain. I see behind the Flaming Sword, The vales of Eden trod no more ; And bitter, dark, and unexplored The alien deserts wait before. 170 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE CORN-HUSKERS OR OLD NEW ENGLAND In open field in autumn weather We sat and husked the corn together; No sound was heard but far and low The rumbling cart and cawing crow. The weather-beaten shocks around Seemed hermits old with sun embrowned, Above the stubble gaunt and bare You half might think they knelt in prayer. We spoke of him by Avon s stream, Of Byron s fire and Shelley s dream, What Huss endured and Luther wrought, And Berkeley s fairy world of thought. Still fast the yellow ears we stripped Across the basket s edges slipped, The withered stalks our fingers stirred Kept rustling time to every word. No scholars we ; but hearts that long, Find much where most they reason wrong; And Truth herself seemed speaking near By withered husk and ripened ear. AND OTHER POEMS 171 Now o er the stubble gaunt and bare Plods on the foreign hireling there; And thou and I in autumn weather No more shall husk the corn together. With chilling blood and weary brow I change romance for knowledge now; And thou beneath the moldering ground No longer tell st what thou hast found. 172 THE WORLD THAT GOD DESTROYED THE FAMILY BIBLE Grave Book of Ages, hope in hours of terror For those who now shake hands with truth divine, Some say thy reign is done, thy wisdom error, But rule thou still my father s house and mine. God never meant between thy leaves to send us Reply to all our questions, urged in vain ; His truth, like ocean s flood, is too tremendous For human cup to hold, or lip to drain. But still in pondering o er these mighty questions Which none but God can solve, through thee we grow More like to God, who knows them; vague sugges tions Enlarge the spirit-cup where truth may flow. And round thy solemn text, by buried fathers Made corner-stone of council, fort, and shrine, A crowd of thoughts from years forgotten gathers, A spirit margin, glossing every line. That margin is the comment of the ages On doubt and answer, faith, and good, and sin, The truth that man read into these old pages No less the truth than that inscribed within. AND OTHER POEMS 173 Whate er this book had first of God s bestowing, Direct or not its message from above, Round it, like vines upon a trellis growing, Hang now our sweetest flowers of thought and love. The martyr s blood its cherished page has blotted; Dumb worlds grew vocal round it, "ay" or "nay" ; Dead lips have kissed it; tears the words have spotted Which say that God shall wipe all tears away. star of morning, dim in shadows darkling, Faint hint of light no mortal eyes can bear, Like Galahad s Grail I see thy promise sparkling Above the dead to bid me follow there. From out thy page the wakened visions flying Like sibyls leaves are scattered to and fro. 1 ask, and seem to hear a voice replying, "Man grows by asking, though he ne er may know." 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. RENEWALS ONLYTEL NO. 642-3405 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. UCLA INTERLIBRARY L< >AN NOV 1 2 196 ONE MONTH AFTSRRH-H 1 ECx: LD21A-60m-6, 69 (J9096slO)476-A-32 General Library University of California Berkeley 255792