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 F E S T U S 
 
 A POEM 
 
 BY 
 
 PHILIP JAMES BAILEY. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS BY IIAMMETI BILLINGS. 
 
 FROM TUB THIRD LONDON KDITION. 
 
 NEW VOUK 
 
 WOKTHINGTON CO., 747 BROADWAY 
 
 1889
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by 
 Benjamin B. MrssEr & Compasv, 
 
 in the Clerk's OtBce nf the District Court of the District of Massadiusetts 
 
 Copyright. ISsn. by 
 THOS. R. KNOX & CO. 
 
 CoPYBieiiT. 1.SS9, 
 By WORTIIISGTON CO.
 
 1 
 
 St 
 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 ^ My Father ! unto thee, to whom I owe 
 
 All that I am, all that I have and can, 
 Who madest me in thyself the sum of man 
 In all his generous aims and powers to know. 
 These first fruits bring I ; nor do thou foi'ego 
 Marking when I the boyish feat began, 
 \i^ Which numbers now near three years from its plan, 
 
 vj Not twenty summers had imbrowned my brow. 
 Life is at blood-heat every page doth prove. 
 tS Bear with it. Nature means Necessity. 
 '^ If there be aught which thou canst love, it sprmgs 
 
 ^k„ Out of the hope that I might earn that love, 
 ^ More unto me than immortality, 
 
 >^ Or to have strung my harp with golden strings. 
 
 1839 
 
 4^^7454
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE Ah-EiilCAN P^UI'llON. 
 
 We hero present to the American public a booic wiiich 
 has produced no little sensation in England, and which 
 has been, for some time, known to many in this country. 
 But although the first edition was issued six years since, 
 it has had but a limited circulation among us ; and it is 
 believed that, in republishing " Frstus," wc not only per- 
 form a work which its merits demand, but open, for the 
 first time, to many who will appreciate it, a great and 
 original poem. The peculiar value of the second English 
 edition, from which this is printed, consists in the " Proem," 
 which was not attached to the first. 
 
 With many minds, it will be difficult to acquit the 
 author from the charge of irreverence. For this purpose, 
 we refer to his vindication in the Proem and in the body 
 of the work ; by which the reader will perceive that he 
 is free from irreverence in spirit, whatever question there 
 may bo as to tlie propriety of certain forms of expres-
 
 6 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 sion. As to the extravagances, which all will discover 
 they are the extravagances of deep and eloquent passion — 
 the luxuriant overgrowth of a profoundly rich soil. With 
 all its faults, " Festus " is a great poem — a mine of thought 
 and imagery. Tt is perfectly safe to prrr ounce it one of 
 the most powerla. and splendid prodactions of the age.
 
 ?[Itti5trii!iaii5, 
 
 liOCtFER OVERTHROWN BY MICHAEL. Viobitt* Titu 
 
 l^aCIFEE ASKS LEAVE TO TEMPI' J! EST US 27 
 
 FESTUS AND LUCIFER ON THE UOUNIAIN AT SuSRISK 68 
 
 FESTU8 AND CLARA IN THE GJIEDEN, Ill 
 
 THE EIDE. FESTUS AND LUCIFER 139 
 
 FESTUS WORSHIPPING . , , 206 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF FESTUS DISEMBODIED ... 218 
 
 FESTUS AND THE ANGEL 390 
 
 IHE GUARDIAN ANGEL OF EARTH FLYING DISCOVSOlATE ROUND 
 
 THE HEAVENS 490 
 
 FESTUS THRONED OVER THE EARTH 594 
 
 BIILLENNIAL F^ARTH. FATTH. HOPE AN" T-OVE DESCIWD BOP 
 
 DESCENT OF AZRAEL PX 
 
 LCCIFFJl RESTORED TO HIS ANGELIC rilATK ... «30
 
 PROEM. 
 
 This time is equal to all time that's past 
 Of like extent, nor needs to hide its face 
 Before the fiiture. Each is missioned here. 
 Our God is still as kind, and all His gifts 
 Like wondrous, like unlimited, like fair, 
 As when the wind first blew. Man is to God 
 That he hath ever been. Still shines the sun 
 As Keen and pure on the gray rotting rock, 
 As on the universal matter once. 
 Ere now marmoreal floods had spread their couch 
 Of purdurable snow, or granite wrought 
 Its skyward impulse from earth's hearth of fire 
 Up to insanest heights. And still to them 
 Who live alone with nature and with God, 
 Smile with the sun, and sadden with the moon, 
 The elements their brethren, e'en a^ men, 
 Oome gifts unasked, unmeasured like the ligli*" 
 a
 
 10 PROEM. 
 
 "Which lights at countless points the formless whole. 
 
 "Wherefore let us too bless God and take lieart ; 
 
 All ages are His children, and all worlds 
 
 Form from His breath Uke dew-drops out of air ; 
 
 He life ia all infusing. Xor is this 
 
 An outlawed orb nor excommunicate. 
 
 All things He makes, He loves and blesses too, 
 
 And renders rich Avith gifts and powers ; that each 
 
 Teaching themselves and others, Him may learn. 
 
 One gift to some, to some another. Thus 
 
 Nature is justly deemed of but by few, 
 
 And Avisdom scantly welcomed; for her fare 
 
 Lacks dainties, though to aU she setteth forth 
 
 Her homely bread, and hospitable wine, 
 
 And sacred salt. And though we should by art 
 
 Bring earth to gas, and desiccate the sea 
 
 To a thin sheet of vapor, we shall yet 
 
 Find, in the end, the volume of the world 
 
 Is legible alone to those who use 
 
 The interlinear version of the light ; 
 
 "WTiich is the spirit's and given within ourselves. 
 
 Poetry is itself a thing of God ; 
 He made His prophets poets: and the more 
 We feel of poesie do we become 
 Like God in Iovq and power, — under-makers. 
 And song is of the supernatural
 
 PROEM. 11 
 
 Natural utterance ; and solely can 
 Speak the unbounded beauty of the world, 
 And the premortal concords of pure mind. 
 All great lays, equals to the mmds of men, 
 Deal more or less with the Divine, and have 
 For end some good of mind or soul of man. 
 The mind is this world's, but the soul is God's ; 
 The wise man joins them here all in his power. 
 The high and holy works, amid lesser lays, 
 Stand up like churches among village cots ; 
 And it is joy to think that in every age. 
 However much the world was wrong therein, 
 The greatest works of mind or hand have been 
 Done unto God. So may they ever be! 
 It shows the strength of wish we have to be great, 
 .\nd the sublime humility of might. 
 
 True fiction hath in it a higher end 
 Than fact ; it is the possible compared 
 With what is merely positive, and gives 
 To the conceptive soul an inner world, 
 A higher, ampler Heaven than that wherein 
 The nations sun themselves. In that bright state 
 Are met the mental creatures of the men 
 Whose names are writ highest on the rounded crown 
 Of Fame's triumphal arch ; the shining shapes 
 Which star the skies of that invisible land,
 
 12 PROEM 
 
 "Wliich, whosoe'er would enter, let him leani ; - 
 
 'Tis not enough to draw forms fair and lively. 
 
 Their conduct likewise must he beautiful ; 
 
 A hearty holiness must crown the work, 
 
 As a gold cross the minster-dome, and show. 
 
 Like that instonement of divinity. 
 
 That the whole building doth belong to God. 
 
 And for the book before us, though it were, 
 
 "VNHiat it is not, supremely little, like 
 
 The needled angle of a high church spire. 
 
 Its sole end points to God the Father's glor}% 
 
 From all eternity seen ; making clear 
 
 His might and love in saving sinful man. 
 
 For though sin-saturated like a wick 
 
 In wax, consuming with cathartic fire. 
 
 The spirit yet enshrmed in Heaven shall shine, 
 
 A burning glory dedicate to God. 
 
 One bard shows God as He deals with states and 
 
 kings ; 
 Anotlier, as He dealt with the first man ; 
 Another, as with Heaven and earth and heU ; 
 Ours, as He loves to order a chance soul 
 Chosen out of the world, from first to last. 
 All points arc central to the Infinite : 
 Therefore it is that Deity which fills 
 The spheres, unnumbered but of Him who made
 
 PROEM. 1 ri 
 
 The space-existent whole, one human heart 
 
 With equal power and specialty inspires. 
 
 And all along it is the heart of man 
 
 Emblemed, created and creative mind. 
 
 It is a statued mind and naked heart 
 
 "Which is struck out. Other bards di'aw men di-essp<i 
 
 "In manners, customs, forms, aonearances 
 
 Laws, places, times, and countless accidents 
 
 Of peace or polity : to hun these are not ; 
 
 He makes no mention, takes no compt of them : — 
 
 But shows, however ^reat his doubts, sms, trials. 
 
 AVliatever earthborn pleasures soil man's soul. 
 
 What power soever he may gain of evil. 
 
 That still, till death, time is ; that God's great Heaven 
 
 Stands open day and nijjht to man and spirit ; 
 
 For all are of the race of God, and have 
 
 In themselves good. The life-writ of a heart, 
 
 Wliose firmest prop and highest meaning was 
 
 The hope of serving God as poet-priest, 
 
 And the belief that He would not put back 
 
 Love-ofTerings, th.ouprh brcight to TJ^'^rx by hands 
 
 Unclean and earthy, even as faUen ffian's 
 
 Must be ; and most of all, the thankful show 
 
 Of His high power and goodness in redeeming 
 
 And blessing souls that love Him, spite of sin 
 
 And their old earthy strain, — these are the aims.
 
 14 PROEM. 
 
 The doctrines, truths, and staple of the story. 
 
 What theme sublinier than soul being saved? 
 
 'Tis the bard's aim to show the mind-made world 
 
 Without, within; how the soul stands with God, 
 
 And the unseen realities about us. 
 
 It is a view of life spiritual 
 
 And earthly. Let all look u;t:»ju it, .hen, 
 
 In the same light it was drawn and colored in; 
 
 In faith, in that the writer too hath faith- 
 
 Albeit an eifect, and not a cause. 
 
 Faith is a higher faculty than reason, 
 
 Though of the brightest power of revelation • 
 
 As the snow-headed mountain rises o'er 
 
 The lightning, and applies itself to Heaven. 
 
 We know ia daytime there are stars about us. 
 
 Just as at night, and name them what and wiiere 
 
 By sight of science ; so by faith we know. 
 
 Although we may not see them till our night, 
 
 That spirits are about us, and believe, 
 
 That, to a spiiit's eye, all Heaven may be 
 
 As full of angels as a beam of light 
 
 Of motes. As spiritual, it shows all 
 
 Classes of life, perhaps, above our kind, 
 
 Known to tradition, reason, or God's word, 
 
 "WTiose bright foundations are the heights of Heaven. 
 
 As earthly, it embodies most the life
 
 PROEM. 15 
 
 Of youth, its powers, its aims, its deeds, its failings ; 
 And, as a sketch of world-life, it begins 
 And ends, and rightly, in Heaven and with God; 
 While Heaven is also in the midst thereof. 
 God, or aU good, the evil of the world. 
 And man, wherein are both, are each displayed. 
 The mortal is the model of all men. 
 The foibles, follies, trials, sufFermgs — 
 And manifest and manifold are they — 
 Of a young, hot, unworld-schooled heart that has 
 Had its own way in Hfe, and wherein all 
 May see some Ukeness of their own, — 'tis these 
 Attract, unite, and, sunlike, concentrate 
 The ever-moving system of our feelings. 
 The hero is the world-man, in whose heart 
 One passion stands for all, the most indulged. 
 The scenes wherein he plays his part are life, 
 A sphere whose centre is co-heavenly 
 With its divine original and end. 
 Like life, too, as a whole, the story hath 
 A moral, and each scene one, as in life, — 
 One universal and peculiar truth — 
 Shining upon it like the quiet moon 
 Illustrating the obscure unequal earth ; — 
 And thougli these scenes to careless eye.s mav seem 
 Irregular and rough and unconnected,
 
 16 PROEM. 
 
 Like to the stones at Stonehengc, — ti)nu<jh cnuvolved, 
 
 And in primeval mystery, — stUl a use, 
 
 A meaning, and a purpose may be marked 
 
 Among them of a temple reared to God : — 
 
 The meaning alway dwelling in the word, 
 
 In secret sanctity, like a golden toy 
 
 Mid Beauty's orbed bosom. Scenes of earth 
 
 And Heaven are mixed, as flesh and soul in man 
 
 Eternity pertains alone to God ; 
 And immortality to man ; to those 
 Which reason lack, life only. Laws there are 
 Twain in the which man walks ; the law of law 
 Of custom, conscience, creed, time, cii'cumstance ; 
 Law superficial this ; the other is 
 To those which breathe the light, the law of laws, 
 Eternal,' spiritual, central. These 
 To mix breeds chaos, and yet not to mix 
 Impossible to cultivated man. 
 The more developed the iuterior law 
 The clearer thuigs wUl brighten, tUl at Jsjst 
 The whole world shines translucent, and we live 
 Priests, prophets, princes, all predestinate 
 Coeval with the eldest of the Heavens. 
 Earth is the floor of Heaven ; in all we see 
 'I'he great world-worker, the eternal Lord, 
 And operative Omnipotent, m all
 
 P R O E AI . 
 
 n 
 
 Sunlike the sole inhabitant of Heaven, 
 
 The dweller m each fairy orb of dew. 
 
 He, the all Parent of the seed Divine; 
 
 He, the eternal elements of Heaven, 
 
 The golden generations of the light, 
 
 Begets, brings forth. The world is Gods great will 
 
 In action, Heaven in repose. The soul 
 
 Breathed into time, He, aye at last translates 
 
 Into celestial bliss, the life divine. 
 
 The primal, final, total state of Heaven 
 
 And normal perfectness in Deity. 
 
 All that is good is deathless, as of God. 
 
 E'en in the petty segment of this life 
 
 Our will involves our capability; 
 
 And in the vast conditions of the eterne 
 
 The possible, the probable, and that. 
 
 The infinite becoming definite. 
 
 The pure conclusive certainty of Truth. 
 
 Necessity, like electricity. 
 Is in ourselves and all things, and no more 
 Without us than within us ; and we live, 
 We of this mortal mixture, in the same law 
 As the pure colorless intelligence 
 Which dwells in Heaven, and the dead Hadean 
 
 shades. 
 We wUl and act and talk of liberty ; 
 
 I
 
 18 PROEM. 
 
 And all om- wills and all our doings both 
 
 Are limited within this little life. 
 
 Free vnil is but necessity in play, — 
 
 The clattering of the golden reins which guide 
 
 The thunder-footed coursers of the sun. 
 
 The ship which goes to sea infoiined with fire, 
 
 Obeying only its own iron force, 
 
 Reckless of adverse tide, breeze dead, or weak 
 
 As infant's parting breath, too faint to stir 
 
 The feather held before it, — is as much 
 
 The appointed thrall of all the elements, 
 
 As the white-bosomed bark which woos the wind. 
 
 And when it dies desists. And thus with man ; 
 
 However contrary he sets his heart 
 
 To God, he is but working out His will ; 
 
 And, at an mfinite angle, more or less 
 
 Obejing his own soul's necessity. 
 
 He only hath free will whose will is fate. 
 
 Evil and good are God's right hand and left. 
 By ministiT of e^il good is clear, 
 And by temptation vutue : as of yore 
 Out of the grave rose God. Let this be deemed 
 Enough to justify the portion weighed 
 To the gi'eat spirit E\'il, named herein. 
 If evil seem the most, vet good most is : 
 As water may be deep and pure below,
 
 PROEM. 19 
 
 Althousrh the face be filmv for a time. 
 
 And if the spirit of evil seem more in 
 
 The work than God, it is but to work His will. 
 
 Who therefore is all that the other seems. 
 
 And e\il is in almost every scene 
 
 Of life more or less forward. Above all 
 
 The mystery of the Trinity is held, 
 
 Whose mystery is its reasonableness. 
 
 All that is said of Deity is said 
 
 In love and reverence. Be it so conceived 
 
 What comes before and after the great world, — 
 
 Deep in the secretest abyss of Light, 
 
 And Being's most reserved immensity, — 
 
 God alone knows eternally ; but with 
 
 The present is communion crcatural : 
 
 He liveth in the sacrament of life. 
 
 And for the soul of man delineate here — 
 
 The outline half invisible — is shown 
 
 The self-sought grace, the self-aspiring truth 
 
 And natural religion of tlie heart 
 
 Contrasting Godhood with humanity 
 
 Ever ; whereas the Spirit aye unites. 
 
 Temptation, and its workings in the heart 
 
 Whose faint and folse resistance but assists,— 
 
 Ambition, thirst of secret lore, joy, love — 
 
 Rinjr-like, doubling sometimes on itself —
 
 20 PROEM. 
 
 Adventure, i^leasure, travel heavenly 
 
 And earthly, friendship, passion, poesie, 
 
 Viewed ever in their spiritual end — 
 
 And power, celestial happiness and earth's 
 
 INIillennial foretaste, ill annihilate. 
 
 The restoration of the angels lost, 
 
 And one salvation universal given 
 
 To all create, — all these, related, foiTn, 
 
 With much beside, the body of the work ; — 
 
 The islands, seas, and mainland of its orb. 
 
 Thus much then for this book. It aims to mark 
 The various beliefs as well as doubts 
 Wliich hold or search by turns the mind of youtJi 
 Unresting any where. Its heresies, 
 If such they be, are charitable ones ; — 
 For they Avho read not in the best belief 
 That aU souls may be saved, read to no end. 
 We were made to be saved. We are of God. 
 Nor bates the book one tittle of the truth, 
 To smooth its way to favor with the fearful. 
 
 It is not moral standards which the bard 
 Is called on to inculcate ; such pertain 
 To other ministries ; the law of life 
 llis all-comprising province. Yet he errs 
 Who faithful may be to his higher end, 
 Unites not both m one symmetric plan,
 
 PROEM. 21 
 
 Lofty and plain and pure as arc the skies ; 
 All forms resolving to one element. 
 
 All rests with those who read. A work or thought 
 Is what each makes it to himself, and may 
 Be full of great dark meanings, like the sea, 
 With shoals of life rushing ; or like the air, 
 Benighted with the wing of the wild doxe. 
 Sweeping miles broad o'er the far western woods, 
 With mighty glimpses of the central light — 
 Or may be nothing — bodiless, spiritless. 
 
 Above all fear, without presumption, he 
 Who wrote this work hath said respecting it 
 These few brief words, to face his friend the world ; 
 Revising, not reversing, what hath been. 
 Now therefore to his work and to the world 
 The writer bids God speed ! It matters not 
 If they agree or differ. Each perchance 
 May bear true witness to another end. 
 Let then what hath been, be. It boots not here 
 To palliate misdoings. 'Twere less toil 
 To build Colossus than to hew a hill 
 Into a statue. Hail and farewell, all !
 
 FEST us. 
 
 Scene — Heaven. 
 
 God. 
 
 Eternity hatii oi.uvved its years upon tiiem . 
 And the wliite winter of their age is conit. 
 The world and all its worlds ; and all shau end 
 Seraphi..!. ood! God! God! 
 
 As flames in skies 
 
 We burn and rise 
 
 And luse ourselves in Thee . 
 
 Years on years ! 
 
 And nought appears 
 
 Save God to be. 
 
 God! God! God! 
 
 To us no thought 
 
 Ilatii Beuig brought
 
 24 FESTUS. 
 
 Toward Thee that doth not move 
 Years on years ! 
 And what appears 
 Save God to \o\e1 
 God! God! God! 
 All Thou dost make 
 Lies like a lake 
 Below Thine infinite eye 
 Years ex .eair ! 
 And aU appears 
 Save God to die. 
 Cherubim. As sun and star. 
 How high or fur, 
 Show but a boundless sky; 
 So creature mind 
 Is all confined 
 
 To show Thee, God, most Hiffh 
 The sun still burns, 
 T hp sun still turns 
 Round, round himself and rouvio 
 So creature mind 
 To self's confined. 
 But Thou, God, hast no boucd 
 Systems arise. 
 Or a world dies, 
 Each constant hour in air ; 
 But creature mind, 
 In Heaven confined. 
 Lives on like Thee, God ! there^
 
 FESTUS. 25 
 
 Seraphim and Cherubim. God ! God ! God ! 
 
 Thou fill'st our eyes 
 
 As were the skies 
 
 One burning, boundless sun ; 
 
 Wliile creature mind, 
 
 In path confined, 
 
 Passeth a spot tliereon. 
 
 God! God! God! 
 Lucifer. Ye thrones of Heaven, how bright, how 
 pure ye are ! 
 How have je brightened since I saw ye first ! 
 How have I darkened since ye saw me last ! 
 What is the dark abyss of fire, and what 
 The ravenous heights of air, o'er which I reign. 
 In agony of glory, to these seats ] 
 The loathsome cavern of the oracle, 
 O'er wliich ye rise in templed majesty. 
 Filled with the incense of aU worsliippers, 
 And echoing with tlie eloquence of God, 
 Which rolls in sunny clouds around the Heavens. 
 Yet must I work through world and life my fate ; 
 And wmding through the wards of human hearts, 
 Steal their incarnate strength. Death does his work 
 In secret and m joy intense, untold: 
 As though an earthquake smacked its mumbling lips 
 O'er some thick-peopled city. But for me. 
 Exists not peace nor pleasure, even here. 
 Where aU beside, the very faintest thought, 
 Is rapture. I will speak to God as erst. 
 
 4
 
 26 FESTUS. 
 
 Father of spirit, as the sun of aii-! 
 
 Beginning of all ends, and end of all 
 
 Beginnings, throughout whole Eternity; 
 
 From whom Eternity and every power 
 
 Perfect, and pure cause, is and emanates ; 
 
 Originator without origin ! 
 
 End without end ! Creator of all ages. 
 
 And sabbath of all Being ; who hast made 
 
 All numbers sacred, who art all and one ! 
 
 At whose right hand the wisdom of all worlds 
 
 Combined, is only fearful foolishness 
 
 Or inarticulate madness, — and Thou, Lord ! 
 
 Maker and Perfecter of all, the one! 
 
 Being above all Bemg, God the Life ! 
 
 Wlio art the way whereon the world proceea? 
 
 From God, all-making, and whereby returns 
 
 The ever generated universe ! — 
 
 Who rulest all worlds in the law of light. 
 
 Thy nature and their own ; who art before 
 
 All ages, angels, blessed, times and worlds ; 
 
 Word that in every world art safe to save 
 
 All soids, impregned with spirit, God-begot! 
 
 And Thou eternal spirit-Deity ! 
 
 The sanctifier of the universe ! 
 
 Being, and Life, and Spirit, who dost make, 
 
 Destroyest, recreatest, makest God ! 
 
 God one and Trine ! thou seest me here aaain I 
 
 Still, sunlike, though eclipsed, of blmding power 
 
 And fiery cause, and cAerness of ill ;
 
 ' scifiK ol' nicit I 1 << 
 ^iu.IIv I., mi'.
 
 FESTDS. 27 
 
 Behold I bow before Thee ; hear Thou me ! 
 
 God. 
 Wliat Avouldst thou, Lucifer 1 
 
 Lucifer. There is a youth 
 
 Among the sons of men 1 fain woidd have 
 Given up Avholly to me. 
 
 God. 
 
 He is thine, 
 To tempt. 
 
 Lucifer. I thank Thee, Lord ! 
 
 God. 
 
 Upon his soul 
 Thou hast no power. All souls are mine for aye. 
 And I do give thee leave to this tliat he 
 May know my love is more than all his sin. 
 And prove unto himself that nought but God 
 Can satisfy the soul He makcth great. 
 
 Lucifer. Thou, God, art all in one ! Thy infinite 
 Bounds being. Thou hast said the world shall cud. 
 The world is perfect, as concerns itself, 
 And all its parts and ends ; not as towards Thee. 
 So man is likest and unlikest God, 
 Of all existence ; therefore doth as much 
 Resemble Thee as any act a mind. 
 In him of whom I ask, I seek once more 
 To tempt the living world, and then depart. 
 
 The Holy Ghost. And I wUl hallow him to the 
 ends of Heaven, 
 That thougli lie plunge his soul in sin like a sword
 
 28 FESTUS. 
 
 In water, it shall no wise cling to him. 
 He is of Heaven. All thmgs are known m Heaven 
 Ere aimed at upon earth. The child is bhosen. 
 Saints. Another soul 
 
 The Holy One 
 Hath chosen out of earth; 
 
 And there is none 
 
 Throughout the whole 
 Like worthy of his birth. 
 Gdardian Angel. Oh! who hath joy like mine^ 
 was I not here 
 When from Thy boundless bosom, as a star 
 Out of the air, that soul was kindled, Lord ! 
 And to me given to guard and guide — whUe both, 
 Mid starry strains out of the depths of Heaven, 
 Fell at Thy feet in worship! — joy of joys I 
 To you, ye saints and angels, let me speak ; 
 For ye I see rejoice with me. Ye knoAv 
 What 'tis to triumph o'er temptation, what 
 To fall before it ; how the young spirit faints — 
 The nrgm tremor, the heart's ebb and flow. 
 When first some vast temptation calmly comes 
 And states itself before it, like the sun 
 Low looming in the west, above the wave 
 Of wimpluig streamlet, ere its waters grow 
 To size aortal. Than the Fiend hunsclf 
 There is no greater evU. Less the shame 
 Of jieldiug, more the glory of conquering, 
 In him, to whom he goes, this soul elect.
 
 FESTUS. 29 
 
 l-'rom infancy through rhildhood, up to youth, 
 
 Have I this soul attended ; marked him blest 
 
 With all the sweet and sacred ties of life ; — 
 
 Tlie prayerful love of parents, pride of friends, 
 
 Prosperity, and health and ease, the aids 
 
 Of learning, social converse with the good 
 
 And gifted, and his heart all lit with love, 
 
 Like to the rolling sea with living light ; — 
 
 Hopeful and generous and earnest; rich 
 
 In commune Avith high spirits, loAing truth 
 
 And wisdom for their own divincst selves : 
 
 Tracking the deeds of the world's glory, or 
 
 Conning the words of wisdom, Heaven-inspired, 
 
 As on the soul, in pure effectual ray. 
 
 The bright, transjoarent atoms, thought by thought. 
 
 Fall fixed forevermoi'e. And thus his days. 
 
 Through sunny noon, or mooned eve, or night 
 
 Star-annicd, shining through the deathless air, 
 
 All radiantly elapsed, in good or joy. 
 
 All this for long I marked. There grew, at length, 
 
 A change within his spirit, and I feared 
 
 A fatal and a final fall from good. 
 
 God's love seemed lost upon him. He became 
 
 Heart-deadened. Watching, warning, vain, I fled 
 
 Hither to intercede with God our Lord, 
 
 To bless him with salvation. We may plead 
 
 Alway for those we love, by leave divine. 
 
 Nor knew I till this moment, with all Heaven, 
 
 That, in the righteous providence of God,
 
 SU FESTUS. 
 
 That soul was saved. Thou knowesl, Lord ! the 
 
 mould 
 Of mortals, and the infinite end whereto 
 The souls Thou savest are predestinate ; 
 Oh ! be Thy mercy mighty to this soul, 
 Fiend threatened ; nor permit him who presides 
 O'er hell's eternal holocaust, too far 
 To tempt or tamper with the heart of man ' — 
 
 God. 
 My mercy doth outstretch the universe ; 
 Shall it not be sufficient for one soul? 
 
 Lucifer. I am the wrath of God unto myself, 
 And by him made to do my part. Do thou 
 Thine. They are far enough apart, I ween. 
 
 Guardian Angel. The heaven-strung chords 
 of man's immortal soul 
 Ai"e not for thee to wither at thy will. 
 Bear witness, all ye blessed, to the word ; — 
 Angels, mteUigences, sons of God ! 
 Ye who knoAv nought but truth, feel nought but love, 
 Will nought but bliss, do nought but righteousness ' 
 Whose life was ere the Heavens were concei\ed, 
 The stars begotten, or the ages bom ; 
 Ye many-ordered hierarchies, which are 
 The love, truth, justice, majesty and might. 
 Dominion, glory, wisdom, bliss of God ; 
 Ye through whose ministry of mercy — His 
 Immediate, ever instant, active, all 
 Spirits and worlds are governed — age by age
 
 FESTUS. 31 
 
 Gazing and gaining glory ; ye who stand, 
 
 Stirlcss, before the throne, entranced in joy ; 
 
 Or ye, whose life is to pi'esent all souls 
 
 Reborn to their Creator ; or to search 
 
 The golden-globed skies for deeds of grace ; 
 
 And ye who move all Heavens, in whose names 
 
 The name of God is, as in angels' all ; 
 
 The crown, the wisdom, the intelligence. 
 
 Kindness, and strength and beauty, splendor, worth, 
 
 Original and rule ; and 3'e who move j 
 
 Restless around the throne, the burning seven, 
 
 The virtue, power, salvation, fire and rest. 
 
 Blessing and praise of God ; and ye who rule j 
 
 Regions or kingdoms, states, tribes, flimilies. 
 
 Ages and times, and seasons, and c^'cnts ; 
 
 Systems and elements, material powers. 
 
 Mental and spiritual ; or ye who bear 
 
 Souls from the Heaven to earth, from earth to Heaven; 
 
 Ye tenants of the archetypal worlds • ■ I 
 
 And spiritual spheres ; and you, ye saints I j 
 
 Freed once on earth into the liberty 
 
 Of the necessity Mhich is of God ; 
 
 Yours are the many multitudes of stars, 
 
 And bliss and power forever, ye are gods ! 
 
 And live an endless life, bespoken here ; ; 
 
 Bear witness, all, that happiness succeeds 1 
 
 To godliness ; and that, despite of sin, | 
 
 riie world may lecognize in all time's scenes, i 
 
 Though belts of clouds bar half Its burning disk, \
 
 Z2 FESTUS. 
 
 The overruling, o\erthrowing power, 
 A^'hich by our creature purposes works out 
 Its deeds, and by our deeds its purposes. 
 
 Lucifer. God ! for Thy glory only can I act, 
 And for Thy creatures' good. "NATien creatures stray 
 Farthest from Thee, then wannest towards them 
 
 biuns 
 Thy love, even as yon sun beams hotliest on 
 The earth when distant most. 
 
 God. 
 
 The earth whereon 
 He dwells, this grain selected from the sands 
 Of life, dies with him. 
 
 Lucifer. God ! I go to do 
 
 Thy wiU. 
 
 God. 
 Thou, too, who watchest o'er the world 
 ^ATiose end I fix, prepare to have it judged. 
 
 Angel of Earth. Let me not then have watched 
 o'er it in vain. 
 From age to age, from hour to hour I still 
 Have hoped it would gi'ow better — hope so now; 
 'Tis better than it once was, and hath more 
 Of mind and freedom than it ever had. 
 I love it more than ever. Thou didst give 
 It to me as a child. To me earth is 
 Even as the boundless universe to Thee ; 
 Nay, more! for Thou couldst make another. It is 
 My world. Take it not from me, Lord ! Thou, Christ
 
 FESTUS. SS 
 
 Mad'st it the altar where Thou offcrcdst up 
 
 Thyself for the creation. Let it be 
 
 Immortal as Thy lo\'e. And altars are 
 
 Holy ; and sister angels, sister orbs 
 
 Hail it afar as such. Oh ! I have heard 
 
 World question world and answer ; seen them weop 
 
 Each other if eclipsed for one red hour, 
 
 And of all worlds most generous Avas mine. 
 
 The tendcrest and the fairest. 
 
 Lucifer. Knowest thou not 
 
 God's Son to be the brother and the friend 
 Of spuit every where 1 Or hath thy soul 
 Been bound forever to thy foolish world ^ 
 
 Angel. Star unto, star speaks light, and world to 
 world 
 Repeats the password of the universe 
 To God ; the name of Christ — the one great word 
 Well worth all languages in earth or Heaven. 
 
 Son of God. Think not I lived and died for thine 
 alone. 
 And that no other sphere hath hailed me Christ. 
 My life is ever suffering for love. 
 In judgmg and redeeming worlds is spent 
 Mine everlasting being. 
 
 Lucifer. Earth He next 
 
 Will judge ; for so saith God. 
 
 Angel of Earth. Be it not, liOrd ! 
 
 Thou art a God of goodness and of love ; 
 He is the evil of the universe, 
 
 5
 
 34 FESTUS. 
 
 And loveth not the earth, Thy Son, nor Thee. 
 Thou knowest best. 
 
 Lucifer. Behold now all yon worlds ! 
 
 The space each fills shall be its successor. 
 Accept the consolation. 
 
 Angel of Earth. Earth ! Oh, Earth ! 
 
 Lucifer. 'Tis earth shall lead destruction ; she 
 shall end. 
 The stars shall wonder why she comes no more 
 On her accustomed orbit, and the sun 
 Miss one of his apostle lights ; the moon, 
 An orphan orb, shall seek for earth for aye, 
 riirough tune's untrodden depths, and find her not ; 
 No more shall morn, out of the holy east, 
 Stream o'er the amber air her level light ; 
 Nor evening, with the spectral fingers, di-aw 
 Her star-sprent curtain round the head of earth ; 
 Her footsteps never thence again shall grace 
 The blue sublime of Heaven. Her grave is dug. 
 I see the stars, night-clad, all gathering 
 In long and sad procession. Death's at work. 
 And, one by one, shall all yon wandering worlds, 
 Whether in orbed path they roll, or trail. 
 In an inestunable length of light, 
 Theu' golden tram of tresses after them, 
 Cease ; and the sun, centre and sire of light, 
 The keystone of the world-buUt arch of Heaven, 
 Be left in l)urning solitude. The stars, 
 A^'hic■ll stand as thiclc as dewdrops on the fields
 
 FESTUS. 35 
 
 Of Heaven, and aii tlicj comprehend, shall pass. 
 The spmts of all worlds shall all depart 
 To their great destinies ; and thou and I, 
 Greater in grief than worlds, shall live as now. 
 In hell's dark annals there is something writ. 
 Which shall amaze man yet. There ! to thy earth ! 
 Angel of Earth. There is a blind world, yet unlit 
 by God, 
 RoUing around the extremest edge of light ; 
 Where all thmgs are disaster and decay. 
 The outcast of all being ; no one thing 
 Fitting another: that is fit for thee. 
 Be that tliy world, but not the living earth. 
 Stretch forth Thy shining slrield, O God ! the Heavens. 
 Over the prostrate earth, an armed friend, 
 And save her from the swift and violent hell 
 Her beauty hath enchanted ! from the wrath 
 Of love like his, Oh save her, though by death! 
 
 God. 
 De.struction and salvation are the hands 
 Upon the face of time. When both unite, 
 The day of death dawns. E\ery orb exists 
 Unto its preappointed end : and earth, 
 My creature, the elect of worlds, ere all 
 Is saved. The world shall perish as a worm 
 Upon destruction's path ; the universe 
 Evanish like a ghost before the sun, 
 Yea, like a (l(ml)t before the trutli of God, 
 Yet nothing more tliau (k\'xth sliall perish. Then,
 
 ?{fi FESTI'S. 
 
 Rejoice, ye souIp of God regenerate. 
 
 Ye iiidwellers divine ot' Ueity ; 
 
 In Hiui ye are immortal as Himself. 
 
 Son of God. O'er all things are eternity and 
 change, 
 And special predilection of our God. 
 Thou who createst souls, as the sun clouds, 
 Out of the sea of spirit, sire of both 
 The first and second natures of Thy Son, 
 In whom the maker and the made make one, 
 Deific spirit ! Avho in every world 
 Payeth creation's penalties ; in all, 
 Is lieu- of God and nature, and in Thee, 
 .\nd in self-worship deifies himself. 
 And you blest spirits for whom I died, for whom. 
 Fore-fated, fore-atoned for from the first, 
 All Heaven reserves the fulness of its bliss ; 
 Creator and created ! Avitness, both, 
 How I ha\e loved ye, as God-natured life 
 Alone can love and suffer. Let the earth 
 And every orb, the ofFsprmg of all air, 
 Perish ; but all I die for, live for me. 
 
 God. 
 Tlie earth shall not be when her sabbath ends. 
 In the high close of order. 
 
 Lucifer. Heaven, farewell ! 
 
 Hell is more bearable than nothingness. 
 
 Thrones. Thou, God, art Lord of mercy! and Thy 
 thoughts
 
 r E s T u s . ST 
 
 Are high above the star-dust of the world! 
 
 Dominations. Yet o'er the meanest atom reignest 
 Thou 
 Omnipotent, as o'er the universe ! 
 
 Powers. Thy might is self-creative, and Thy works, 
 Immortal, temporal, destructible. 
 Are ever in Thy sight and blessed there. 
 The Heavens are Thy bosom, and Thine eye 
 Is high o'er all existence ; yea, the worlds 
 Are but Thy shining footprints upon space. 
 
 Princedoms. Eternal Lord ! Thy strength compels 
 the worlds. 
 And bows the heads of ages ; at Thy voice 
 Their unsubstantial essence wears aAvay. 
 
 Virtues. All-favoring God ! we glory but in Thee 
 Ye Heavens exalt, expand yourselves ! they come. 
 The infinite generations, all Di^^ne, 
 Of Deity, our brethren and our friends ! 
 
 Archangels. Thou who hast thousand names, as 
 night hath stars, 
 \Vhich light Thee up to eye create, yet not 
 One thousandth part illume Thy boundlessness, 
 Nor that abyss of Being 'midst of which 
 Thy countless wonders constellate themselves ; 
 Thy light, the light we dwell in shall at last 
 Fulfil the universe, and all be bliss ; 
 Tlic consummation of all ages come. 
 We praise I'liee for Thj' mercies, and for this, 
 fhe first, and last, the greatest of all boons. 
 
 437454
 
 S8 FESTUS. 
 
 Angels. Thee, God! we praise 
 
 Tliroiigh oxir ue'er sunsetting days. 
 
 And Thy just ways, 
 
 DiAiiie : 
 
 In Thy hand is every spirit. 
 
 And the meed the same may merit ; 
 
 All which all the worlds inherit 
 
 .1 
 
 Are Thine. 1 
 
 i 
 It is not unto creatures given ^ 
 
 To scale the purposes of Heaven, 
 
 Alway just and kind ; 
 
 But before Thy mighty breath, ; 
 
 Life and spirit, dust and death. 
 
 The boundless AU is driven. 
 
 Like clouds by wind. i 
 
 Angel of Earth. Woe ! woe at last in Heaven I ' 
 
 Earth to death is given; \ 
 
 The ends of things hang stUl 
 
 Over them as a sky; 
 
 Do what we will, | 
 
 All's for eternity! i 
 
 Scene — Wood and Water — Sunset. 
 
 Festus alone. 
 
 Festds. Tliis is to be a mortal and immortal ' 
 To live within a cucle, — and to be
 
 FESTUS. 39 
 
 That dark point where the shades of all things around 
 
 Meet, mix and deepen. All things unto me 
 
 Show their dark sides. Somewhere there must hr. 
 
 light. 
 Oh ! I feel like a seed in the cold earth ; 
 Quickening at heart, and pining for the air. 
 Passion is destiny.' The heart is its o^m 
 Fate. It is well youth's gold rubs oiF so soon. 
 The heart gets dizzy with its drunken dance. 
 And the voluptuous vanities of life 
 Enchain, enchant, and cheat my soul no more. 
 My spirit is on edge. I can enjoy 
 Nought Avhich has not the honeyed sting of sin ; 
 That soothing fret Avhich makes the young untried 
 Tjonging to be beforehand with their nature. 
 In dreams and loneness cry, they die to live; 
 'J'hat wanton whettmg of the soul, Avhich, while 
 It gi\'es a finer, keener edge for pleasure. 
 Wastes more and dulls the sooner. Rouse thee, heart ; 
 BoAv of my life thou yet art full of spring ! 
 My quiver still hath many purposes. 
 Yet Avhat is worth a thought of all things here? 
 How mean, how miserable every care ; 
 How doubtful, too, the system of the mind ! 
 .\nd then the ceaseless, changeless, hopeless round 
 Of weariness, and heartlessness and woe. 
 And vice and vanity ! Yet these make life ; 
 The life at least I witness, if not feel. 
 No matter — we are immortal. IIoav I Avish
 
 40 FESTUS. 
 
 I could love men ! for amid all life's quests 
 
 There seems but worthy one — to do men good 
 
 It matters not how long we live, but how. 
 
 For as the parts of one manhood while here 
 
 We live in every age : we thmk and feel 
 
 And feed upon the coming and the gone 
 
 As much as on the now time. ]\Ian is one : 
 
 And he hath one great heart. It is thus we feel, 
 
 With a gigantic throb athwart the sea, 
 
 Each others' rights and wrongs ; thus are we men. 
 
 Let us think less of men and more of God. 
 
 Sometimes the thought comes swiftening over us. 
 
 Like a small bird winging the still blue aii' ; 
 
 And then again, at other times, it rises 
 
 Slow, like a cloud which scales the skies all breathless 
 
 And just overhead lets itself down on us. 
 
 vSometimes we feel the wish across the mind 
 
 Kush like a rocket tearing up the sky, 
 
 That we should join with God and give the world 
 
 The slip: but while we wish, the world turns round, 
 
 And peeps us in the face — the wanton world ; 
 
 We feel it gently pressing down our arm — 
 
 The arm we had raised to do for truth such wonders ; 
 
 We feel it softly bearing on our side — 
 
 We feel it touch and thrill us through the body — 
 
 And we are fools, and there's an end of us. 
 
 'Tis a fine thought that sometime end Ave must. 
 
 There sets the sun of suns ! dies in all fire, 
 
 Like Ashur's death-great monarch. God of might!
 
 FESTUS. 41 
 
 Wc love and live on power. It is spirit's end. 
 Mind must subdue. To conquer is its life. 
 Why mad'st Thou not one spirit, like the sun, 
 To king the world ? And Oh ! might I have been 
 That sun-mind, how I would have warmed the world 
 To love and worship and bright life ! 
 
 Lucifer, suddenJj/ appearinrj. Not thou ! 
 
 Hadst thou more power, the more Avouldst thou misuse. 
 
 Festus. Who art thou, pray \ I saw thee not be- 
 fore. 
 It seems as thou hadst grown out of the air. 
 
 Lucifer. Thou know'st me Avell. Though stran- 
 ger to thine eye, 
 I am not to thy heart. 
 
 Festiis. I know thee not. 
 
 Lucifer. Come nearer. Look on me. I am above 
 thee ; 
 Beneath thee, and around thee, and before thee. 
 
 Festus. Why, art thou all things, or dost go 
 through all I 
 A sprrit, or embodied blast of air] 
 I feel thou art a spuit. 
 
 Lucifer. Yea, I am. 
 
 Festus. I knew it. I am glad, yet tremble su 
 What hours upon hours have I longed for this. 
 And hoped that thought or prayer might produc? 
 I have besought the stars, with tears, to send 
 A power unto me ; and have set the clouds 
 Until I thought I saw one coming : but 
 
 6 D*
 
 42 FESTUS. 
 
 The shadowy giant alway thinned away, 
 
 And I was fated unimmortalized. 
 
 ^\\mt shall I do 1 Oh ! let me kneel to thee ! 
 
 LuriFER. Nay, rise ! and I'll not say, for thine owrj 
 sake, 
 That thou dost pray in private to the Devil. 
 
 Festus. Father of lies, thou liest ! 
 
 Lucifer. I am he' 
 
 It is enough to make the Devil merry, 
 To think that men call on me momently, 
 Deeming me ever dungeoned fast in Hell ; 
 Swearers and swaggerers jeer at my name ; 
 And oft indeed it is a special jest 
 With witling gallants. Let me once appear! 
 Woe's me! they faint and shudder — pale and pray; 
 The burning oath which quivered on the lip 
 Starts back, and sears and blisters up the tongue ; 
 Confusion ransacks the abandoned heart. 
 Quells the bold blood, and o'er the vaulted brow 
 Slips the white woman-hand. To judgment, ho ! 
 The very pivot of the earth seems snapped ; 
 And down they di-op Uke ruins to repent. 
 Such be the bravery of mighty man ! 
 
 Festus. I must be mad ; or mine eye cheats mj 
 brain ; 
 And this strange phantom comes from over-thought, 
 Like the white lightning from a day too hot. 
 It must be so. But I Avill pass it. 
 
 Lucifer. Stay !
 
 FESTUS. iZ 
 
 Festus. Oh save me, God ! He is reality ! 
 
 Lucifer. And now tliou kneel' st to Heaven. Fye, 
 graceless boy ! 
 blocking thy Maker with a cast-ofF prayer; 
 For had not I the first fruits of thy faith 1 
 
 Festus. Tempter, away ! From all the crowds of 
 life 
 Why single me"? "Why score the young green bole 
 For fellage 1 Go ! Am I the youngest, worst ] 
 No ! Light the fires of hell with other souls ; 
 Mine shall not burn with thee. 
 
 Lucifer. Thou judgest harshly. 
 
 Can I not touch thee without slaying thee 1 
 
 Festus. Why art thou here 1 What wouldst thou 
 have with me'? 
 
 Lucifer. 'Fore all I would have gentle words and 
 looks. 
 
 Festus. I pray thee, go. 
 
 Lucifer. I cannot quit thee yet. 
 
 But why so sad 1 Wilt kneel to me again ? 
 This leafy closet is most apt for prayer. 
 
 Festus. Yes ; I will pray for thee and for myself. 
 
 Lucifer. Waste not thy prayers ; I scatter them . 
 they reach 
 No farther than thy breath — a yard or so. 
 And as for me, I heed them, need them not. 
 My nature God knows and hn.th fixed ; and He 
 Recks little of the manners of the world ; 
 AViclu-d He holdeth it and unrepentant.
 
 14 FESTUS. 
 
 Festcs. Therefore the more some ought to pray. 
 
 I,uciFEii. To blow 
 
 A kiss, a bubble and a prayer hath like 
 Effect and satisfaction. 
 
 Festus. Let me hence ! 
 
 Go tell thy blasphemies and lies elsewhere. 
 Thou scatter prayer ! Make me Thy minister 
 One moment, God ! that I may rid the world 
 Forever of its e^il. Oh ! Thine aim ! 
 
 Lucifer. Canst rid thyself] 
 
 Festus. Alas ! no. Get thee gone ! 
 
 Can nought insult thee nor provoke thy flight 1 
 
 Lucifer. I laugh alike ft ruin and redemption. 
 1 am the one which knows nor hope nor fear ; 
 Which ne'er knew good nor e'er can know the worst. 
 "NMiat thmkest thou can anger me, or harm ? 
 
 Festus. "Wherefore didst thou quit Hell ? To drag 
 me there] 
 
 Lucifer. Thou wijt not guess mine en-and. 
 Deem'st thou aught 
 "WTiich God hath made all e^il ] ^le He made. 
 Oft I do good ; and thee to serve I come. 
 
 Festus. Did I not hear the boast with thy last 
 breath 
 Not to have knowTi Avhat good was] 
 
 Lucifer. From myself 
 
 1 know it not ; yet God's will I must work. 
 I come, 1 say, to serve thee. 
 
 Festus. Well, I would
 
 F E S T U S . 45 
 
 Thou never hadst ; but speak tliy purpose straight. 
 
 Lucifer. I heard thy prayer at sunset. I was here. 
 I saw thy secret longmgs, unsaid thoughts, 
 Which pray upon the breast like night-fires on 
 A heath. I know thy heart by heart. I read 
 The tongue when still as well as when it moves. 
 And thou didst pray to God. Did He attend'? 
 Or turn His eye from the great glass of things, 
 Wherein He worshippeth eternally 
 Hunself, to thee one moment ? He did not. 
 I tell thee, nought He cares for men. I came 
 And come to proffer thee the earth ; to set 
 Thee on a throne — the throne of will unbound — 
 To crown thy life with liberty and joy, 
 And make thee free and miglity even as I am. 
 
 Festus. I would not be as thou art for Hell's 
 throne ; 
 Add Earth's — add Heaven's. 
 
 Lucifer. I knew thy proud, high heart. 
 
 To test its worth and mark I held it brave. 
 In shape and being thus myself I came ; 
 Not in disguise of opportunity — 
 Not as some silly toy which serves for most — 
 Not in the mask of lucre, lust, nor power — 
 Not in a goblin size nor cherub form — 
 But as the soul of Hell and evil came I 
 With leave to give tlic kingdom of the world — 
 The fi'eedom of thyself. 
 
 Festus. Good: prove thy powers.
 
 46 FESTUS. 
 
 LuciFEii. Do I not prove tliem 1 "\^nio but I, that 
 have 
 Immortal might o'er mine own mind, and o'er 
 All hearts and spirits of the li'^ing world, 
 Would share it with another, or forego, 
 One hour, the great enjoyment of the whole"? 
 And who but I give men what each loves best ? 
 
 Festus. Open the Heavens and let me look on 
 God. 
 Open my heart and let me see myself. 
 Then I'U believe thee. 
 
 Lucifer. Thou shalt not believe 
 
 For that I give thee, but for that I am. 
 Believe me first ; then I will prove myself. 
 Though sick I know thee of the joy of sense. 
 Yet those thou lovest most I wUl make pure. 
 And render worthy of thy love ; unfilm them, 
 That so thou mayst not dally with the blind. 
 Thou shalt possess them to theu* very souls. 
 Pleasui-e and love and unimagined beauty ; 
 All, all that be delicious, brilliant, great, 
 Of worldly things are mine, and mine to give. 
 
 Festus. "\Miat can be counted pleasure after love 1 
 Like the young lion which has once lapped blood. 
 The heart can ne'er be coaxed back to aught else. 
 
 Lucifer. I will sublime it for thee all to bliss: 
 As yet it hath but made thee wretched. 
 
 Festus. Spirit, 
 
 It is not bliss I seek ; I care not for it.
 
 FESTUS. 41 
 
 I am above the low delights of life. 
 
 The life I live is in a dark, cold cavern, 
 
 Where I wander up and down, feeling for something 
 
 Which is to be — and must be — what I know not ; 
 
 But the mcamation of my destuiy 
 
 Is nigh. 
 
 Lucifer. It is thy fate which weighs upon thee. 
 Necessity sits on humanity, 
 Like to the world on Atlas' neck. 'Tis this, 
 And the sultry sense of overdrawn life. 
 
 Festus. True ; 
 
 The worm of the world hath eaten out my heart. 
 
 Lucifer. I will renew it in thee. It shall be 
 The bosom favorite of every beauty, 
 Even like a rosebud. Thou shalt render happy, 
 By naming who may love thee. Come with me. 
 
 Festus. I have a love on earth, and one in Heaven. 
 
 Lucifer. Thou shalt love ten as others love but 
 one ! 
 
 Festus. Oh ! I was glad when something in me 
 said. 
 Come, let us worship beauty ! and I bowed ; 
 And went about to find a shrine ; but found 
 None that my soul, when seeing, said enough to. 
 Many I met with Avhere I put up prayers, 
 And had them more than answered ; some where love 
 Filled the whole place as 'twere oppressed with Heaven, 
 And I worshipped, partly because others did ; 
 Partly because I could not help myself.
 
 48 FESTUS. 
 
 But none of these were for me ; and away 
 
 I went champing and choking in proud pain, 
 
 In a burning Avrath that not a sea could slake. 
 
 So I betook me to the sounduig sea; 
 
 And overheard its slumberous mutterings 
 
 Of a revenge on man ; whereat almost 
 
 I gladdened, for I felt savage as the sea. 
 
 I had only one thing to behold — the sea ; 
 
 I had only one thing to believe — I loved ; 
 
 Until that lonesome sameness grew sublime 
 
 And darkly beautiful as death, when some 
 
 Bright soul regains its star-home, or as Heaven 
 
 Just when the stars falter forth, one by one. 
 
 Like the first words of love from a maiden's lips. 
 
 There are points fi-om which we can command our life ; 
 
 When the soul sweeps the future like a glass ; 
 
 And coming things, full freighted with our fate. 
 
 Jut out, dark, on the ofiing of the mind. 
 
 Let them come ! Many wUl go down in sight ; 
 
 In the billow's joyous dash of death go down. 
 
 At last came love ; not -vAhence I sought nor thought it ; 
 
 As on a ruined and bewildered wight 
 
 Rises the roof he meant to have lost forever. 
 
 On came the living vessel of aU love; 
 
 Terrible in its beauty as a serpent. 
 
 Rode down upon me like a ship fidl sail 
 
 And bearing me before it, kept me up 
 
 Si)ite of the dio\vning speed at which we dravc 
 
 On, on, until we sank both. "Was not this love'J
 
 FESTUS. 49 
 
 Lucifer. Why, how can I tell I I am not in love ; 
 But I have ofttimes heard mine angels call 
 Most piteously on their lost loves in Heaven ; 
 And, as I suffer, I have seen them come ; 
 Seen starlike faces peep between the clouds, 
 And Plell become a tolerable torment. 
 Some souls lose all things but the love of beauty; 
 .-Vnd by that love they are redeemable ; 
 For in love and beauty they acknowledge good ; 
 And good is God — the great Necessity. 
 
 Festus. I loved her for that she was beautiful ; 
 And that to me she seemed to be all nature 
 And all varieties of things in one: 
 Would set at night in clouds of tears, and rise 
 All light and laughter in the morning : fear 
 No petty customs nor appearances, 
 But think what others only dreamed about. 
 And say what others did but think, and do 
 What others would but say, and glory in 
 What others dared but do ; so pure withal 
 In soul, in heart and act such conscious, yet 
 Such careless innocence, she made round her 
 A halo of delight ; 'twas these which won me ; — 
 And that she never schooled Avithin her breast 
 One thought or feelmg, but gave holiday 
 To all ; and that she made all even mine 
 In the communion of love : and we 
 Grew like each other, for we loved each other — 
 She, mild and generous as the sun in spring;
 
 50 FESTUS. 
 
 And I, like earth all budding out with love. 
 
 LiUciFER. And then, love's old end, falsehood: 
 nothing worse 
 I hope] 
 
 Festus. What's worse than falsehood? to deny 
 The god which is within us, and in all 
 Is love 1 Love hath as many vanities 
 As charms ; and this, perchance, the chief of both : 
 To make our young heart's track upon the jfirst, 
 And snowlike fall of feeling which overspreads 
 The bosom of the youthful maiden's mind. 
 More pure and fair than even its outward type. 
 If one did thus, was it from vanity 1 
 Or thoughtlessness, or worse 1 Nay, let it pass. 
 The beautiful are never desolate ; 
 But some one alway loves them — God or man. 
 If man abandons, God himself takes them. 
 And thus it was. She Avhom I once loved died. 
 The lightning loathes its cloud — the soul its clay. 
 Can I forget that hand I took in mme, 
 Pale as pale -siolets ; that eye, where mind 
 And matter met alike diAine ] ah, no ! 
 May God that moment judge me when I do : 
 Oh ! she was fair : her nature once all spring, 
 And deadly beauty like a maiden sword ; 
 Startlingly beautiful. I see her now ! 
 Whatever thou art, thy soul is in my mind ; 
 Thy shadow hourly lengthens o'er my brain, 
 And peoples all its pictures with thyself.
 
 F EST us.. 51 
 
 Gone, not forgot — passed, not lost — thou slialt shine 
 In Heaven like a bright spot in the sun ! 
 She said she wished to die, and so she died ; 
 Foi", cloudlike, she poured out her love, which was 
 Her life, to freshen this parched heart. It was thus: 
 I said we were to part, but she said nothing. 
 There was no discord — it was music ceased — 
 Life's thrilling, bounding, bursting joy. She sate 
 Like a house-god, her hands fixed on her knee ; 
 And her dark haii- lay loose and long around her, 
 Through which her wild bright eye flashed like a flint. 
 She spake not, moA'ed not, but she looked the more, 
 As if her eye were action, speech and feeling. 
 I felt it all ; and came and knelt beside her. 
 The electric touch solved both our souls together. 
 Then comes the feeling which unmakes, undoes; 
 Which tears the sealikc soul up by the roots 
 And lashes it in scorn against the skies. 
 Twice did I madly SAVcar to God, hand clenched. 
 That not even He nor death should tear her from me. 
 It is the saddest and the sorest sight 
 One's own love weeping; — but why call on God, 
 But that the feeling of the boundless bounds 
 All feeling, as the welkin doth the world ? 
 It is this which ones us with the whole and God. 
 Then first we wept ; then closed and clung togetlicr ; 
 Aad my heart shook this building of my breast, 
 Like a live engine booming up and down. 
 She fell upon me like a snow-wreath thawing.
 
 52 FESTUS. 
 
 Never were bliss and beauty, love and woe, 
 Ravelled and twined together into madness, 
 As in that one wild hour; to which all else, 
 The past, is but a picture — that alone 
 Is real, and forever there in front ; 
 Making a black blank on one side of life 
 Like a blind eye. But after that I left her: 
 And only saw her once again alive. 
 And now I am alone. Say on ! What more 
 Can tempt save union of love with death 1 
 But yestereve it was she died, and now 
 Scarce hath the spuit yet aspired to Heaven. 
 I feel it hovering round me. Let mine eyes 
 But realize their faith, and I am thine. 
 The soul first, then the body and the gi^ave 
 Are welcome or indifferent as may be. 
 
 Lucifer. With those whom Death hath drawn I 
 meddle not. 
 My part is with the living solely here. 
 I have not told the half I wdl do for thee. 
 All secrets thou shalt ken — aU mysteries construe ; 
 At nothing marvel. All the veins which stretch, 
 Unsearchable by human eyes, of lore 
 Most precious, most profound, to thme shall bare 
 And vidgar lie like dust. The world Avithin, 
 The world above thee, and the dark domain. 
 Mine own thou shalt o'errule ; and he alone 
 "Who rightly can esteem such high delights. 
 He onlv merits — he alone shall have.
 
 FESTUS. TlS 
 
 Festus. And if I have, shall I be happier'? 
 ^^^lat is pleasure ? What, happiness ? 
 
 Lucifer. It is that 
 
 I vouchsafe to thee. 
 
 Festus. Am I tempted thus 
 
 Unto my falH 
 
 Lucifer. God wills or lets it be. 
 
 How thinkest thou ] 
 
 Festus. That I will go with thee. 
 
 Lucifer. From God I come. 
 
 Festus. I do believe thee, sph'it. 
 
 He will not let thee harm me. Him 1 love, 
 And thee I fear not. I obey Him. 
 
 Lucifer. ' Good. 
 
 Both time and case are urgent. Come away. 
 
 Festus. Give me a breathing-time to fortify. 
 Within myself, the promise I have made. 
 
 Lucifer. Expect me, then, at midnight, here. He- 
 member, 
 That thou canst any time repent. 
 
 Festus. Ay, true. [Gnes. 
 
 Lucifer. Repentance never yet did aught on earth ; 
 It undoes many good things. Of all men. 
 Hea\f;n shield me iVom the wretch Avho can repeni I
 
 54. FESTUS. 
 
 Scene — Water and Wood — MidiuQht 
 
 Festus, alone. 
 
 All things arc calm, and fail-, and passive. Eartli 
 
 Looks as if lulled upon an angel's lap 
 
 Into a breathless, dewy sleep : so still 
 
 That we can only say of things, they be ! 
 
 The lakelet now, no longer vexed with gusts, 
 
 Replaces on her breast the pictured moon 
 
 Pearled round with stars. Sweet imaged scene of time 
 
 To come, perchance, Avhen, this vain life o'erspent, 
 
 Earth may some purer beiiigs' presence bear ; 
 
 INIayhap even God may walk among His saints, 
 
 In eminence and brightness like yon moon, 
 
 Mildly outbeaming all the beads of light 
 
 Strung o'er night's proud, dark brow. Hoav strangely 
 
 foil' 
 Yon round, still star, which looks half sufFering from, 
 And half rejoicing in, its own strong fire ; 
 Making itself a lonelihood of light. 
 Like Deity, where'er m Heaven it dwells. 
 How can the beauty of material things 
 So win the heart and work upon the mind. 
 Unless like-natured with them ? Are great things 
 And thoughts of the same blood 1 They have like effect. 
 Lucifer. Why doubt on mind X What matter how 
 Ave call
 
 FESTUS. O:".' 
 
 That which all fool to be their noblest part? 
 Even spirits have a better and a worse : 
 For every thmg created must hare form. 
 Passions they huve, somewhat like thine ; but loss 
 Of grossness and that downwardness of soul 
 Which men have. It is true, they have no earth ; 
 For what they live on is above themselves. 
 
 Festus. There seems a sameness among things ; 
 for mind 
 And matter speak, in causes, of one God. 
 The inward and the outward Avorkls are like ; 
 The pure and gross but differ in degree. 
 Tears, feeling's bright embodied form, are not 
 More pure than dew-drops. Nature's tears, which she 
 Sheds in her own breast for the fair which die. 
 The sun insists on gladness ; but at night, 
 When he is gone, poor Nature loves to weep. 
 
 Lucifer. There is less real difference among things 
 Than men imagine. They overlook the mass, 
 But fasten each on some particular crum. 
 Because they feel that they can equal that. 
 Of doctrine, or belief, or party cause. 
 
 Festus. That is the madness of the world — and 
 that 
 Would I remove. 
 
 Lucifer. It is imbecility. 
 
 Not madness. 
 
 Festus. Oli ! the brave and good wlio sen? 
 
 A. worthy cause can only one wny fail ;
 
 06 FESTUS. 
 
 L'V 
 
 By perishing therein. Is it to fail 1 
 
 Xo ; every great or good man's death is a step 
 
 Fixm set toward theii* end — the end of being, 
 
 ^AHiich is the good .of all and love of God. 
 
 The world must have great minds, even as great spheres 
 
 Or suns, to govern lesser restless minds, 
 
 A^'hile they stand still and biuii with life ; to keep 
 
 Them in thek places, and to light and heat them. 
 
 If I desii-e immortal life for aught, 
 
 It is to learn the mystery of muid 
 
 And somewhat more of God. Let others rule 
 
 Systems or succor saints, if such things please; ■ 
 
 To live like light or die in light like dew, 
 
 Either! I should be blest. 
 
 Lucifer. It may not be. 
 
 For as wc do not see the sun himself, 
 It is but the light about hun, like a ring 
 Of glory round the forehead of a samt, so 
 God thou wilt never see. His naked love 
 Is terrible ; so great that saints dread more 
 To be forgiven than sinners do to die. 
 
 Festus. ^Icn have a claim on God ; and none who 
 hath 
 A heart of kindness, reverence, and love, 
 But dare look God in the flice and ask His smile. 
 He dwells in no fierce light — no cloud of flame ; 
 And if it were, Faith's eye can look through hell, 
 And throuo-h the solid world. We must all think 
 On God. Yon water must reflect the skv-
 
 FESTUS. 57 
 
 Midiiiglit! Day hath too much of light for us, 
 To see things spiritually. ]\Imd and Night 
 ^VjII meet, though in silence, like forbidden lovers, 
 With Avhom to see each other's sacred form 
 Must satisfy. The stillness of deep bliss, 
 Sound as the silence of the high hill-top 
 Where thunder finds no echo — like God's voice 
 Upon the worldling's proud, cold, rocky heart — 
 Fills full the sky ; and the eye shares with Heaven 
 That look, so like to feeling, which the bright 
 And glorious things of Natiu'e ever wear. 
 There is much to think and feel of things beyond 
 This earth ; which lie, as we deem, upwards — far 
 From the day's glare and riot — they arc Night's ! 
 Oh ! could we lift the future's sable shroud ! 
 
 Lucifer. Behind a shroud Avhat shouldst thou see 
 but death"? 
 
 Festus. Spirit is like the thread whereon are strung 
 The beads or worlds of life. It may be here. 
 It may be there that I shall live again ; 
 In yon strange world whose long nights know no star, 
 But seven fair maicUikc moons attending him 
 Perfect his sky — perchance in one of those — 
 But live again I shall, wherever it be. 
 We long to learn the future — love to guess. 
 
 Lucifer. The science of the future is to man, 
 Thit what the shadow of the wind miglit be. 
 Such tlioughts are vain and useless. 
 
 Festus. Forced on us. 
 
 8
 
 58 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. All things are of necessity. 
 
 Festus. Then best 
 
 But the good are never fatalists. The bad 
 Alone act by necessity, they say. 
 
 LnciFER. It matters not what men assume to be; 
 Or good, or bad, they are but what they are. 
 
 Festus. What is necessity 1 Are we, and thou, 
 And all the worlds, and the whole infinite 
 We cannot see, but working out God's thoughts 1 
 And have we no self-action 1 Are all God 1 
 
 Lucifer. Then hath He sin and all absurdity. 
 
 Festus. Yet, if created Being have free wOl, 
 Is it not wrong to judge it may traverse 
 God's own high wiU, and yet impossible 
 To think on't othenvise ? 
 
 Lucifer. It may be so. 
 
 All creature wUls, and all their ends and powers 
 Must come within the boundless scope of God's. 
 
 Festus. And all our powers are but weaknesses 
 To what Ave shall have, and to that God hath. 
 Doth not the wish, too, pouit the likeldiood 
 Of life to come ] 
 
 Lucifer. Boys Avish that they Avcre kings. 
 
 And so with thee. A deathless spuit's state, 
 Freed from gross fonn and bodily weightiness. 
 Seems kingly by the side of souls like thine. 
 And boys and men will likely both be balked. 
 What if it be, that spirit, after death. 
 Is loosed like flesh into its elements 1
 
 FESTUS. 59 
 
 The worlds which man hath constelhited hold 
 No fellowship in nature; nor perchance 
 As he hath systematiaed life, mmd and soul. 
 But sooth to say, I know not aught of this. 
 I have no kind. No nature like to me 
 Exists ; and human spirits must at least 
 Sleep tUl the day of doom — if it ever be. 
 
 Festus. Hast never known one free from bodyl 
 
 Lucifer. None. 
 
 Festus. Wliy seek then to destroy them'? 
 
 Lucifer. It is my part. 
 
 Let ruin bury ruin. Let it be 
 Woe here, woe there, woe, woe, be every where ! 
 It is not for me to know, nor tliee, the end 
 Of evil. I inflict, and thou must bear. 
 The arrow knoweth not its end and aim. 
 And I keep rushing, ruinuig along 
 Like a great river rich with dead men's souls. 
 For if I knew, I might rejoice ; and that 
 To me by Nature is forbidden. I know 
 Nor joy nor sorrow ; but a changeless tone 
 Of sadness like the night wind's is the strain 
 Of •^^•hat I have of feeling. I am not 
 As other spirits, — but a solitude 
 Even to myself; I the sole spirit sole. 
 
 Festus. Can none of thine immortals answer me'i 
 
 Lucifer. None, mortal ! 
 
 Festus. Where, then, is thy vaunted power ? 
 
 Lucifer. It is better seen as thus I stand apart
 
 »iO FESTUS. 
 
 From all. Mortality is mine — the green, 
 Unripened universe. But as the fruit 
 INIatures, and world bj' world (kops mellowed off 
 The wrinkling stalk of Time, as thme own race 
 Hath seen of stars now vanished — aU is hid 
 From me. My part is done. What after comes 
 I know not more than thou. 
 
 Festus. Haise me a spirit I 
 
 Awake, ye dead ! out with the secret, death ! 
 The grave hath no pride nor the rise-again. 
 Let each one brmg the bane whereof he died. 
 Bring the man his, the maiden hers ! Oh ! half 
 Mankind are murderers of themselves or souls. 
 Yea, Avhat is life but lingering suicide 1 
 Wake, dead ! Ye know the truth ; yet there ye lie 
 All mingling, mouldering, perishing together 
 Like run sand ui the hour-glass of old Time. 
 Death is the mad world's asylum. There is peace ; 
 Destruction's quiet and equality. 
 Night brings out stars as sorrow shoAVS us truths : 
 Though many, yet they help not ; bright, they light 
 
 not. 
 They are too late to serve us : and sad things 
 Are aye too true. We never see the stars 
 Tin we can see nought but them. So A\dth truth. 
 And yet if one would look doAvn a deep well, 
 Even at noon, we might see those same stars 
 Far fairer than the blmding blue — the truth. 
 Probe the profound of thine own nature, man ;
 
 FESTUS. 61 
 
 And thou mays't see reflected, e'en in life, 
 The worlds, the Heavens, the ages ; hy and by. 
 The coming come. Then Avelcome, world-eyed Truth ! 
 But there are other eyes men better love 
 Than Truth's : for when we have her she is so cold, 
 And proud, we know not what to do with her. 
 We cannot understand her, cannot teach ; 
 She makes us love her, but she loves not us ; 
 And quits lis as she came and looks back nevei*. 
 Wherefore we fly to Fiction's warm embrace, 
 With her to relax and bask ourselves at ease ; 
 And, in her loving and unhindering lap 
 Voluptuously lulled, we dream at most 
 On death and truth : she knows them, loves them not ; 
 Therefore Ave hate them and deny them both. 
 Call up the dead ! 
 
 Lucifer. Let rest whUe rest they may ! 
 
 For free from pain and from this world's wear and tear 
 It may be a relief to them to rot ; 
 And it must be that at the day of doom. 
 If mortals should take up immortal life, 
 They will curse me with a thunder which shall shake 
 The sun from out the socket of his sphere. 
 The curse of all created. Think on it ! 
 
 Festus. Those souls thou mean'st whom thou hast 
 ruined, damned. 
 
 Lucifer. Nor only those ; when once the virgin 
 bloom 
 Of soul is soiled — and rudely hath my hand
 
 62 FESTUS. 
 
 Swept o'er the swelling clusters of all life — 
 Little it matters whether crushed or touched 
 Scarcely: each speaks the spoiler hath been there. 
 The saved, the lost, shall curse me both alike: 
 God too shall cm-se me, and I, I, myself 
 That curse is ever greatening — quick with hell ; 
 The coming consummation of aU woe. 
 
 Festus. O man, be happy ! Die and cease for- 
 ever ! 
 "Why wear we not the shroud alway, that robe 
 Which speaks our rank on earth, our privilege ] 
 To know I have a deathless soul, I would lose it. 
 
 Lucifer. Believcst thou all I tell thee ? 
 
 Festus. All, I do. 
 
 Stringing the stars at i-andom round her head. 
 Like a pearl network, there she sits — bright night ? 
 I love night more than day — she is so lovely. 
 But I love night the most because she brings 
 Mv love to me ui dreams which scarcelv lie ; 
 Oh ! aU but truth and lovelier oft than truth ! 
 Let me have dreams like these, sweet Xight, forever, 
 'N'S'hen I shall wake no more ; an endless dieam 
 Of love and holy beauty 'mid the stars ; 
 And earth and Heaven for me may share between 
 
 them 
 The rough realities of other bliss. 
 
 I/UciFER. I see thy heart, and I will grant thy wish 
 I have lied to thee. I have command over spirits. 
 I ha^e beheld them bodUess as space.
 
 FESTUS. 63 
 
 Whom wilt thou that I call? 
 
 Festus. Mme Angela! 
 
 Lucifer. There is an Angel ever by thine hand. 
 "Wliat scest thou? 
 
 Festus. It is my love ! It is she ! 
 
 My glory ! spirit ! beauty, let me touch thee. 
 Nay, do not shrink back : well, then, I am wrong : 
 Thou didst not use to shrink from me, my love. 
 Angela ! dost thou hear me "? Speak to me. 
 And thou art there — looking alive and dead. 
 Thy beauty is then incorruptible. 
 I thought so, oft. as I have looked on thee. 
 Thou art too much even now for me as once. 
 I cannot gather what I raved to say ; 
 Nor Avhy I had thee hither. Stay, sweet sprite ! 
 Dear art thou to me now, as in that hour 
 When first Love's wave of feeling, spray-like, broke 
 Into briglit utterance, and we said we loved. 
 Yea, but I must come to thee. Move no more ! 
 Art thou in death or Heaven, or from tlie stars ; 
 Have I done wrong in calling for thee thus 1 
 "Wliat art thou ? Speak, love ; whisper me as wont 
 In the dear times gone by ; or durst thou not 
 Unfold the mystery of thine and mine 
 Own being 1 Was it Death who hushed thy lips ? 
 Is his cold finger there still 1 Let me come ! 
 She is not ! 
 
 Lucifer. And. thou canst not bring her back. 
 
 Festus. I will not, cannot be without her. Call her.
 
 H4 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. I call on spiiits, and I make them come . 
 But they depart according to their own ■wdl. 
 Another time and she shall speak with thee — 
 Ere long — and she shall show thee where she dwells 
 And how doth pass her immortality ; — 
 If lengthening decay can so be called. 
 Can lines finite one way be infinite 
 Another? And yet such is deathlessness. 
 
 Festus. It is hard to deem that spirits cease, that 
 thought 
 And feeling, fiesh-like, perish in the dust. 
 Shall we know those again in a future state 
 "Whom v.e have known and loved on earth 1 Say yes ! 
 
 Lucifer. The mind hath features as the body hath. 
 
 Festus. But is it mind which shall rerisel 
 
 Lucifer. Man were 
 
 Xot man without the mind he had in life. 
 
 Festus. ShaU all defects of muid and fallacies 
 Of feeling be immortalized'? all needs, 
 All joys, all sorrows, be again gone through, 
 Before the final crisis be imposed ? 
 Shall Heaven but be old earth created new ] 
 Or earth, treehke, transplanted into HeaAcn, 
 To flourish by the waters of aU life. 
 And we Avithin its shade, as heretofore. 
 Cropping its fi-uit, with life-seeds cored at heart ? 
 
 Lucifer. Man's nature, physical and psychical. 
 Will be together raised, changed, glorified ; 
 And all shall be alike, like God ; and all
 
 F E S T U S . 65 
 
 Unlike each other and tliemselves. The earth 
 Shall vanish from the thoughts of those she bore, 
 As have the idols of the olden time 
 From men's hearts of the present. All dehght 
 And all desbe shall be with heavenly things, 
 And the new nature God bestowed on man. 
 
 Festus. Then man shall be no more man, but an 
 angel. 
 
 Lucifer. When he is dead and buried, wliat re- 
 mains, — 
 That such an obscure, contradictory thing 
 Should be perpetuated any where'? 
 
 Festus. Oh ! if God hates the flesh, why made 
 He it 
 So beautiful that e'en its semblance maddens f 
 Am I to credit Avhat I think I have seen? 
 Or am I suffering some deceit of thine 1 
 
 Lucifer. I am explaining, not deluding. 
 
 Festus. True. 
 
 Defining night by darkness, death by dust. 
 I run the gantlet of a file of doubts. 
 Each one of wliich down liurls me to the ground. 
 I ask a hundred reasons what they mean. 
 And every one points gra^'ely to the ground 
 With one hand, and to Heaven with the other. 
 In vain I shut mine eyes. Truth's burning beam 
 Forces them open, and when open, blinds them. 
 
 Lucifer. Doubly unhappy ! 
 
 Festus. I am too unhappy 
 
 9 F*
 
 66 FESTUS. 
 
 To die; as some too Avay-worn canuot sleeji. 
 
 Planets and suns, that set themselves on fire 
 
 By their own rapid self-revolvements, are 
 
 But like some hearts. Existence I despise. 
 
 The shape of man is wearisome ; a bird's — 
 
 A worm's — a whii-h^dnd's — I would change with 
 
 aught. 
 Time! dash thine houi'-glass down. Have done with 
 
 this! 
 The course of Natui'e seems a course of Death, 
 x\nd nothingness the sole substantial thing. 
 
 Lucifer. Corruption springs from light : 'tis the 
 
 same power 
 Creates, preserves, destroys: the matter which 
 It works on, being one ever-changing form, — 
 The lining, and the dying, and the dead. 
 
 Festus. I'll not believe a thing which I have 
 
 known. 
 Hell was made hell for me, and I am mad. 
 
 Lucifer. True venom churns the fioth out of the 
 
 lij)s; 
 It works, and works like any water-wheel. 
 And she, then, was the maiden of thy heart. 
 Well, I have promised. Ye shall meet again. 
 Now, shall we go 1 
 
 Festus. This moment. I am ready. 
 
 Farewell ye dear old walks and trees ! farewell 
 Ye Avaters ! I have loved ye well. In youth 
 And childhood it hath been my Life to drift
 
 FESTUS. 67 
 
 Across ye lightly as a leaf; or skim 
 
 Your waves in yon skiff, swallo^vlike ; or lie 
 
 Like a loved locket on your sunny bosom. 
 
 Could I, like you, by looking in myself 
 
 Find mine own Heaven — fai-ewell ! Immortal come ! 
 
 'I'he morning peeps her blue eye on the east. 
 
 Lucifer. Think not so fondly as thy foolish race, 
 Imagining a Heaven from things Avithout ; 
 The picture on the passing wave call Heaven — 
 The wavelet, life — the sands beneath it, death ; 
 Dady more seen, till, lo ! the bed is bare. 
 This fancy fools the world. 
 
 Festus. Let us away! 
 
 Scene — A Mountain — Sun7-ise. 
 
 Festus and Lucifer. 
 
 Festus. Hail, beauteous Earth ! Gazing o'er thee, 
 I all 
 Forget the bounds of being ; and I long 
 To fill tlice, as a lover pines to blend 
 Soul, passion, yea, existence, AA'ith the fair 
 Creature he calls his own. I ask for nought 
 Before or after death but this, — to lie, 
 And look, and live, and bask, and bless myself 
 Upon thy broad. l)iight bosom. From thee I 
 Sjirang, aiul to ihci' 1 tinu, heart, arm, and brain.
 
 68 FESTUS. 
 
 Yes, I am all thine own. Thon ait the sole 
 Parent. To rock and river, plain and wood, 
 I cry, ye are my kin. While I, () Earth ! 
 Am but an atom of thee, and a breath, 
 Passmg unseen and unrecorded, like 
 The tiny thi"ob here in my temple's pulse. 
 Thou art forever and the sacred bride 
 Of Heaven, — worthy the passion of our God, 
 Oh ! full of light, love, grace ! — the grace of all 
 AVho owe to thee their life ; thy Makei-'s love ; 
 His face's light. All thine rejoice in thee; 
 Thou in thyself for aye ; rolling through ail' 
 As seraphs' song out of their trumpet lips 
 Kolls round the skies of Hea\'en. See the sun ! 
 God's crest upon His azure shield the Heavens. 
 Canst thou, a spirit, look upon him ^ 
 
 Lucifer. Ay. 
 
 I led him from the void, where he was Avrouglit, 
 By this right hand, up to the glorious seat 
 His brightness overshadows ; built his throne 
 On piles of gold, and laid his chambers on 
 Beams of gold ; wrapped a veil of fire around 
 His face, and bade him reign and burn like me 
 There, ever since, sat warming into life 
 These worlds as in a nest, he has and is. 
 But full he must. I have done, do, nought else 
 l-"rom my first thought to this, and to my last 
 No matter ; it is beneath this mind of mme 
 To reck of aught. I bear, have borne, the Ul
 
 -r j,.^
 
 F E S T U S . l)!i 
 
 Of ag(>s, of eternities — and must. 
 
 I care not. I shall sway the world as now, 
 
 Which worse and worse sinks with me as I sink. 
 
 Till finite sonls evanish as a vapor ; 
 
 Till immortality, the proud thing, perish ; 
 
 And God alone be and eternity. 
 
 Then will I clap my hands and cry to Him, 
 
 I have done ! Have Thy will now ! There is none 
 
 but Thee. 
 I am the first created being. I 
 Will be the last to perish and to die. 
 
 Festus. Thou art a fit monitor, methinks, of 
 pleasure. 
 
 Lucifer. To the high air sunshine and cloud are 
 one ; 
 Pleasure and pain to me. Thou and the earth 
 Alone feel these as different — for ye 
 Are under them — the Heavens and I above. 
 
 Festus. But tell me, have ye scenes like this in 
 heU? 
 
 Lucifer. Nay, nor in Heaven. 
 
 Festus. AVhat is Heaven"? not the toys 
 
 Of singing, love, and mvisic 1 Such a place 
 Were fit for women only. 
 
 Lucifer. Heaven is no place ; 
 
 Unless it be a place with God, allwhere. 
 It is the being good — the knowing God — 
 The consciousness of happiness and power ; 
 NA^itli knowledge which no spirit e'er can lose
 
 70 FESTUS. 
 
 But doth increase in everj- state ; aud aught 
 
 It most delights in the full leave to do. 
 
 But why consume me with such questions ? A^'hy 
 
 Add earth to hell, in the great chain of worlds 
 
 "Which God in wrath hath hound about me ? 
 
 Festus. Why ! 
 
 'Twas therefore that I closed with thee, great Fiend ! 
 Tliat thou might'st answer aU things I proposed, 
 Or bring me those who would do. 
 
 LuciFEE. AH these things 
 
 Thou wilt know sometime, when to see and know 
 Are one ; to see a thing and comprehend 
 The nature of it essentially; perceive 
 The reason and the science of its being, 
 And the relations with the universe 
 Of all things actual or possible, 
 Mortal, immortal, spiritual, gross. 
 This, when the spirit is made free of Heaven, 
 Is the divine result ; proportioned still 
 To the intelligence as human ; for 
 There are degrees in Heaven as every thing. 
 By God's will. Unimaginable space 
 As fidl of suns as is earth's sun of atoms, 
 Fadeth to match His boundless ■sariousness ; 
 And ever must do, though a thousand worlds. 
 As diverse from each other as is thine 
 From any of thy systems, were elanced 
 Each minute into life imendingly. 
 AU of von worlds, and all who dweU in them,
 
 FESTUS. 71 
 
 Stand in diverse degrees of bliss and being. 
 
 Through the ten thousand times ten thousandth grade 
 
 Of blessedness, above this world's and man's 
 
 Ability to feci or to conceive, 
 
 The soul may pass and yet know nought of Heaven, 
 
 More than a dim and miniature reflection 
 
 Of its most bright itrfinity ; — for God 
 
 Makes to each spii'it its peculiar Heaven ; — 
 
 And yet is Heaven a bright reality, 
 
 As this or any of yon worlds ; a state 
 
 ^Vhere all is loveliness, and poAver, and love ; 
 
 "\ATiere all sublimcst qualities of mind 
 
 Not infinite are limited alone 
 
 By the surrounding Godhood, and where nought 
 
 But what produceth glory and delight 
 
 To creature and Creator is ; where all 
 
 Enjoy entire dominion o'er themselves, 
 
 Acts, feelings, thoughts, conditions, qualities. 
 
 Spirit, and soul, and mind ; all under God, 
 
 For spirit is soul deified ; — while earth. 
 
 To the immortal vast, God-natured Spirit, 
 
 Is but a spell, which, having served to light 
 
 A lamp, is cast into consuming fire. 
 
 Festus. And HelH Is it nought but pits, and 
 chains, and flames ? 
 
 Lucifer. An ever greatening sense of ill and woe, 
 Aye crushing down the soul, but filling never 
 Its infinite capacity of pain. 
 
 Festus. But human nature is not infinite.
 
 72 FESTUS. 
 
 And therefore cannot suffer endlessly. 
 
 Lucifer. God may create in time what shall en- 
 dure 
 Unto eternity. With Hun is no 
 Distinction, nor in that which is of Him. 
 
 Festus. Then is not soul of God, but man and 
 earth. 
 Soul when made spirit is of earth no more. 
 Nor time, but of eternity and Heaven. 
 It is but when in the body, and bent do'svn 
 To worldly ends, that human souls become 
 Objects of time, as most are, till the hour 
 Comes when the soul of man shall be made one 
 With God's spirit ; and where shall woe be then 1 
 "Wliere, sin 1 where, suffering 'i when the mortal soul 
 Shall be di\inized and eternized by 
 God's very spirit put upon it 1 
 
 Lucifer. How 
 
 Can souls begotten to predestined doom. 
 From and before all worlds, be deemed of earth 1 
 
 Festus. Things spiritual, as belonging God, 
 Are known unto Him, and predestined from 
 Eternity, nor these alone ; but flesh 
 Forms not, nor does it need the care of Fate. 
 
 Lucifer. The object of eternal knowledge must 
 Have like existence. 
 
 Festus. Then it cannot be 
 
 Bound luito torment ; tliat Avould be to bring 
 Torture on godlike essence.
 
 FESTUS. 73 
 
 Lucifer. Hast not heard, 
 
 HoAv thine existence here, on earth, is but 
 The dark and narrow section of a life 
 "Which was with God, long ere the sun was lit, 
 And shall be yet, when all the bold bright stars 
 Ai-e dark as death-dust — Immortality 
 And AVisdom tending thee on either hand. 
 Thy divine sisters ? But do thou believe 
 E'en what thou wilt. It matters not to mc. 
 
 Festos. Is it the nature or the deed of God 
 To render finite follies infinite, 
 Or to eternize sin and death in fire 1 
 For so long as the punishment endures. 
 The crime lasts. Were it not for thy presence, 
 Spirit ! I would not deem hell were. 
 
 Lucifer. Let not 
 
 My presence pass for more than it is w^orth, 
 I pray, nor yet my absence. Trust me, I 
 Could wish, with thee, that hell Avere blotted out 
 Of utmost space. 'Tis man himself aye makes 
 His own God and his hell. But this is truth. 
 
 Festus. The truth is perilous never to the time. 
 Nor knowledge to the wise ; and to the fool, 
 And to the false, error and trutli alike. 
 Error is worse than ignorance. But say, — 
 How can eternal punishment be due 
 To temporal offences, to a pulse 
 Of momentary madness 1 
 
 Llciff.u. Pardon nie. 
 
 10 e
 
 74 F E S T U S . 
 
 Sin is not temporary. Nothing is, 
 
 Of spiritual nature, but hath cause 
 
 Immortal and immortal end in all, 
 
 As spirits. Therefore, till the soul shall be 
 
 By grace redeified, as is the soul, 
 
 So is the sin, forever before God. 
 
 Festus. Sin is not of the spirit, but of that 
 "Which blmdeth spirit, heart, and brain. 
 
 Lucifer. Believe so. 
 
 The law of all the worlds is retribution. 
 
 Festus. But is it so of God 1 
 
 Lucifer. The laws of Heaven 
 
 Are not of earth ; there, law is liberty. 
 
 Festus. Thou thunder-cloud of spuits, darkening 
 The skies and wrecking earth ! Could I hate men, 
 Ho^v I should joy with thee, even as an eagle. 
 Nigh famished, in the fellowship of storms ; 
 But I still lo\'e them. What will como of men 1 
 
 Lucifer, "Wliatever may, perdition is their meed. 
 Were Heaven dispeopled for a ministry 
 To Avarn them of their ways ; Avere thou and I 
 To monish them ; were Heaven, and Earth, and Hell 
 To preach at once, they still would mock and jeer 
 As now ; but never repent until too late ; 
 Until the everlasting hour had struck. 
 
 Festus. Men might be better if we better deemed 
 Of them. The worst way to improve the woild 
 Is to condemn it. Men may overget 
 Delusion — not despair.
 
 FESTUS. 75 
 
 Lucifer. Why love mankind ? 
 
 The affections are thy system's weaknesses ; 
 The Avasteful outlets of self-maintenance. 
 
 Festus. The wUd flower's tendril, proof of feeble- 
 ness, 
 Proves strength ; and so we fling our feelings out, 
 The tendrils of the heart, to bear us up. 
 
 Earth ! how drear to think to tear one self. 
 Even for an hour, from looks like this of thine ; 
 From features, Oh ! so fair ; to quit for aye 
 The luxury of thy side. Why, why art thou 
 Thus glorious, and 'twere not to sate the soul. 
 And chide us for the senseless dream of Heaven "? 
 The still, strong stream sweeps onward to its end. 
 Like one of the great purposes of God ; 
 
 Or like, may be, a soul like mine to Him. 
 Along yon deep blue vein upon thy bosom. 
 Earth ! I could float forever. See it there — 
 Winding among its green and smiling isles, 
 Like Charity amidst her children dear ; 
 Or Peace, rejoicing in her olive wreaths. 
 And gladdening as she glides along the lands. 
 
 Lucifer. And yet all this must end — must pass; 
 drop down 
 Oblivion like a pebble in a pit: 
 For God shall lay His hand upon the earth, 
 And crush it up like a red leaf. 
 
 Festus. Not be ? 
 
 1 cannot root the thought, nor hold it firm.
 
 76 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. This same sweet world which thou 
 wouldst fondly deem 
 Eternal, may be; which I soon shall see 
 Destruction suck back as the tide a shell. 
 
 Festus. It will not be yet. Ill woo thee, world, 
 again. 
 And revel in thy loveliness and love. 
 I have a heart with room for every joy : 
 And since we must part sometime, while I may, 
 I'll quaff the nectar in thy flowers, and press 
 The richest clusters of thy luscious fruit 
 Into the cup of my desires. I know 
 My years are numbered not in units yet. 
 But I cannot live unless I love and am loved ; 
 Unless I have the young and beautiful 
 Bound up like pictures in my book of life. 
 It is the intensest vanity alone 
 
 "SA'hich makes us bear with life. Some seem to live, 
 Whose hearts are like those unenlightened stars 
 Of the first darkness — lifeless, timeless, useless — 
 AVith nothing but a cold night air about them ; 
 Not suns — not planets — darkness organized : 
 Orbs of a desert darkness : with no soul 
 To light its watchfire in tlie wilderness. 
 And civilize the solitude one moment. 
 There are such seemingly; but how or Avhy 
 They live I know not. This to me is life: 
 That if life be a burden, I will join 
 To make it but the burden of a song:
 
 FESTUS. n 
 
 1 hate the Avorld's coarse thought. And this is life; 
 To watcli young beauty's budlike feelings burst 
 And load the soul with love ; — as that pale flower 
 Which opes at eve, spreads sudden on the dark 
 Its yellow bloom, and sinks the air down with sweets. 
 Let Heaven take all that's good — Hell all that's foul; 
 Leave us the lovely ! and Ave Avill ask no more. 
 
 Lucifer. To me it seems time all should end. 
 The sky 
 Grows gray. It is not so bright nor blue as once. 
 Well I remember, as it were yesterday. 
 When Earth and Heaven went happy, hand in hand, 
 With all tlie morning dew of youth about them ; 
 With the bright unworldly hearts of youth and truth 
 And the maiden bosoms of the beautiful : — 
 Ere earth sinned, or the pure indignant Heavens 
 Retreated high, nigh God ; when earth was all 
 A creeping mass, alive with shapeless things : 
 And when there were but three things in the ^vorld — 
 Monsters, mountains, and water : before age 
 Had thickened the eyes of stars ; and while the sea, 
 Rejoicing like a ring of saints round God, 
 Or Heaven on Heaven about some newborn sun. 
 In its sublime same-soundingness, laughed out 
 And cried not I ! Like God, I never rest. 
 
 Festus. God hath his rest ; Earth hers. Let me 
 have mine. 
 Yet must I look on thee, fair scene, again. 
 
 Ere I depart. The glory of the world 
 
 o*
 
 is FESTUS. 
 
 Is on all hands. In one encii-cling ken, 
 
 I gaze on river, sea, isle, continent, 
 
 ]\Iountain, and wood, and wild, and fire-lipped hill, 
 
 And lake, and golden plain, and sun, and Heaven, 
 
 Where the stars brightly die, whose death is day. 
 
 City, and port, and palace, ships and tents. 
 
 Lie massed and mapped before me. All is here. 
 
 The elements of the world are at my feet, 
 
 Above me and about me. Now would I 
 
 Be and do somewhat beside that I am. 
 
 Canst thou not gi^e me some ethereal slave. 
 
 Of the pure essence of an element — 
 
 Such as my bondless brain hath ofttunes draAvn 
 
 In the divine insanity of dreams — 
 
 To stand before me and obey me, spirit 1 
 
 Lucifer. Call out, and see if aught arise to thee, 
 Festus. Green, dewy Earth, who standest at my feet. 
 
 Singing and pouring sunshine on thy head, 
 
 As naiad native water, speak to me! 
 
 I am thy son. Canst thou not now, as once. 
 
 Bring forth some being dearer, liker to thee 
 
 Than is my race, — Titan or tiny fay, 
 
 Stream-nymph, or wood-nymph ? She hath ceased tc 
 speak, 
 
 Like God, except in thunder, or to look 
 
 Unless in liglitning. Miracles, with earth, 
 
 Are out of fashion, as with Heaven. 
 
 Lucifer. More's 
 
 The pit}'. Call elsewhere. Old Earth is hard 
 
 Of hearing, may be.
 
 FESTUS. 79 
 
 Festus. I beseech tliee, Sea! 
 
 Tossing thy wavy locks in sparklmg play, 
 Like to a child awakening with the light 
 To laughter. Canst not thou disguLf for me, 
 From thy deep bosom, deep as Heaven is high, 
 Of all thy sea-gods one, or sea-maids'? 
 
 Lucifer. None ! 
 
 Festus. I half despair. Fire ! that art slumbering 
 there, 
 Like some stern warrior in his rocky fort, 
 After the vast invasion of the world, 
 Hast not some flaming imp, or messenger 
 Of empyrean element, to whom. 
 In ATi'tue of his nature, are both known 
 The secrets of the burning, central, void below. 
 And yon bright Heaven, out of whose aery fire 
 Are wrought the forms of angels and the thrones? 
 Hast none at hand to do my bidding ] Come ! 
 Breathe out a spirit for me ! One I ask 
 That shaU be with me always, as a friend. 
 And not like thee, who despotizest o'er 
 The heart thou seek'st to serve. I must be free. 
 
 Lucifer. All finite souls must serve ; their widest 
 sway 
 Is but the rule of service. This fair earth 
 Which thou dost boast so much of, why, thou see'st 
 'Tis but the party-colored, scummy, dross 
 Of the original element wherefrom 
 The ficrv worlds avcic framed.
 
 80 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Air ! and thou, Wind 
 
 WTiich art the unseen similitude of God 
 Tlie Spirit, His most meet and mightiest sign ; 
 The earth, with all her steadfastness and strength, 
 Sustaining all, and bound about with chains 
 Of mountams, as is life with mercies, ranging round 
 AYith all her sister orbs the whole of Heaven, 
 Is not so like the unlikenable One 
 As thou. Ocean is less diA'ine than thee ; 
 For although all but limitless, it is yet 
 Visible, many a land not visiting. 
 But thou art, lovehke, every where; o'er earth, 
 O'er ocean triumphmg, and aye Avith clouds. 
 That like the ghosts of ocean's billows roll, 
 Decking or darkening Heaven. The sun's light 
 Floweth and ebbeth daily like the tides ; 
 The moon's doth grow or lessen, night by night ; 
 The stMess stars shine forth by fits and hide. 
 And our companion planets come and go ; — 
 And all are known, their laws and liberties. 
 But no man can foreset thy coming, none 
 Reason against thy going; thou art free, 
 The type impalpable of Spii'it, thou. 
 Thunder is but a momentary thing. 
 Like a world's deathrattle, and is like death ; 
 And lightning, lilve the blaze of sin, can blind 
 Only and slay. But what are these to thee, 
 In thine all-present variousness 1 Now, 
 So light as not to wake the snowiest down
 
 FESTUS. 81 
 
 Upon the do^^e's breast, winning her bright way 
 Calm and sublime as Grace unto the soul, 
 Towards her far native grove ; now, stern and strong 
 As ordnance, overturning tree and tower ; 
 Cooling the white brows of the peaks of fire, — 
 Turning the sea's broad furrows like a plough, — 
 Fanning tlic fruitening plains, breathing the SAveets 
 Of meadows, wandering o'er blinding snows. 
 And sands like sea-beds, and the streets of cities. 
 Where men as garnered grain lie heaped together ; 
 Freshening the cheeks, and mingling oft the locks 
 Of youth and beauty 'neath star-speaking eve ; 
 Swelling the pride of canvas, or, in wrath, 
 Scattering the fleets of nations like dead leaves: 
 In all, the same o'ermastering sightless force, 
 Bowing the highest things of earth to earth. 
 And iii'ting up the dust unto the stars ; 
 Fate-like, confounding reason, and like God's 
 Spirit, conferring life upon the world, — 
 Midst all corruption incorruptible ; 
 Monarch of all the elements ! hast thou 
 No soft ^olian sylph, with sightless wing, 
 To spare a mortal for an hourl 
 
 Lucifer. Peace, peace' 
 
 All nature knows that I am with thee here, 
 And that thou need'st no muior minister. 
 To thee I personate the Avorld — its powers, 
 Beliefs, and doubts, and practices. 
 
 Festus. Are all 
 
 Jiline invocations fruitless, then ]
 
 y2 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. Thev are. 
 
 Let us enjoy the world! 
 
 Festus. If 'twas God's will 
 
 That thou shouldst \'isit me, He shall not send 
 Temptation to my heart in vain. Sweet world ! 
 We all still cling to thee. Though thou thyself 
 Passest away, yet men will hanker ahout thee, 
 Like mad ones by theii- moping haunts. Men pass, 
 Cleaving to things themselves which pass away, 
 Like leaves on waves. Thus all things pass forever, 
 Save mind and the mind's meed. 
 
 Lucifer. Let us, too, pass ! 
 
 Scene — A Cotmtry Town — Market-place — Noon. 
 Lucifer and Festus. 
 
 Lucifer. These be the toils and cares of mighty 
 men! 
 Earth's vennin are as fit to fill her thrones 
 As these high Heaven's bright seats. 
 
 Festus. Men's callings all 
 
 Are mean and vain ; their wishes more so : oft 
 The man is bettered by his part or place. 
 How slight a chance may raise or sink a soul ! 
 
 Lucifer. What men call accident is God's own part. 
 He lets ye Avork your will — it is His own : 
 But that ve mean not. know not, do not, He doth.
 
 FESTUS. 83 
 
 Festus. AMiat is life worth without a heart to feel 
 The great and lovely, and the poetry 
 And sacredness of things] for all thmgs arp 
 Sacred, — the eye of God is on them all, 
 And hallows all unto it. It is fine 
 To stand upon some lofty mountain thought 
 And feel the spirit stretch into a view ; 
 To joy in what might be if will and power 
 For good Avould work together but one hour. 
 Yet millions never think a noble thought : 
 But with brute hate of brightness bay a mind 
 Which drives the darkness out of them, like hounds. 
 Throw but a false glare round them, and in slioals 
 They rush upon perdition : that's the race. 
 AVhat chann is in this world-scene to such minds 
 Blinded by dust ] What can they do in Heaven, 
 A state of spiritual means and ends 1 
 Thus must I doubt — perpetually doubt. 
 
 Lucifer. Who never doubted never half bclievec. 
 Where doubt, there truth is — 'tis her shadow. I 
 Declare unto thee that the past is not. 
 I have looked over all life, yet never seen 
 The age that had been. Why then fear or dream 
 About the future 1 Nothhig but what is, is ; 
 Else God were not the Maker that He seems. 
 As constant in creating as in being. 
 Embrace the present ! Let the future pass. 
 Plague not thyself about a future. That 
 Only which comes direct from God, His spirit,
 
 84 FESTUS. 
 
 Is deathless. Nature gra\'itates without 
 
 Effort ; and so all mortal natures fall 
 
 Deathwards. All aspiiation is a toil ; 
 
 But inspiration cometh from above, 
 
 And is no labor. Tlie earth's inborn strength 
 
 Could never lift her up to yon stars, whence 
 
 She fell ; nor human soul, by native worth, 
 
 Claim Heaven as birthright, more than man may call 
 
 Cloudland his home. The soid's inheritance, 
 
 Its biithplace, and its deathplace, is of earth, 
 
 Until God maketh earth and soul anew ; 
 
 The one like Heaven, the other like Himself 
 
 So shall the new Creation come at once ; 
 
 Sm, the dead branch upon the tree of Life, 
 
 Shall be cut off forever ; and all souls 
 
 Concluded in God's boundless amnesty. 
 
 Festus. Thou windest and unwuidest faith at will. 
 "^^^lat am I to believe 1 
 
 Lucifer. Thou mayst believe 
 
 But that which thou art forced to. 
 
 Festus. Then I feel 
 
 That instinct of immortal life in me, 
 Which prompts me to provide for it. 
 
 Lucifer. Perhaps. 
 
 Festus. Man hath a knoAvledge of a time to 
 come — 
 His most important knowledge: the weight lies 
 Nearest the short end: and the world depends 
 Upon M'hat is to be. I would deny
 
 FESTUS. 85 
 
 The present, if the future. Oh ! there is 
 A life to come, or all's a di-eam. 
 
 Lucifer. And all 
 
 May he a dream. Thou seest in thine, men, deeds. 
 Clear, moving, full of speech and order ; then 
 Why may not all this world be but a dream 
 Of God's] Fear not! Some morning God may 
 waken. 
 
 Festus. I would it were. This life's a mystery. 
 The value of a thought cannot be told ; 
 But it is clearly worth a thousand lives 
 Like many men's. And yet men love to li^■e 
 As if mere life were worth their li^'ing for. 
 "What but perdition will it be to most ? 
 Life's more than breath and the quick round of blood : 
 It is a great spirit and a busy heart. 
 The coward and the small in soul scarce do live. 
 One generous feeling — one great thought — one deed 
 Of good, ere liight, would make life longer seem 
 Than if each year might number a. thousand days, — 
 Spent as is this by nations of mankind. 
 We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
 In feelings, not. in figures on a dial. 
 AVe should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
 Wlio thinks most — feels the noblest — acts the best. 
 Life's but a means unto an end — that end, 
 Beginning, mean and end to all things — God. 
 The dead ha\e t.U the glory of the world. 
 ^Vhy uill we live and not be glorious?
 
 8G F E S T U S . 
 
 We never can be deathless till we die. 
 
 It is the dead win battles. And the breath 
 
 Of those who through the world drive like a wedge, 
 
 Tearing earth's empires up, nears Death so close 
 
 It dims his Avell-worn scythe. But no ! the brave 
 
 Die ncA'er. Being deatliless, they but change 
 
 Their country's arms for more — their country's heart. 
 
 Give then the dead their due ; it is they who saved us. 
 
 The rapid and the deep — the fall, the guLf, 
 
 Have likenesses in feeling and in life. 
 
 And life, so varied, hath more loveliness 
 
 In one day than a creeping century 
 
 Of sameness. But youth loves and lives on change 
 
 Till the sold sighs for sameness ; which at last 
 
 Becomes variety, and takes its place. 
 
 Yet some will last to die out thought by thought. 
 
 And power by power, and limb of mind by limb. 
 
 Like lamps upon a gay de\ice of glass, 
 
 Till all of soul that's left be dry and dark ; 
 
 Till even the burden of some ninety years 
 
 Hath crashed into them like a rock; shattered 
 
 Theu" system as if ninety suns had rushed 
 
 To ruin earth — or Heaven had rained its stars ; 
 
 TUl they become, like scrolls, unreadable 
 
 Through dust and mould. Can they be cleaned and 
 
 read ? 
 Do human spirits wax and wane like moons ^ 
 
 Lucifer. The eye dims, and the Ix^art gets old and 
 slow ;
 
 FESTUS. 87 
 
 The lithe limb stiffens, and the sun-hucd locks 
 
 Thin themselves off, or whitely wither ; — still 
 
 Ages not spirit, even in one point. 
 
 Immeasurably small ; from orb to orb, 
 
 T\i ever-rising radiance, shining like 
 
 U'he sun ujjon the thousand lands of earth. 
 
 Look at the medley, motley throng we meet ! 
 
 Some smiling — frowning some; their cares and joys 
 
 Alike not worth a thought — some sauntering slowly, 
 
 As if destruction never could o'ertake them ; 
 
 Some hurrying on as fearing judgment swift 
 
 Should trip the heels of deatli and seize them living. 
 
 Festus. Grief hallows hearts even while it ages 
 heads ; 
 And much hot grief, in youth, forces up life 
 V/ith power whicli too soon ripens and which drops. 
 
 [^1 funeral passes. 
 Whose funeral is this ye follow, friends \ 
 
 Lucifer. Would ye have grief, let me come ! I am 
 woe. 
 
 Mourner. We want no grief: Festus! she died 
 of grief. 
 
 Festus. Did ye say she died % Oh ! I kncAv her then. 
 Set down the body ; let me look upon her. 
 Now, Son of God ! what dost Thou now in Heaven 
 While one so beautiful lies carthening here "? 
 I will give up the future for the past ; 
 'J'lie winged spirit and the starry home, 
 If Thou wilt let her live, and make me love.
 
 88 FESTUS. 
 
 Mourner. She was a lock of Heaven which Hea^'eu 
 gave earth, 
 And took again, because unworthy of her. 
 
 Festcs. Her aii' was an immortal's; I have seen 
 Stars look on it Avith feeling; and her eye, 
 AMierevcr she went, it won her way like wme. 
 Men bowed to it as to the lifted Host. 
 How could I be so cruel 1 AYho but I ? 
 And now, corruption, come; sit; feast thyself! 
 This is the choicest banquet thou hast been at. 
 Thou art my happier, only rival : thou 
 '^^'ho takcst love from the living — life from beaut)' — 
 Beauty from death — whole robber of the world ! 
 
 Mourner. The moment after thou desertedst her 
 A cloud came over the prospect of her life; 
 And 1 foresaw how evening would set in, 
 Early, and dark, and deadly. She was true. 
 
 Festus. Did I not love thee, too l pui-e, perfect 
 thing ! 
 This is a soul I see, and not a body. 
 Go, beauty, rest for aye ; go, starry eyes. 
 And lips like rosebuds peeping out of snow ; 
 Go, breast love-filled as a boat's sail with wind. 
 Leaping fi'om waAC to wave, as leaps a child. 
 Thoughtless o"er grassy graves ; go, locks, which have 
 The golden embrownmcnt of a lion's eye. 
 Yet one more look ; farewell, thou well and fair ! 
 All A\lio but lo^-cd thee shall be deathless. Nought 
 Named but with thee can perish. Thou and Death
 
 FESTUS. 89 
 
 Have made each other purer, lovelier seem, 
 Like snow and moonlight. Never more for thee 
 Let eyes be swollen like streams with latter rains ! 
 To die were rapture, having lived with thee. 
 Thy soul hath passed out of a bodily Heaven 
 Into a spiritual. Rest for aye ! — 
 Pure after love as e'er thou wast before ; 
 Pure as the dead, in life ; the dead are holy. 
 I would I were among them. Let us pass ! 
 Living is but a habit ; and I mean 
 To break myself of it soon. 
 
 Lucifer. Too soon thou canst not 
 
 Men heed not of tlie day, how nigh none knows, 
 Which brings the consummation of the world. 
 But in mine ear the old machine already 
 Begins to grate. They would not credit warning, 
 Or I would up and cry. Repent ! I wUl. 
 Here's a fair gathering, and I feel moved. 
 Mortals, repent ! the world is nigh to its end : 
 On its last legs and desperately sick. 
 See ye not how it reels round all day long "? 
 
 Boys. Oli ! here's a ranter. Come, liere's fun 
 Amen ! 
 T knoAV the church service by heart. 
 
 Bystander. Be off! 
 
 You'll serve the church by keeping out of it. 
 
 LuciiT.u. I am a preacher come to tell ye trutli 
 I tell ye, too, there is no time to be lost ; 
 So fold your souls up neatly, while ye may ; 
 
 12 11*
 
 bU FESXGS. 
 
 Dii'ect to God in Heaveu ; or some one else 
 
 May seize them, seal them, send them — you know 
 
 where. 
 The world must end. I weep to think of it. 
 But you, you laugh ! I knew ye would. I know 
 Men never will be wise till they are fools 
 Fore\er. Laugh away ! The time will come, 
 When tears of fire are trickling from your eyes. 
 Ye will blame yourselves for having laughed at me. 
 I wavn ye, men : prepare ! repent ! be saved ! 
 I Avarn ye, not because I love, but know ye. 
 God will dissolve the world, as she of old 
 Her pearl, within His cup, and swallow ye 
 In wrath : although to taste ye would be poison, 
 And death and suicide to aught but God. 
 Again I warn ye. Save himself who can ! 
 Do ye not oft begin to seek salvation? 
 You ? you ? and fail, as oft, to find I Smk ? Cease ' 
 And shall I tell ye, brethren, why ye fail 
 Once and forever ? why, there is no past ; 
 And the future is the fiction of a fiction; 
 The present moment is eternity ; 
 
 It is that ye have sucked corruption from the world 
 Like milk from your own mothers : it is in 
 Your soul-blood and your soul-bones. Earth does not 
 Wean one out of a thousand sons to Heaven. 
 Begmnings are alike : it is ends which differ. 
 One di'op falls, lasts, and di'ies up — but a di'op ; 
 Another begins a ri\'er : and one thought
 
 FESTUS. 91 
 
 Settles a life, au immortality; 
 
 And that one thought ye will not take to good. 
 
 Now I will tell ye just one other truth : 
 
 Yo liatc the truth as snails salt — it dissolves ye, 
 
 Body and soul — but I don't mind. So, now: 
 
 Up to this moment ye are all, each, damned. 
 
 "\^'hat are ye now 1 still damned ! It will be the same 
 
 To-morrow — and the next day — and the next ; 
 
 Till some fine morning ye will wake in fire. 
 
 Ye see I do not mince the truth for ye. 
 
 Belike you think your lives will dribble out 
 
 As brooks in summer dry up. Let us see ! 
 
 Try: dike them up: they stagnate — thicken — scum. 
 
 That Avould make life worse than death. Well, let go ! 
 
 Where are you then '? for life, like water, will . 
 
 Find its last level; what leveH The grave. 
 
 It is but a fall of five feet, after all ; 
 
 That cannot hurt ye; it is but just enough 
 
 To work tlic wheel of life ; so work away ! 
 
 Ye may think that I do not know the terms 
 
 And treasures whereupon ye li\c so high. 
 
 But I know more than most men, modestly 
 
 Speaking. I know I am lost, and you too. God 
 
 Could only save me by dcstro}ing me; 
 
 So that I have no advantage o^■er you, 
 
 An<^3 therefore think ye will the rather bear 
 
 One of your own state to advise for ye. 
 
 Now aou't you envy me, good folks, I pray, — 
 
 Envy's a coal comes hissing liot from hell.
 
 92 FESTUS. 
 
 'Twill be such coals will bum ye by the way. 
 Your other preachers first thmk they are safe. 
 Now I say, broadly, I am the worst among ye ; 
 And God knows I have no need to wrong niAself, 
 Nor you. I boast not of it, but as truth: 
 It is little t(j be proud of, credit me. 
 What is salvation 1 What is safety 1 Think ! 
 Who wants to know ? Does any ■? 
 
 The Crowd. All of us. 
 
 Lucifer. Tlicn I will not tcU ye. You shall wait 
 until 
 Some angel come and stu- your stagnant souls : 
 'J'hen plunge into yourselves and rise redeemed. 
 Come, I'U unroll your hearts and read them to ye. 
 To say ye live is but to say ye have souls, 
 That ye have paid for them and mean to play them, 
 Till some brave pleasure wins the golden stake. 
 And rakes it up to death as to a bank. 
 Ye ]ixe and die on what your souls will fetch ; 
 And all are of different prices: therefore Hell 
 Cannot well bargam for mankind in gross ; 
 But each soul must be purchased, one by one. 
 This it is makes men rate themselves so high : 
 While truly ye are worth little; but to God 
 Ye are Avorth more than to yourselves. By sin 
 Ye wreak your spite against God — that ye know ; 
 And knowing, will it. But I pray, I beg, 
 Act Avith some smack of justice to your Makc;v, 
 If not luito yourselves. Do ! It is enough
 
 FESTUS. 98 
 
 To make the very Devil chide niaukiud — 
 Such baseness, such iinthankfulness ! Why, lie 
 Thanks God he is no worse. You don't do that. 
 I say, be just to God. Leave off these airs : 
 Know your phice ; speak to God — and say, for once, 
 Go first, Lord ! Take your finger ofi" your eye. 
 It blocks the universe and God from sight. 
 Think ye your souls are worth nothing to God ] 
 Are they so small I What can be great with God 1 
 What will ye weigh against the Lord ? Yourselves 1 
 Bring out your balance : get in, man by man : 
 Add earth, heaven, hell, the universe ; that's all. 
 God puts his finger in the other scale, 
 And up we bounce, a bubble. Nought is great 
 Nor small with God — for none but He can make 
 The atom indivisible, and none 
 But He can make a world : He counts the orbs, 
 He counts the atoms of the universe. 
 And makes both equal — both are infinite. 
 Giving God honor, never underrate 
 Yourselves: after Him, ye are every thing. 
 But mind ! God's more than every thing ; He is God. 
 And what of me 1 No, us 1 no ! I mean the DcahI ? 
 Why, see ye not he goes before both you 
 And God'? Men say — as proud as Lucifer — 
 Pray who would not be proud with such a train ^ 
 Hath he not all the honor of the earth ? 
 Why Mammon sits before a million liearths 
 Where God is bolted out from every house.
 
 94 FESTUS. 
 
 Well might He say He cometh as a thief; 
 
 For He will break your bars and burst your doors 
 
 Which slammed against Him once, and turn ye out> 
 
 Roofless and shivering, 'neath the doom-storm ; Heaven 
 
 Shall crack above ye like a bell in fire, 
 
 And bury all beneath its shining shards. 
 
 He calls : ye hear not. Lo ! He comes — ye see not. 
 
 No ; ye are deaf as a dead adder's ear : 
 
 No ; ye are blind as never bat was blind. 
 
 With a burning, bloodshot blindness of the heart ; 
 
 A swimming, swollen senselessness of soul. 
 
 Listen ! Whom love ye most 1 Why, him to whom 
 
 Ye in your turn are dearest. Need I name? 
 
 Oh no ! But all are de-vils to themselves ; 
 
 And every man his own great foe. Hell gets 
 
 Only the gleanings : earth hath the full Avain ; 
 
 And hell is merry at its harvest-home. 
 
 But ye are generous to sin, and grudge 
 
 The gleaners nothing ; ask them, push them in. 
 
 Let not an ear, a grain of sin, be lost ; 
 
 Gather it, grind it up ; it is our bread : 
 
 "\^'e should be ashamed to waste the gifts of God. 
 
 Why is the world so mad? Why runs it thus 
 
 Ra\ing and howling round the iniiverse? 
 
 Because the Devil bit it from the birth ! 
 
 The fault is all \\ith him. Fear nothing, friends ! 
 
 It is fear which beds the far to-come with fire 
 
 As the sun does the Avest : but the sun sets ; 
 
 Well : still ve tremble — tremble, first at light,
 
 FESTUS. 95 
 
 Then darkness. Tremble ! ye dare not believe. 
 
 No, cowards ! sooner than believe ye would die ; 
 
 Die with the black lie flapping on jour lips 
 
 Like the soot-flake upon a burning bar. 
 
 Be merry, happy, if ye can : think never 
 
 •Of him who slays your souls, nor Him who sa^'cs. 
 
 There is time enough for that when ye are a dying. 
 
 Keep your old ways ! It matters not this once. 
 
 Be brave ! Ye are not men whom meat and wine 
 
 Serve to remind but of the sacrament ; 
 
 To whom sweet shapes and tantalizing smiles 
 
 Bring up the Devil and the ten commandments — 
 
 And so on — but I said the world must end. 
 
 I am sorry ; it is such a pleasant world ; 
 
 "With all its faults, it is perfect — to a fault ; 
 
 And you, of course, end with it. Now how long 
 
 Will the world take to die 1 I know ye place 
 
 Great faith upon death-bed repentances ; 
 
 The suddencr the better. I know je often 
 
 Begin to think of praying and repenting ; 
 
 But second thoughts come, and ye are worse than ever : 
 
 As over new white snow a filthy thaw. 
 
 Ye do ftmazc me, verily. How long 
 
 Will )'e take heart on your own wickedness. 
 
 And God's forbearance? Have ye cast it up? 
 
 Come now ; the year and month, day, hour, and minute, 
 
 Sin's golden cycle. Do ye know liow. long 
 
 Exactly Heaven will grant ye 1 how long God, — 
 
 Who, wlicn He had slain the world and wasted it,
 
 96 FESTUS. 
 
 Hung up His bow in Heaven, as in his hall 
 
 A warrior after battle — will yet bear 
 
 Your contumely and scom of His best gifts, — 
 
 Man's mockery of man 1 But never mind ! 
 
 Some of us are magnificently good. 
 
 And hold the head up high like a giraife ; 
 
 You, in particular, and you — and you. 
 
 Good men are here and there, I know ; but then, — 
 
 You must excuse me if I mention this — 
 
 My duty is to tell it you — the world, 
 
 Like a black block of marble, jagged with white, 
 
 As Avith a vein of lightning petrified, 
 
 Looks blacker than without such ; looks in truth, 
 
 So gross the heathen, gross the Christian too — 
 
 Like the original darkness of void space. 
 
 Hardened. Instead of justice, love, and grace, 
 
 Each worth to man the mission of a God, 
 
 Injustice, hate, un charitableness, 
 
 Tri-equal reign round earth, a Trinity of Hell. 
 
 Ye think ye never can be bad enough ; 
 
 And as ye sink in sin, ye rise in hope. 
 
 And let the worst come to the worst, you say, 
 
 There always will be time to turn ourselves, 
 
 And cry for half an hour or so to God : 
 
 Salvation, sure, is not so very hard — 
 
 It need not take one long ; and half an hour 
 
 Is quite as much as we can spare for it. 
 
 "NVe liave no time for pleasures. Business ! busmess ! 
 
 No ! ye shall perish sudden and unsaved.
 
 FESTUS. 91 
 
 The piiost shall, dippmg, die. Can man save man"? 
 
 Is water God? The counsellor, wise fool! 
 
 Drop down amid his quirks and sacred lies. 
 
 The judge, wliile dooming unto dcatli some wretch, 
 
 Shall meet at once his own death, doom, and judge. 
 
 The doctor, watch in hand and patient's pulse. 
 
 Shall feel his oAvn heart cease its beats — and fall. 
 
 Professors shall spin out, and students strain 
 
 Their brains no more ; art, science, toil, shall cease. 
 
 The world shall stand still with a rending jar. 
 
 As though it struck at sea. The lialls Avhere sit 
 
 The heads of nations shall be dumb with death. 
 
 The ship shall after her own plummet sink, 
 
 And soinid the sea herself and depths of death. 
 
 At tlie first turn Death shall cut off the thief, 
 
 And dash the gold bag in his yellow brain. 
 
 The gambler, reckoning gains, shall drop a piece : 
 
 Stoop down, and there see death ; — look up, there God. 
 
 The wanton, temporizing with decay, 
 
 -\nd qualifying every line which vice 
 
 Writes bluntly on the brow, inciting scorn, 
 
 Shall pale tlirough plastered red : and the loose, low 
 
 sot 
 See clear, for once, through his misty, o'erbrimmed 
 
 eye. 
 The just, if there be any, die in prayer. 
 Death shall be every where among your marts, 
 And giving bills which no man may decline — 
 Drafts upon hell one moment after date. 
 
 13 I
 
 98 FESTUS. 
 
 Then shall your outcries tremble amid the stars : 
 Terrors shall be about ye like a ■n'iacl ; 
 And fears come do^ATi upon ye like a house. 
 
 Festcs. Yon man looks frightened. 
 
 Lucifer. Then it is time to stop. 
 
 I hope I have done no good. He will soon forget 
 His soul. Flesh soaks it up as sponge does water. 
 Xow wait ! I A\'ill rub them backwards like a cat ; 
 And you shall see them spit and sparkle up. 
 Let us suppose a case, fiiends ! You are men ; 
 And there is God ! and I will be the De\'il. 
 Very well. I am the De\Tl. 
 
 OsE sai/s. I think you are. 
 
 You look as if you lived on buttered thunder. 
 
 Lucifer. Nay, be not wroth. Ye would crucify 
 the De^'il, 
 I do believe, if he a moment vexed you. 
 I know well which ye choose ; but choose again ! 
 Time or eternity 1 Speak, Hell or Heaven ? 
 
 The Crowd. He's a mad ranter : down with 
 him! — 
 
 Festus. Let him be ! 
 
 Lucifer. Stand by me, Festus ! and I wUl by 
 thee. 
 Why, God and man! this is the second time 
 ITiat I have run for my life. 
 
 Festus. Nay, nay, come back ! 
 
 They wUl not hann thee : they would chair thee round 
 The market-place, knew they but whom thou art
 
 F E S T U S . 9y 
 
 Peace there, my friends ! one minute ; let us pray ! 
 
 Grant us, O God ! tliat in Thy holy love 
 
 The universal people of the world 
 
 May grow more great and happy every day ; 
 
 Mightier, wiser, humbler, too, towards Thee. 
 
 And that all ranks, all classes, callings, states 
 
 Of life, so far as such seem right to Thee, 
 
 May mingle into one, like sister trees. 
 
 And so in one stem flourish ; — that all laws 
 
 And powers of government be based and used 
 
 In good and for the people's sake ; — that each 
 
 ]\Ia}- feel himself of consequence to all. 
 
 And act as though all Saw him ; — that the whole, 
 
 The mass of every nation, may so do 
 
 As is most Avorthy of the next to God ; 
 
 For a whole people's souls, each one worth more 
 
 Than a mere world of matter, make combined, 
 
 A something godlike — something like to Thee. 
 
 We pray Thee for the welfare of all men. 
 
 liCt monarchs who love truth and freedom feel 
 
 The happiness of safety and respect 
 
 From those they rule, and guardianship from Thee 
 
 Let them remember they are set on thrones 
 
 As representatives, not substitutes 
 
 Of nations, to implead with God and man. 
 
 Let tyrants who hate truth, or fear the free. 
 
 Know that to rule in slavery and error. 
 
 For the mere ends of personal pomp and power, 
 
 Is such a sin as doth deserve a hell
 
 100 FESTUS. 
 
 To itself sole. Let both remember, Lord! 
 
 They are but thmgs like-iiatured with all nations ; 
 
 That mountains issue out of plams, and not 
 
 Plains out of mountains, and so likewise kings 
 
 Are of the people, not the people of kings. 
 
 And let all feel, the rulers and the ruled, 
 
 .\11 classes and all countries, that the Avorld 
 
 Is Thy great halidom ; that Thou art King, 
 
 Lord ! only owner and possessor. Grant 
 
 That nations may now see, it is not kings 
 
 Xor priests they need fear so much as themselves ; 
 
 That if they keep but true to themselves, and free, 
 
 Sober, enlightened, godly — mortal men 
 
 Become unpassible as au", one great 
 
 And indestructible substance as the sea. 
 
 Let all on thrones and judgment seats reflect 
 
 How dreadful Thy revenge through nations is 
 
 On those who Avrong them ; but do Thou grant, Lord ' 
 
 That when wrongs are to be redressed, such may 
 
 Be done with mildness, speed, and firmness, not 
 
 With violence or hate, whereby one wrong 
 
 Translates another — both to Thee abhorrent. 
 
 The bells of time are ringing changes fast. 
 
 Grant, Lord ! that each fresh peal may usher in 
 
 An era of advancement, that each change 
 
 Prove an eflectual, lasting, happy gain. 
 
 And we beseech Thee, overi'ule, O God ! 
 
 All ci^ U contests to the good of aU ; 
 
 Ail party and religious diifference
 
 FESTUS. 101 
 
 To honorable ends, whether secured 
 Or lost ; and let all strife, political 
 Or social, spring from conscientious aims, 
 And have a generous, self-ennobling end, 
 Man's good and Thine own glory in view always ! 
 The best may then faQ, and the worst succeed 
 Alike with honor. We beseech Thee, Lord ! 
 For bodily strength, but more especially 
 For the soul's health and safety. We entreat Thee 
 In Thy great mercy to decrease our wants, 
 And add autumnal increase to the comforts 
 Which tend to keep men innocent, and load 
 Their hearts with thanks to Thee, as trees in bear- 
 ing : — 
 The blessings of friends, families, and homes. 
 And kindnesses of kindred. And we pray 
 That men may rule themselves in faith in God, 
 In charity to each other, and in hope 
 Of their o^\^l soul's salvation: — that the mass, 
 The millions in all nations, may be trained, 
 From their youtli upwards, in a nobler mode. 
 To loftier and more liberal ends. We pray, 
 yVbove all things. Lord ! that all men be free 
 From bondage, ^vliethor of the mind or body ; — 
 The bondage of religious bigotry, 
 And bald antiquity, servility 
 
 Of thought or speech to rank and power ; be all 
 Free as they ought to be, in mind and soul. 
 
 As well as Ijy state birtliright ; — and tliat Mind, 
 
 I*
 
 1(2 FESTUS. 
 
 Time's giant pupil, may right soon attain 
 Majority, and speak and act for himself. 
 Incline Thou to our prayers, and grant, O Lord ! 
 That all may ha^e enough, and some safe mean 
 Of Avorldly goods and honors, by degrees, 
 Take place, if practicable, in the fitness 
 And fullness of Thy time. And we beseech Thee, 
 That Truth no more be gagged, nor conscience dun- 
 geoned, 
 Xor science be impeached of godlessness, 
 Nor feitli be circumscribed, which, as to Thee, 
 And the soul's self aifaiis, is infinite; 
 But that all men may have due liberty 
 To speak an honest mind, in every land, 
 Encouragement to study, leave to act 
 As conscience orders.- We entreat Thee, Lord ! 
 For Thy Son's sake, to take away reproach 
 Of all kinds fi-om Thy church, and all temptation 
 Of pomp or power political, that none 
 May err in the end for which they were appointed 
 To any of its orders, low or high ; 
 And no ambition, of a Avorldly cast, 
 Leaven the love of souls unto whose care 
 They feel propelled by Thy most holy Spirit. 
 Be every church established. Lord ! in truth. 
 Let aU who preach the word live by the word, 
 In moderate estate ; and in Thy church — 
 One, universal, and invisible 
 World-wards, vet manifest unto itself —
 
 FEPTXJS. 103 
 
 May it seem good, dear Savior, in Thy sight, 
 
 That orders be distinguished, not by wealth, 
 
 But piety and power of teaching souls. 
 
 Equalize labor. Lord ! and recompense. 
 
 Let not a hundred humble pastors starve, 
 
 In this or any land of Christendom, 
 
 AVhile one or two, impalaced, mitred, throned 
 
 And banqueted, burlesque if not blaspheme 
 
 The holy penury of the Son of God ; 
 
 The fastings, the foot-wanderings, and the preachings 
 
 Of Christ and His first followers. Oli that the Son 
 
 Might come again ! There should be no more war, 
 
 No ijiore want, no more sickness ; with a touch 
 
 He should cure all disease, and with a word 
 
 All sin ; and with a look to Heaven, a prayer, 
 
 Provide bread for a million at a time. 
 
 But till that perfect advent grant us. Lord ! 
 
 That all good institutions, orders, claims, 
 
 Charitably proposed, or in the aid 
 
 Of Thy divine foundation, may much prosper. 
 
 And more of them be raised and nobly filled ; — 
 
 That Thy word may be taught throughout all lands. 
 
 And save souls daily to the thrones of Heaven! — 
 
 And we entreat Thee, that all men Avhom Thou 
 
 Hast gifted with great minds may love Thee Avell, 
 
 And praise Thee for their powers, and use them most 
 
 Humbly and holily, and, lever-like, 
 
 Act but in lifting up the mass of mhid 
 
 About them; knowing well that tliey shall be
 
 104 
 
 FhSTLS. 
 
 Questioned by Thee of deeds the pen hath done, 
 
 Or caused, or glozed ; inspire them with delight 
 
 And power to treat of noble themes and things 
 
 AVorthily, and to leave the low and mean — 
 
 Things born of vice or day-lived fashion, in 
 
 Their naked, native folly : — make them know 
 
 Fine thoughts are wealth, for the right use of which 
 
 Men are and ought to be accountable, — 
 
 If not to Thee, to those they influence. 
 
 Grant this we pray Thee, and that all who read 
 
 Or utter noble thoughts may make them theirs, 
 
 And thank God for them, to the betterment 
 
 Of their succeeding life ; — that all who lead 
 
 The general sense and taste, too apt, perchance, 
 
 To be led, keep in mind the mighty good 
 
 They may achieve, and are in conscience bound, 
 
 And duty, to attempt unceasingly 
 
 To compass. Grant us, all-maintaining Sii'e ! 
 
 That all the great mechanic aids to toil 
 
 Man's skill hath formed, found, rendered, — whether 
 
 used 
 In multiplying works of mind, or aught 
 To obnatc the thousand wants of life, 
 May much avail to human Avclfare now, 
 And in aU ages, henceforth and forever. 
 Let their effect be, Lord ! to .lighten labor. 
 And gi^e more room to mind, and leave the poor 
 Some time for self-improvement. Let them not 
 Be forced to grind the bones out of their arms
 
 FESTUS. 105 
 
 For bread, but have some space to think and feci 
 Like moral and immortal creatures. God ! 
 Have mercy on them till such time shall come ; 
 Look Thou with pity on all lesser crimes, 
 Thrust on men almost when devoured by want. 
 Wretchedness, ignorance, and outcast life ! 
 Have mercy on the rich, too, who pass by 
 The means they have at hand to fill their minds 
 With ser^iceable knowledge for themselves, 
 And feUows, and support not the good cause 
 Of the world's better future ! Oh, reward 
 All such who do, with peace of heart and power, 
 For greater good. Have mercy. Lord ! on each 
 And all, for all men need it equally. 
 May peace, and industry, and commerce weld 
 Into one land all nations of the world, 
 Rewedding those the Deluge once divorced. 
 Oh ! may all help each other in good things, 
 Mentally, morally, and bodily. 
 Vouchsafe, kind God ! Thy blessing to this isle, 
 Specially. May our country ever lead 
 The world, for she is Avorthiest ; and may all 
 Profit by her example, and adopt 
 Her course, wherever great, or free, or just. 
 May all her subject colonies and powers 
 Have of her freedom freely, as a child 
 Receiveth of its parents. Let not rights 
 Be wrested from us to our oavu reproach, 
 u
 
 106 FESTUS. 
 
 But granted. "NYe may make the whole world free, 
 
 And be as free ourselves as ever, more ! 
 
 If policy or self-defence call forth 
 
 Our forces to the field, let us in Thee 
 
 Place, first, our trust, and in Thy name we shall 
 
 O'ercome, for we will only wage the right. 
 
 Let us not conquer nations for ourselves, 
 
 But for Thee, Lord ! who hast predestined us 
 
 To fight the battles of the future now. 
 
 And so have done with war before Thou comest. 
 
 Till then, Lord God of armies, let our foes 
 
 Have their swords broken and their cannon burst, 
 
 And their strong cities levelled ; and w^hile we 
 
 War faithfully and righteously, improve, 
 
 CiAilize, Chiistiauize the lands we win 
 
 From savage or from nature. Thou, O Gad ! 
 
 "\\"ilt aid and hallow conquest, as of old. 
 
 Thine own immediate nation's. But we pray 
 
 That all mankind may make one brotherhood. 
 
 And love and serve each other ; that all wars 
 
 And feuds die out of nations, whether those 
 
 ^Miom the sun's hot light darkens, or ourselves 
 
 ^Aliom he treats fairly, or the northern tribes 
 
 "Whom ceaseless snoAvs and stariy w^inters blench, 
 
 Savage or ciAilized, — let every race, 
 
 Red, black, or wliite, olive, or tawny-skmned, 
 
 Settle in peace and swell the gathering hosts 
 
 Of the great Prince of Peace. Oh ! may the hour
 
 FESTUS. lOT 
 
 Soon come when all false gods, false creeds, false 
 
 prophets, — 
 Allowed m Thy good purpose for a time, — 
 Demolished, the great world shall be at last 
 The mercy-seat of God, the heritage 
 Of Christ, and the possession of the Spu'it, 
 The comforter, the wisdom ! shall all be 
 One land, one home, one friend, one faith, one law. 
 Its ruler God, its practice righteousness, 
 Its life peace ! For the one true faith we pray ; 
 There is but one in Heaven, and there shall be 
 But one on earth, the same which is in Heaven. 
 Prophecy is more true than history. 
 Grant us our prayers, we pray, Lord ! in the name 
 And for the sake of Thy Son Jesus Christ, 
 Our Savior and Redeemer, who with Thee, 
 And with the Holy Spirit, reigneth God 
 Over all worlds, one blessed Trinity. 
 
 The Crowd. Amen ! 
 
 Lucifer. Well, friends, we'll sing a hymn ; then 
 part. 
 T give it out, and you sing — all of you. 
 
 Oh! Earth is cheating Earth 
 
 From age to age forever ; 
 She laughs at faith and worth, 
 
 And dreams she shall die never; 
 Never, never, never ! 
 And di-eams she shall die never.
 
 108 FESTUS. 
 
 And Hell is ciusing Hell 
 
 From age to age forever ; 
 
 *&^ "" "& 
 
 Its srroaus rinc: out the kuell 
 
 ti" 
 
 rmg 
 
 Of souls that may die never ' 
 Never, never, never! 
 Of souls that may die never. 
 
 But Heaven is blessing Heaven 
 From age to age forever ; 
 
 And its thanks to God are given 
 For bliss that can die never; 
 Never, never, never! 
 
 For bliss that can die ncAer. 
 
 My blessmg be upon ye all ; now go ! 
 
 Festus. I Avonder what these people make of thee. 
 
 Lucifer. Ay, manner's a great matter. 
 
 Festus. They deserve 
 
 All the rebuke thou gavest them, and more. 
 What mountains of delusion men have reared ! 
 How every age hath bustled on to buUd 
 Its shado\\'y mole — its monumental dream ! 
 How faith and fancy, in the mmd of man. 
 Have spuriously mingled, and how much 
 Shall pass away for aye, as pass before 
 You sun, the Lord of steadfastness and change, 
 The visionary landscapes of the skies; — 
 The golden capes far stretchmg into Heaven, 
 The snow-piled cloud crags, the bright-AAinged isles
 
 FESTUS. Ib'J 
 
 Which dot tlie deep, impassive ocean, ail, 
 
 Like a disbanded rainbow, of all hues, 
 
 Fit for translated fairy's Paradise ; — 
 
 Or as before the e}e of musing child, 
 
 The faces Fancy forms in clouds and fire 
 
 Of glowing angels or of darkening fiend. 
 
 Arts, superstition, arms, philosophy, 
 
 Have each in turn possessed, betrayed, and mocked us. 
 
 Yes, vain philosophy, thine hour is come ! 
 
 Thy lips were lined with the immortal lie. 
 
 And dyed witli all the look of truth. INIen saw, 
 
 Believed, embraced, detested, cast thee off. 
 
 Those lights, the morn of Truth's immortal day. 
 
 As thou didst falsely swear them, have they not 
 
 Vanished, the mere auroras of the mind'? 
 
 And thou didst vow to gather clear again 
 
 The fallen Avaters of humanity ; 
 
 To smooth the flaw from out an eye ; to piece 
 
 A pounded pearl. Thank God ! I am a man ; 
 
 Not a philosopher. Rivers may rot. 
 
 Never revive the root of oak firebolted. 
 
 Come, let us to the hills ! where none but God 
 
 Can overlook us ; for I hate to breathe 
 
 The breaths and think the thoughts of other men, 
 
 In close and clouded cities, where the sky 
 
 Frowns, like an angry father, mournfully. 
 
 1 love the hills, and I love loneliness. 
 
 And Oh ! I love the woods, those natural fanes 
 
 "V\'hosc very air is holy ; and we breathe
 
 nf> FESTUS. 
 
 Of God ; for He doth come iii special place, 
 And, while we worship, He is tliere for us. 
 
 Lucifer. It is time that sometliing should be done 
 for the poor. 
 The sole equality on earth is death; 
 Now, rich and poor are both dissatisfied. 
 I am for judgment: that wOl settle both. 
 Nothing is to be done without destruction. 
 Death is the universal salt of states ; 
 Blood is the base of all things — law and war, 
 I could tame this lion age to foUow me. 
 I should like to macadamize the world ; 
 The road to Hell wants mending. 
 
 FEsrrrs. Come away! 
 
 Scene — Alcove and Garden. 
 Festus and Clara. 
 
 Festus. T\Tiat happy things are youth, and love, 
 and sunshine ! 
 How sweet to feel the sun upoii the heart ! 
 To know it is lighting up the rosy blood. 
 And with aU joyous feelings, prism-hued, 
 INIaking the dark breast shme like a spar grot. 
 AYe walk among the sunbeams as with angels. 
 
 Clara. Yes, there are feelings so serene and sweet. 
 Coming and going witli a musical lightness,
 
 
 •■■'-'. here IK a garlan
 
 FESTTJS. . Ill 
 
 Tliat they can make amends for tlicir passingness, 
 And balance God's condition to decay ; 
 As yon light fleecy cloudlet floating along, 
 Like golden down from some high angel's wing, 
 Breaks, but relieves and beautifies the blue. 
 I wonder if ever I could love another. 
 How I should start, to see upon the sWard 
 A shadow not thine own, arm-linked with mine ; 
 See, here is a garland I have bound for thee. 
 
 Festus. Nay, crown tliyself ; it will suit thee bet- 
 ter, love. 
 Place wreaths of everlasting flowers on tombs, 
 And deck with fading beauties forms that fade. 
 Put it away. I wUl no crown save this : 
 And could the line of dust which here I trace 
 Upon my brow but warrant dust beneath — 
 And nothing more — or could this bubble frame. 
 Informed with soul, lashed from the stream of life 
 By its own impetus, but burst at once. 
 And vanish, part on high and part beloAV, 
 I would be happy, nor would envy death. 
 Could I, like Heaven's bolt, earthing quench myself, 
 This moment would I burn me out a grave. 
 Miglit I but be as many years in dying 
 As I have lived — that might be some relief. 
 
 Clara. What canst thou mean 1 
 
 Festus. Mean 1 Is there not a future ? 
 
 The past, the present, and the coming, curse each! 
 The future, curse it !
 
 112 FEST0S. 
 
 Claua. Shall we not ever live 
 
 And love as now? 
 
 Festus. Ay, live I " fear we must. 
 
 Clara. And loAe : because we then are happiest. 
 "We shall lack nothing having love : and we, 
 We must be happy every where — we two ! 
 For spu-itual life is great and clear, 
 And self-continuous as the changeless sea, 
 Rolling the same in every age as now ; 
 AA^hether o'er mountain-tops, where onh- snow 
 Dwells, and the sunbeam hurries coldly by ; 
 Or o'er the Aales, as now, of some old world. 
 Older than ancient man's. As is the sea's, 
 So is the life of spirit, and the kind. 
 And then with natures raised, refined and freed 
 From these poor forms, our days shall pass in peace 
 And love : no thought of human littleness 
 Shall cross our high, calm souls, shining and pure 
 As the gold gates of Heaven. Like some deep lake 
 Upon a mountain summit they shall rest. 
 High above cloud and storm of life like this, 
 All peace and power, and passionless purity ; 
 Or if a thought of other troubled times 
 Ruffle it for a moment, it shall pass 
 Like a chance raindrop on its heavenward face. 
 I love to meditate on bliss to come. 
 Xot that I am unhappy here ; but that 
 The hope of higher bliss may rectify 
 The lower feeling which we now enjoy.
 
 FESTUS. 113 
 
 This life, this world, is not enough for us ; 
 
 They are nothmg to the measure of our mind. 
 
 For place, we must have space; for time, we must 
 
 have 
 Eternity; and for a spirit, godliood. 
 
 Festus. Mind means not happiness ; power is not 
 good. 
 
 Clara. True bliss is to be found in holy life ; 
 In charity to man — in love to God : 
 Why should such duties cease, such powers decay ? 
 Are they not worthy of a deathless state — 
 A boundless scope — a high, uplifted life 1 
 Man, like the air-born eagle, who remains 
 On earth only to feed, and sleep, and die ; 
 But whose delight is on his lonely wing. 
 Wide-sweeping as a mind, to force the sides 
 High as the lightfall ere, begii-t with clouds. 
 It dash this nether world — immortal man 
 Rushes aloft, right upwards, into Heaven. 
 Oh, faith of Christ, sole honor of the world ! 
 
 Festus. What knoAv men of religion, save its 
 forms ? 
 
 Clara. True faith nor biddcth nor abidetli form. 
 The bended knee, the eye uplift, is all 
 Which man need render; all which God can bear. 
 AVhat 10 the faith are forms ? A passing speck, 
 -V crow upon the sky. God's worship is 
 That only He inspires ; and His bright words, 
 Writ in the red-lciivcd ^■olume of the heart, 
 
 15 J*
 
 114 FESTDS. 
 
 Return to him in prayer, as dew to Heaven. 
 Our proper good we rarely seek or make ; 
 Mindless of our immortal powers and their 
 Immortal end, as is the pearl of its worth, 
 The rose its scent, the wave its purity. 
 
 Festus. Come, we will quit these saddening themes. 
 Wilt sing 
 To me"? for I am gloomy; and I love 
 Thy singing, sacred as the sound of hpnns. 
 On some bright Sabbath morning, on the moor. 
 Where all is still save praise ; and where hard by 
 The ripe grain shakes its bright beard in the sun ; 
 The wild bee hums more solemnly ; the deep sky, 
 The fresh green grass, the sun, and sunny brook. 
 All look as if they knew the day, the hour. 
 And felt with man the need and joy of thanks. 
 
 Clara. I cannot sing the lightsome lays of lo'N'e. 
 Many thou know'st who can ; but none that can 
 Love thee as I do — for I love thy soul ; 
 And I would save it, Festus ! Listen then : — 
 
 Is Heaven a place where pearly streams 
 
 Glide over silver sand 1 
 Like childhood's rosy, dazzling di-eame 
 
 Of some far faery land? 
 Is Heaven a clime Avhere diamond dews 
 
 Glitter on fadeless flowers? 
 And mirth and music ring aloud 
 
 From amaranthine bowers ?
 
 FESTUS. 115 
 
 Ah ! no ; not such, not such is Heaven ! 
 
 Surpassing far all these ; 
 Sucli cannot be the guerdon given 
 
 Man's wearied soul to please. 
 For saint and sinner here below 
 
 Such vain to be have proved : 
 And tlie pure spirit will despise 
 
 Whate'er the sense hath loved. 
 
 There we shall dwell with Sire and Sea., 
 
 And with the mother-maid, 
 And with the Holy Spirit, one, 
 
 In glory like arrayed: 
 And not to one created thing 
 
 Shall our embrace be given ; 
 But all our joys shall be in God ; 
 
 For only God is Heaven. 
 
 Festus. I know that thou dost love me. I in vair 
 Strive to love aught of earth or Heaven but thee. 
 Thou art my first, last, only love ; nor shall 
 Another even tempt nu' heart. Like stars, 
 A thousand, sweet and bright, and wondrous fair, 
 A thousand deathless miracles of beauty. 
 They shall e\'cr ]iass at all but eyeless distance, 
 And never mix Avith thy love; but be lost. 
 All, meanly in its moonlike lustrousness. 
 
 Cl.\ra. How still tlie air is! the tree tops stir not; 
 ]5ut stand iuul peer on Heaven's bright face, as tlrmgh
 
 116 FESTUS. 
 
 It slept and they were loraig it : they would not 
 Have the skies see them move for summers ; would 
 
 they? 
 See that sweet cloud ! It is watchuig us, 1 am certain. 
 What have we here to make thee stay one second? 
 Away ; thy sisters wait thee in the west, 
 The blushing bridemaids of the sun and sea. 
 I would I were like thee, thou little cloud, 
 Ever to live in Heaven : or seeking earth 
 To let my spirit down in drops of love: 
 To sleep with night upon her dewy lap ; 
 And the next dawn, back with the sun to Heaven ; 
 And so on through eternity, sweet cloud ! 
 I cannot but think that some senseless things 
 Are happy. Often and often have I watched 
 A gossamer line sighing itself along 
 The air, as it seemed; and so thin, thin and bright, 
 Looking as woven in a loom of light, 
 U'hat I have en^'ied it, I have, and followed; — 
 Oft watched the seabir-d's down blown o'er the wave, 
 Now touching it, now spirited aloft, 
 Now out of sight, now seen, — tUl in some bright 
 
 fi-inge 
 Of streamy foam, as in a cage, at last 
 A pla)-ful death it dies, and mourned its death. 
 
 Festus. But thinkest thou the future is a state 
 INIore positive than this ; or that it can be 
 Aught but another present, full of cares. 
 And toils, perhaps, and duties ; that the soul
 
 FESTUS. 117 
 
 Will ever be more nigh to God than now, 
 Save as may seem from mind's debility: 
 Just as the sun, from weakness of the eye, 
 And the illusions made by matter's fonns, 
 Seems hot and wearied resting on the hill ? 
 It would be well, I think, to live as though 
 No more were to be looked for ; to be good 
 Because it is best, here : and leave hope and fear 
 For lives below ourselves. If earth persuades not 
 That I owe prayer, and praise, and love to God, 
 While- all I have He gives, will Heaven 1 will Hell 1 
 No ; neither, never ! 
 
 Clara. I think not all with thee. 
 
 Have I not heard thee hint of spirit-friends 1 
 Where are they now ? 
 
 Festus. Ah ! close at hand, mayhap 
 
 I have a might immortal ; and can ken 
 With angels. Neither sky, nor night, nor earth 
 Hinders me. Through the forms of things I see 
 Their essences ; and thus, even now, behold — 
 But where I cannot show to thee — far round, 
 Nature herself — the whole effect of God. 
 Mind, matter, motion, heat, time, love, and life 
 And death, and immortality — those chief 
 And first-born giants all are there — all parts. 
 All limbs of her, their mother: she is all. 
 
 Clara. And what does she ] 
 
 Festus. Produce: it is her life. 
 
 The three I named last, life, death, deathlessness,
 
 nS FESTUS. 
 
 Glide in elliptic path round all things made — 
 For none save God can fill the perfect whole: 
 And are but to eternity as is 
 The horizon to the world. At certain points 
 Each seems the other ; now, the three are one ; 
 Now, all invisible ; and now, as first, 
 Mo\ing in measured round. 
 
 Clara. How look these beings? 
 
 Festus. Ah ! Life looks gayly and gloomily in 
 turns ; 
 With a brow checkered like the sward, by leaves 
 Between which the light glmts ; and she, careless, 
 
 wears 
 A wreath of flowers — part faded and part fresh. 
 And Death is beautiful, and sad, and still : 
 She seems too happy ; happier far than life — 
 In but one feeling, apathy: and on 
 Her chill, white brow, frosts bright a braid of snon. 
 
 Clara. And Immortality 1 
 
 Festus. She looks alone ; 
 
 As though she woidd not know her sisterhood. 
 And on her brow a diadem of fire. 
 Matched by the conflagration of her eye, 
 Outflaming even that eye which in my sleep 
 Beams close upon me tUl it bursts from sheer 
 O'erstraincdness of sight, burns. 
 
 Clara. "What do they? 
 
 Festtis. Each strives to win me to herself 
 
 Clara. How ?
 
 FESTUS. 119 
 
 Festus. Death 
 
 Opens her sweet white arms and whispers, Peace ! 
 Come, say thy sorrows in this bosom ! This 
 Will never close against thee ; and my heart. 
 Though cold, cannot be colder much tlian man's. 
 Come ! All this soon must end ; and soon the world 
 Shall perish leaf by loaf, and land by land ; 
 Flower by flower — flood by flood — and hill 
 By hill away. Oh ! come, come ! liCt us die. 
 
 Clara. Say tliat thou Avilt not die ! 
 
 Festus. Nay, I love death. 
 
 But Immortality, with finger spired, 
 Points to a distant, giant world — and says. 
 There, there is my home ! Live along with me ! 
 
 Clara. Canst see that world ? 
 
 Festus. Just — a huge, shadowy shape; 
 
 It looks a disembodied orb — the ghost 
 Of some great sphere which God hath stricken dead : 
 Or like a world which God hath thought — not made. 
 
 Clara. FoUow her, Festus ! Does she speak again ^ 
 
 Festus. She never speaks but once : and now, m 
 scom, 
 Points to this dim, dwarfed, misbegotten sphere. 
 
 Clara. Why let her pass 1 
 
 Festus Tliat is the great world-questioa 
 
 Life would not part with me ; and from her brow 
 Tearing her wreath of passion-flowers, she flung 
 It round my neck, and dared me struggle then. 
 I never could destroy a flower : and none
 
 120 FESTUS. 
 
 But fairest hands like thine can grace ^\•ith me 
 
 The phioking of a rose. And Life, sweet Life ! 
 
 Vowed she would crop the world for me, and lay it 
 
 Herself before my feet, even as a flower. 
 
 And when I felt that flower contained thyself — 
 
 One drop within its nectary kept for me, 
 
 I lost all count of those strange sisters three ; 
 
 And where they be, I know not. But I see 
 
 One who is more to me. 
 
 Clara. I know not how 
 
 Thou hast this power and knowledge. I but hope 
 It comes from good hands ; if it be not thine 
 Own force of mmd. It is much less what we do 
 Than what we think, which fits us for the future. 
 I wish we had a little world to ourselves, 
 With none but we two m it. 
 
 Festus. And if God 
 
 Gave us a star, what could we do with it 
 But that we could without it 1 "Wish it not ! 
 
 Clara. I'U not wish, then, for stars ; but I could 
 love 
 Some peaceful spot where .we might dwell unknoA^ii, 
 Where home-bom joys might nestle round our hearts 
 As swallows round our roofs, — and blend their sweets 
 Like dewy-tangled flowerets in one bed. 
 
 Festus. The sweetest joy, the wildest woe, is love ; 
 The taint of earth, the odor of the skies. 
 Is in it. Would that I were aught but man J 
 Tlic death of brutes, the immortality
 
 FESTUS. 121 
 
 Of fiend or angel, better seems than all 
 The doubtful prospects of our painted dust. 
 -Vnd all Morality can teach is — Bear! 
 And all Religion can inspire is — Hope! — 
 
 Clara. It is enough. Fruition of the fruit 
 Of the great Tree of Life is not for earth. 
 Stars are its fruits, its lightest leaf is life. 
 The heart hath many sorrows beside love, 
 Yea, many as the veins which -sisit it. 
 The love of aught on earth is not its chief, 
 Nor ought to be. Inclusive of them all 
 There is the one main sorrow, life ; — for what 
 Can spirit, severed from the great one, God, 
 Feel but a grievous longing to rejoin 
 Its infinite — its author — and its end] 
 And yet is life a thing to be beloved, 
 And honored holily, and bravely borne. 
 A man's life may be all case ; and his death. 
 By some dark chance, unthought-of agony : — 
 Or life may be all suffering, and decease 
 A flower-like sleep ; — or both be full of woe, 
 Or each comparatively painless. Blame 
 Not Qod for inequalities like these. 
 They may be justified. IIow canst thou know? 
 They may be only seeming. Canst thou judge? 
 They may be done away with utterly 
 By loving, fearing, knowing God, the Truth. 
 In all distress of spirit, grief of heart, 
 Bodily agony, or mental woe, 
 
 10 K
 
 122 F E S T U S . 
 
 Rebuffs and vaiii assumptious of the world, 
 Or the poor spite of weak and wicked souls, 
 Think thou on God. Thmk Avhat He underwent 
 And did for us as man. AA'cigh thou thy cross 
 "NA'ith Clirisfs, and judge -vhich were the heavier. 
 Joy even in thine anguish ; — such was His, 
 But measurelessly more. Thy suffering 
 Assimilateth thee to Him. Rejoice ! 
 Thiuk upon what thou shalt be. Thmk on God. 
 Then ask thyself, what is the world, and all 
 Its mountainous inequalities? Ah, what! 
 Are not all equal as dust-atomies ? — 
 
 Festcs My soul's orb darkens as a sudden star, 
 "NMiich ha%ing for a time exhausted earth 
 And half the Heavens of wonder, mortally 
 Passes forever, not eclipsed, consumed ; — 
 All but a cloudy vapor darkening there, 
 The very spot in space it once illumed. 
 Once to myself I seemed a mount of light ; 
 But now, a pit of night. — No more of this ! 
 For like a shipwrecked stranger in a light-house. 
 I have looked down upon the utter side 
 Of such thoughts from the leeming room of reason, 
 And beheld all beyond black roaring madness. 
 Herp have I lain all day in this green nook. 
 Shaded by larch and hornbeam, ash and yew ; 
 A lining well and runnel at my feet, 
 ^And wild flowers dancing to some delicate air ; 
 An um-topped column and its Ia")' \>Teath
 
 FESTUS. 123 
 
 Skii-ting my sight as thus I lie and look 
 
 Upon the blue, unchanging, sacred skies: 
 
 And thou, too, gentle Clara, by my side. 
 
 With lightsome brow and beaming eye, and bright, 
 
 Long, glorious locks, which drop upon thy cheek 
 
 Like gold-hued cloudflakes on the rosy morn. 
 
 Oh ! when the heart is full of sweets to o'erflowing, 
 
 And ringing to the music of its love, 
 
 Who but an angel or an hypocrite 
 
 Could speak or think of happier states'? 
 
 Clara. Farewell ! 
 
 Remember what thou saidst about the stars. 
 
 Festus. Stay. \^'hat wouldst say yet ^ There is 
 something sad 
 Darkens thy mind's disk. Speak it. 
 
 Clara. Nay, not now. 
 
 The dews are falling, and the night draws nigh. 
 Some other tune. 
 
 Festus. Why, now, love. 
 
 Clara. Well then, this. 
 
 These vast unearthly powers thou hast ; — let mc 
 Assure mine own heart they be innocent. 
 If thou refuse this boon, I shall prejudge 
 Those powers as evil ; but if harmless they. 
 Thou wilt permit me share or view the means. 
 I ask this, therefore, not from vain desire 
 Of prying into mysteries, nor as test 
 Of words of thine, — for thee believe I truly, — 
 But as a proof of love and harmlessness,
 
 1 24 r E s T u s . 
 
 To \-\ew with these same marvelling eyes of mine 
 The -sdsible form of some obedient sprite 
 Or invocable angel ; — \A"ilt thou ? 
 
 Festus. Ay. 
 
 AVaiJclst parley Luniel on her silver seat, 
 Or the star-tiared Ourania ] for the night 
 Deepens in Heaven, and even now I see 
 Earth's cardinal world-watchers each prepare 
 His wing to poise for Paradisal flight 
 Relieved by darker angel. 
 
 Clara. None of these. 
 
 Behold yon star just ti'embling into light ; 
 Hath it a tutelar spirit ? 
 
 Festus. Yea, all stars. 
 
 Clara. Prepare thy spell, then. I would see its 
 form. 
 And hear its voice. 
 
 Festus. Weird charm nor spell I use, 
 
 Nor incantation. !My sole magic, might. 
 Mine only sign this, this my spirit ring. 
 Prayer, faith, and a pure heart can draw down Heaven ; 
 Most sureh', then, one star. Kneel thoii with me. 
 Spirit of yon star that now 
 
 Peer'st through God's all-clothing sky, 
 List ! we need thee here below ; 
 
 Leave thy mystic light on high. 
 By the all-compelling name. 
 
 Thought alone, but uttered never ; 
 Word in Heaven and earth the same, 
 Come thou now. and come thou ever!
 
 FESTUS. l'2o 
 
 Clara.. I feel a light, a voice, a power. 
 Festus. Aiise ! — 
 
 WHiat wilt thou of it 1 
 
 Cl-^ra. Notliing. Let it speak. 
 
 Spirit. Man's vital frame of the elements is ta'en, 
 And when by sacred theurgy of mind 
 He nature's robe can thread by thread unwind. 
 Heaven's true celestial science then ye gam. 
 Through Heaven and the angels, stars and earth, 
 The boundless justice of harmonic light 
 Spreads through the universe of death and birtli : 
 For of death's nothingness is born life's might. 
 With every earth-lent ray of every star 
 Holy and special influences are, 
 To such as Truth-led in Time's darkest hour, 
 Seek faithfully their sweet and brilliant power. 
 Plant and planet, star and gem, 
 All are each together bound; 
 Consanguineous Avith them 
 
 Man in time state aye is found. 
 Rightly who his soul-path knows 
 
 To spirit's universal way, 
 Bathed in sundew shall repose, 
 
 Brought by the Angel of the day. 
 For as in the sea-bound ri-\'er 
 
 Flows the force of thousand rills. 
 So its end the great soul ever 
 In Eternity fulfils. 
 CLAbA. Oh ! I have gazed on beauty known by none 
 
 K*
 
 rJ6 FESTUS. 
 
 Till now. Dizzy witli light my soul. Spirit ! 
 Thy staiTy name? 
 
 Spirit. Pneumaster. 
 
 Clara. Where dost dwell ] 
 
 Spirit. I in my star abide, yet oft in Heaven. 
 Not where the anteformal seraphs beam, 
 Nor cherubim with winged countenance, but 
 AMiere roU the bright Ophanim ; — and in clouds 
 Of glory, wheeling through the infinite skies — 
 A. Heaven-encircling hurricane of light — 
 Form with their -nings a holy, living throne 
 Of the all-hallowing Spirit, chanting aye 
 God's mercy thrice victorious o'er the world — 
 Tlie mysteries of wisdom — and the bhss 
 Of that inspiring light which Deity 
 Sows in the soul of Nature, stars and men, 
 Blest heu-s of either world, above, beloA^ed — 
 Below accepted ; — thither I attain. 
 For as one God, so but one nature is 
 The image yet the opposite of God ; 
 Although in infinite variousness as He, 
 Infinite and eternal unitv ; — 
 With these, and with aU holy essences. 
 And spirit souls elect, I mix and serve, 
 j^ll with each order mtorpenetrant ; 
 For, humbled by the fall of Lucifer, 
 No pride is now in Heaven, humility 
 Highest of virtues shov\Ti by God the IMau. 
 1 also, therefore, at thv first behest,
 
 FESTUS. 127 
 
 Immortal came to do a mortal's will : 
 
 AVhose sleep, all starred with dreams, tells oft of me, 
 
 And instant on mine own bright ray return. 
 
 Clara. Holy and lovely sjjritc, be thou with God! 
 
 Spirit. And fare thou well, too. 
 
 Festus. Go ! I do commend thee 
 
 To all good angels, maiden. They are gone, 
 The heavenly and the earthly ; I alone. 
 Like a cold column in the sunshine, stand 
 Projecting darkness. Only love makes live. 
 Oh ! why was woman made so fair "? or man 
 So weak as to see that more than one had beauty? 
 It is impossible to love but one. 
 And yet I dare not love thee as I could ; 
 For all that the heart most longs for and desei"ves, 
 Passes the soonest and most utterly. 
 Tlie moral of the world's great fable, life. 
 All we enjoy seems given to deceive. 
 Or may be, undeceive us ; who cares which ? 
 And when the sum is done, and avc have j^roved u. 
 "Wliy work it over and over still again ■? 
 I am not what I would be. Hear me, God ! 
 Aiul sp(>ak to me in thine invisible likeness 
 The wind, as once of yore. Let me be pure ! 
 Oil ! I wish I was a pure child again, 
 As ere the clear could trouble me: when life 
 Was sweet and calm as is a sister's kiss ; 
 And not tlu- wild and whirlwind touch of passion, 
 Which, though it hardly light upon the lip.
 
 128 FESTUS. 
 
 Witli breathless swiftness sucks the soul out of sight, 
 
 So that we lose it, and all thought of it. 
 
 What is this life wherein Thou hast founded me 
 
 But a bright wheel which burns itself away, 
 
 Benighting even night with its grim limbs, 
 
 When it hath done, and fainted into darkness 1 
 
 Flesh is but fiction, and it flies away ; 
 
 The gaunt and ghastly thing we bear about us, 
 
 And which we hate, and fear to look upon. 
 
 Is Truth ; in death's dark likeness limned — no more. 
 
 Lucifer. Life is the one great truth ; the fiction, 
 death. 
 Art never satisfied, but must thou still 
 Revel in bootless questmgs I 
 
 Festus. Lo ! I speak 
 
 To Heaven, and HeU makes bold to answer me. 
 If I confess me to the stars, the earth 
 Rumbles her caverned threatenings at my feet ; 
 Or midnight clouds, low muttering in long lines, 
 Uncomprehended thunders stun mine ear. 
 Callst thou this power 1 
 
 Lucifer. Yon pretty little star 
 
 Shines on a vasty falsehood. Much thou hast 
 Of power o'er finite agencies, but none, 
 I tell thee, o'er the Infinite. Confess 
 Therefore thine own jiresumption, and recci^•e 
 Its measures in obedience. What wouldst thou ? 
 
 Festus. I sicken of this mean and shadowy nature 
 And shallow life.
 
 FESTUS. 129 
 
 LuciFiiR. "Well ; death is deep enough. 
 
 Festus. I have been told, and taught, and trained 
 to pray. 
 I pray, and have no answer. One as well 
 Might wrestle with the wind. I feel, but lack 
 All power, as a cloud, which fears to rise, 
 Faints on the golden threshold of the skies ; 
 And men suspect it as a spy of night. 
 
 Lucifer. There's reason now and then in similes. 
 Souls are like clouds, born of the infinite stock 
 Of ever formless essence, and their race 
 In bounteous beauty run, or ruinous storm ; 
 Objects of love and gladness, or of ill, 
 And wrong, and wrath, as nature predicates ; 
 Which having blessed or blasted in their life, 
 Die and rejoin the universe, to rise. 
 Like emanant dew on earth, in future forms 
 Of retributive nature ; she herself 
 Being, and doing, and enduring all. 
 
 Festus. This life is as a question, to the which 
 There comes no answer save an echo. 
 
 liUciFER. Hark ! 
 
 Festus. Where thou art all is dumb. I would 
 repent. — 
 What shall be done to expiate offence? 
 
 Lucifer. To sacrifice a butterfly to the Avind 
 Is all that can be done just now, I fear. 
 Thou canst not be both wise and innocent ; 
 As well expect thy life flood-tide to rise 
 
 17
 
 130 FESTUS. 
 
 Back from the baseless depths of hiunan death. 
 Evil and good are primarily immixed, 
 Like the black lines that thwart a ray of light; 
 Or checkered chart of old, sun-dedicate. 
 Cheer up ! If ■virtue loses, wisdom wins. 
 
 Festus. Good to extract from evil were not hard ; 
 But to transmute all e^vil into good, 
 There is the cross of science and the crown. 
 
 L'UCiFER. Set clouds on fire, — go sow the sea with 
 sand, — 
 Then reap your crop of foam, and harvest it. 
 
 Festus. Yet are they separable ; Heaven and earth 
 Xot more opposed in kind. 
 
 Lucifer. Bat ! both are one. 
 
 Festus. The time shall come when evei-y e%il thing 
 From being and remembrance both shall die; 
 The Avorld one solid temple of pure good. 
 
 Lucifer. Never while thou art conscious of thyself; 
 Xever till from that shining sheaf of days 
 Which hangs behind Him, the Destroyer plucks 
 Earth's death-day, and His wrath bums white for aye. 
 
 Festus. Let all the air be lightning, the dark blue 
 Of ever-stretching space substantial fire, 
 Still God is good, still tends o'er those He loves. 
 
 Lucifer. "Whj, therefore, comes no answer to thy 
 prayer 1 
 
 Festus. It may be, silence is the voice of God. 
 
 Lucifer. Assent or dissent : — whether of the 
 twain ?
 
 FESTUS. 131 
 
 Festos. God hath refused me : wilt thou do it for 
 me? 
 Or shall I end with hoth 1 remake myself? 
 
 Lucifer. Now, that is the one thing which I 
 cannot do. 
 Am I not open with thee ? why choose that 1 
 
 Festus. Because I will it. Thou art bound to 
 
 obey. 
 Lucifer. The world bears marks of my obedience. 
 Festus. Off! I am torn to pieces. Let me try 
 And gather up myself into a man, 
 As once I was. I have done Avith thee ! Dost hear ] 
 Lucifer. Thou canst not mean this. 
 Festus. Once for all — I do. 
 
 Lucifer. It is men who are deceivers — not the 
 Devil. 
 The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat 
 One's self. All sin is easy after that. 
 
 Festus. I feel that we must part ; part now or 
 never ; 
 And I had rather of the two it were now. 
 
 Lucifer. This is my last walk through my favorite 
 world : 
 And I had hoped to ha^o enjoyed it with thee. 
 For thee I quitted hell ; for thee I warped 
 And shrivelled up my soul into a man: 
 For thee I shed my shining wings ; for thoe 
 Put on this mask of flesh, this mockery 
 Of motion, and this seeming shape like thine.
 
 132 FESTUS. 
 
 And by my woe, I swear that were I now, 
 For thy false heart, to give my spirit spring, 
 I would scatter soul and body both to hell, 
 And let one burn the other. 
 
 Festus. If thou darest ! 
 
 Lift but a finger of a thought of ill 
 Against me, and — thou durst not. Mark, we part. 
 
 LaciFER. Well ; as thou Milt. Remember that thy 
 heart 
 Will shed its pleasures as thine eye its tears ; 
 And both leave loathsome furrows. 
 
 Festus. Thinkest thou 
 
 That I \vill have no pleasures without thee, 
 A\lio marrest all thou makest, and e-\"en more ] 
 
 Lucifer. Thou canst not : save indeed some poor 
 trite thing 
 Called moderation, every one can have; 
 And modesty, God knows, is suffering. 
 
 I* ESTUS. Now wUl I prove thee liar for that word ; 
 And that the very vastest out of hell. 
 With perfect condemnation I abjure 
 My soul ; my nature doth abhor itself; 
 I have a soul to spare ! [ Goes 
 
 Lucifer. A hundred L 
 
 I have him yet: for he is mine to tempt. 
 Gold hath the hue of heU flames: but for him 
 I will lay some brilliant and delicious lure 
 ^^^lich shall be worth perdition to a seraph. 
 Most men glide quietly and deeply doMTi:
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 133 
 
 Some seek the bottom like a cataract. 
 
 Now he shall find it, seek it how he will. 
 
 None ever went without once taking breath. 
 
 It is passion plunges men into mine arms ; 
 
 But it matters not ; hell bums before them all. 
 
 It is by hell-light they do their chicfest deeds ; 
 
 And by hell-light <))ey shine unto each other; 
 
 And hell, through life's thick fog, glares red and 
 
 round ; 
 And but for hell they would grope in utter dark. 
 
 Scene — The Surface. 
 
 LvciFER AND FeSTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. Wilt ride? 
 
 Festus. I'll have an hour's ride. 
 
 Lucifer. Be mine the steeds! be me the guide!' 
 Come hither, come hither, 
 My brave black steed ! 
 And thou, too, his fellow, 
 Hitlicr with speed ! 
 Though not so fleet 
 As the steeds of Death, 
 Your feet are as sure, 
 Ye have long^- breath. 
 Ye have drawn the world 
 Without wind or bait,
 
 13i FESTUS. 
 
 Six thousand years, 
 And it waxetli late; 
 So take me this once, 
 And again to my home, 
 And rest ye and feast ye. 
 They come, they come. 
 
 Festus. Tossing their manes iiKe 
 Pitchy surge ; and lushing 
 Their tails mto a 
 Tempest ; theii- eyes flashing, 
 Like shooting thunderbolts. 
 
 Lucifer. Come, know your masters, colts ! 
 Up, and away ! 
 
 Festus, Hurrah ! hurrah ! 
 
 The noblest pace the world eer sa«. 
 I swear by Heaven we'll beat the sun. 
 In the 'longest heat that ever was run. 
 If we keep it up as we haAe begun. 
 
 Lucifer. I told thee my steeds 
 Were a gallant pair. 
 
 Festus. And they Avere not tliiue, 
 They might be divine. 
 
 Lucifer. Thine is named Ruin; 
 And Darkness mine. 
 
 Festus. Like all of thy deeds. 
 Now that's unfair. 
 
 Lucifer. A civUer and gentler beast 
 Thou hast never crossed at least. 
 Now, look around !
 
 FESTUS. 135 
 
 Festus. ^Vliy, this is France. 
 
 Nature is here like a living romance. 
 Look at its vines, and streams, and skies, 
 Its glancing feet, and dancing eyes ! 
 
 Lucifer. 'Tis a strange nation, light yet strong ; 
 Fierce of heart and blithe of tongue ; 
 Prone to change ; so fond of blood, 
 She wounds herself to quaff her own. 
 
 Festus. Oh ! it's a brave and lovely land ; 
 And well deserving every good 
 Which others wish themselves alone, 
 Could she but herself command. 
 
 Lucifer. On ! on ! no more delay ! 
 Or we'll not ride round 
 The world all day. 
 
 Festus. Good horse, get off the ground ! 
 
 Lucifer. Sit firm ! and if our horses please, 
 We will take at once the Pyrenees. 
 'Twas bravely leapt ! 
 
 Festus. Ay, this is Spain : 
 Europe's last land 
 'Twill e'er remain ; 
 Last in the progress of the earth ; 
 The last in liberty ; 
 The last in Avealth and worth ; 
 The last in bigotry. 
 
 Lucifer. Turn Ihy steed, and slacken rein; 
 Quick ! we must be back again ; 
 O'er the vale liid in tlic mountain. 
 O'er the merrv forest fountain ;
 
 136 FESTUS. 
 
 Ruin unci Darkness ! we must fly 
 O'er crag and rift, 
 Swift — swift — swift 
 As the glance of an eye. 
 
 Festus. That is Italy — the grave 
 And resurrection of the slave. 
 
 Lucifer. And there lies Greece, whose soiJ, 
 Men say, hath fled: 
 
 Festcs. Perhaps some God may come, 
 And raise the dead. 
 
 Lucifer. Xorward now we'll liold our course. 
 Thine, I think, is the bolder horse; 
 But bear him up with a harder hand ! 
 Rough liding, this, o'er Swisserland. 
 
 Festus. So all have found it A\'ho have tried; 
 High as theu- Alps the people's pride, 
 Xe^"er to have bowed before 
 The tyrant or the conqueror. 
 
 Lucifer. Away, away ! before thee lie 
 The fields and floods of Germany. 
 
 Festus. "\^'ell I love thee. Fatherland ! 
 Sire of Europe, as thou art ! 
 Be free! and crouch no more, but stand! 
 Thy noblest son will take thy part. 
 Oh ! sooner let the mountains bend 
 Beneath the clouds, when tempests lower, 
 Than nations stoop their sky-compeering heads 
 In homage to some petty despot's power! 
 The worm which suffers mincing into parts, 
 May sprout forth heads and tails, but grows no hearts.
 
 FESTUS. 137 
 
 Lucifer. There lies Austria! Famous land 
 For fiddlesticks and sword-in-hand. 
 
 Festus. And Poland, whom truly unhappy we 
 caU; 
 Unworthy to rise — unwilling to fall. 
 Forge into swords thy feudal chain ! 
 Smite e'en the souls of foes in twain ! 
 The fetters have been bound in vain 
 Round England's arms: and we are free 
 As the sovds of our sires in Heaven which be. 
 That earth should have so few 
 Men, fathers, like to you ! 
 
 Lucifer. What matter who be free or slaves'? 
 For all there is one tyranny, the grave's ; 
 Or freedom, may be. On ! on ! haste ! 
 
 Festus. What land is yonder wide, white waste? 
 
 Lucifer. Ha ! 'tis Russia's gentle realm : 
 Whose sceptre is the sword — whose crown, the helm 
 
 Festus. I swear by every atom which exists, 
 I bettet love this reckless ride 
 O'er hiU and forest, lake and river wide. 
 O'er sunlit plain and through the mountain mists, 
 Than aught which thou hast given beside. 
 
 Lucifer. Sec what a long, long track 
 Of dust and fire behind, 
 For miles and miles aback ! 
 And shrill and strong. 
 As we shoot along, 
 
 18 h*
 
 ]?? FESTUS. 
 
 Whistk'S and wliks, 
 like a forest of firs 
 Falling, the cold north wind. 
 
 Festus. Look ! my way I can only read 
 By the sparks from the hoof of my giant steed. 
 
 Lucifer. Where art thou now 1 
 
 Festus. In Tartar land; 
 
 I know by the deserts of salt and sand. 
 Nor aim nor end hath a Avandering life ; 
 Rest reaps but rest, and strife but strife. 
 With the nations round 
 They ne'er have mixed ; 
 For good or for Ul 
 They stand all still ; 
 Their bodies but rove, 
 Their minds are fixed. 
 And yonder lies old China's wall. 
 Where gods of gold do men inthrall ; 
 Gods whose gold's their only worth. 
 
 Lucifer. AVell, is not gold the god of earth? 
 Now southward, hey ! for Hindostan ! 
 The sun beats down both beast and man. 
 Insect and herb for life do gasp; 
 The river recks, and faints the asp. 
 
 Festus. But blithe are we, 
 And our steeds, I trow; 
 And the mane of mine 
 Yet bears the snow
 
 
 '/ou storm '
 
 FESTUS. l'6li 
 
 Which fell on us 
 
 By Caucasus. 
 
 By the four beasts! but this is warm. 
 
 Lucifer. Away! away! 
 !N or stiut nor stay ; 
 AA'e'il reach the sea before yon stonn. 
 
 Festus. Wilt take the sea 1 
 
 Lucifer. Ay, that wUl Ave! 
 And swim as we ride, 
 Our steeds astride ; 
 Come leap, leap off with me ! 
 
 Festus. Wliat'? shall we leap 
 Sheer off this steep, 
 A mile the sea above] 
 
 Lucifer. Leap as to save 
 From worse than a grave 
 The maid thou most dost love! 
 
 Festus. There is a rapture in the headlong leap. 
 The wedge-like cleaving of the closing deep ! 
 A feelmg full of hardOiood and power 
 W^ith which we court the waters that dcA'our. 
 Oh ! 'tis a feeling great, sublime, supreme, 
 Like the ecstatic influence of a dream. 
 To speed one's Avay thus o'er tlic sliding plain ; 
 And make a kindred being with the main. 
 
 Lucifer. By Chaos ! this is gallant sport ; 
 A league at every breath ; 
 Methinks if I ever have to die, 
 I'll ride this rate to death.
 
 IK FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Away, away upon the whitening tide. 
 Like lover hasting to embrace his bride, 
 AYe hurry faster than the foam we ride. 
 Dashing aside the waves which round us cling:. 
 With strength like that which lifts an eagle's wing 
 \Miere the stars dazzle and the angels sing. 
 
 Lucifer. We scatter the spray. 
 And break through the billows. 
 As the wmd makes way 
 Through the leaves of willows. 
 
 Festus. In vain they ui-ge their annies to the 
 fight : 
 Their surge-crests crumble 'neath our stroke of might. 
 We meet and fear not; mount — now rise, now fall — 
 And dare, A^ith full-nerved arm, the rage of all. 
 Through anger-swollen wave or sparkling spray. 
 Nothing it recks ; we hold our perilous way 
 Riglit onward ! till we feel the whirlmg braui 
 Ring with the maddening music of the main ; 
 Till the fixed eyeball strives and strams to ken. 
 Yet loathes to see the shore and haunts of men ; 
 And the blood, half starting through each ridgv vein, 
 In the unwieldy hand sets black with pain. 
 Then let the tempest cloud on cloud come spread, 
 And tear the stomiy terrors of his head ; 
 Let the wild sea-bird wheel around my brow. 
 And shriek — and swoop — and flap her wing as now ' 
 It gladdens ! on ! ye boisterous biUows, roll I 
 And keep my body ; ye have ta'cn my soul.
 
 FESTUS. 141 
 
 Thou element ! the type whicli God hath giAcn, 
 For eyes and hearts too earthy, of His Heaven ! 
 Werf Heaven a mockery, I would never mourn 
 While o'er thy bosom I might still be borne; 
 While yet to me the power and joy were given 
 To fling my breast on thine, and mingle earth, with 
 Heaven. 
 
 Lucifer. See yonder ! now we quit the main ; 
 For here's the Cape, here's land again, — 
 And scour we must o'er Afric's plain. 
 
 Festus. Away, away ! on either hand 
 Nor town, nor tower, 
 Nor shade, nor shower — 
 Nothing but sun and sand. 
 
 Lucifer. See, there they are ! I knew, right soon, 
 We would light on the mountains of the moon. 
 Over them ! over, nought forbids ! 
 
 Festus. Yonder the Nile and the Pyramids? 
 Hurrah ! by my soul ! 
 At every bound 
 I see, I feel 
 The earth rush round. 
 ] see the mountains slide away — 
 That side night, and this side day. 
 
 Lucifer. Shall we go to America? 
 
 Festus. Why, have we time? 
 
 Lucifer. Oh, plenty; 
 
 Be there, too, ere we reckon twenty.
 
 142 FESTUS. 
 
 Another run, another bound ! 
 
 And we shall leave this lion ground. 
 
 Festus. The sea again ! the swift, bright sea ? 
 
 Lucifer. Hold hard, and follow me. 
 AVell, now we have travelled upon the waves, 
 WUt travel a time beneath'? 
 And ^isit the sea-born in their ca^'es ; 
 And look on the rainbow-tinted wreath 
 Of weeds, beset Avitli pearls, wherewith 
 The mermaid binds her long, green hau*, 
 Or rouse the sea-snake from his lairl 
 
 Festus. Ay, ay ! down let us dive ! 
 
 Lucifer. Look up ! Ave lack not stars ; 
 And every star thou seest's alive: 
 A little globe of life — light — love. 
 Whose every atom is a li\ing being; 
 Each the other's bosom seeing, 
 Each enlightening the other. 
 
 Festus. Oh ! how unlike the world above, 
 Where each doth mamly, vainly strive 
 To dim or to outshine his brother! 
 
 Lucifer. Come on ! come on ! 
 
 Festus. Are those bright spars. 
 
 Or eyes of things which ne'er forgive. 
 That seem to play on us, and glare 
 With rage that we so far should dare 
 To search the hidden deeps, 
 <Vhere tide, the moon slave, sleeps 1
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 143 
 
 ^^^lcl•c the wind breathes not, and the wave 
 
 Walks softly, as above a grave; — 
 
 Where coral worms, m countless nations, 
 
 Build rocks up from the sea's foundations; — 
 
 Where the islands strike their roots 
 
 Far from the old mainland ; 
 
 And spring like desert fruits, 
 
 Shook off by God's strong hand, 
 
 Up from their bed of sand. 
 
 Look, listen ! there is music in the cave, 
 
 Where ocean sleeps, and brightness in the wave 
 
 The sea-bird makes its pillow, and the star, 
 
 Last born of Heaven, its azure mirror ; — far 
 
 And wide, the pale, fine, fire of ocean flows. 
 
 Softly sublime like lightnings in repose — 
 
 Till roused anon, afar its flaming spray it throws. 
 
 liUCiFER. There ! now we stand 
 On the world' s-end land ! 
 Over the hills 
 Away we go ! 
 Tlirough fire, and snow, 
 And rivers, whereto 
 All others are rills. 
 
 Festus. Through the lands of silTer. 
 The lands of gold ; 
 Through lands untrouden, 
 And lands untold. 
 
 IjUcifeu. By strait and uay 
 We must away;
 
 144 FESTUS. 
 
 Through SAvamp and plain, 
 And hiinicane; 
 
 Festus. And that dark cloud of slaves 
 "NMiich yet may rise ; — 
 
 Though nought shall blot the bannered stars 
 From Freedom's skies. 
 America ! half-brother of the world ! 
 ^^'ith sometliing good and bad of eveiy land ; 
 Greater than thee have lost their seat — 
 Greater scarce none can stand. 
 Thy flag now flouts the skies, 
 The highest under Heaven ; 
 Save the red cross, whereto are given 
 All victories. 
 
 Lucifer. Our horses snort and snuff" the sea, 
 And pant for where we ought to be. 
 
 Festls. "Well, here we are; and as we flew in, 
 I said, let Darkness follow Eum ! 
 
 Lucifer. 'Twas right. Spur on ! Come, Darkness, 
 come ! 
 Think of thy well-stroAvn stall ! 
 
 Festus. For me, I care not what's to come, 
 Xor for the fote by which I fall; ^ 
 
 But I would tliqt J we'e Ocean's son, ; 
 
 The solitary brave, 
 
 Like yon sea-snake, to climb upon ■ 
 
 The crest of the bounding wave. •!■ 
 
 Oh! happy, if at last I He 
 AA'ithm some pearled and coral cave; 
 
 1
 
 FESTUS. 115 
 
 "N^Tiile overhead the booming surge j 
 
 And moanmg billow shall chant my dirge ; | 
 
 And the storm-biasl, as it sweepeth by, 
 Shall, answering, howl to the mermaid's sigh, 
 And the night wind's mournful minstrelsy, 
 Their requiem over my grave. 
 
 Lucifer. Through morn and midnight, sunset and 
 hic:h noon. 
 One hour hath ta'en us ; — o'er all land and sea, I 
 
 O'er opening earthquake and iceberg, have we \ 
 
 Swept in swift safety. 'Twill be o^'er soon. | 
 
 Behold the common, narrow sea, 
 
 Which, like a strong man's arm, i 
 
 Keeps back two foes whose lips are wliite, 
 Whose hearts with rage are warm. 
 
 Festus. England! my country, great and free! 
 Heart of the world, I leap to thee. 
 How shall my country fight 
 When her foes rise against her, 
 But with thine arm, O Sea ! 
 The arm which thou lent'st her ■? 
 Where shall my country be buried 
 AVlien she shall die 1 
 Earth is too scant for her grave: 
 
 "^^Hiere shall she lie'? 
 
 I 
 
 She hath brethren more than a hundred, 
 And they aU want room ; 
 
 They may die and may lie where they live — 
 They shall not mix witli iier doom. 
 Where, but within thine arms, 
 
 ' 19 M
 
 1^6 FESTUS. 
 
 Sea, O Seca] 
 
 AVherein she halh lived and gloried. 
 
 I^et her rest be ! 
 
 We will rise and will say to the sea, 
 
 Flow over her ! 
 
 We mlU cry to the depths of the deep, 
 
 Cover her! 
 
 The world hath drawn his sword, 
 
 And his red shield drips before hun : — 
 
 But, my country, rise! 
 
 Thou canst never die 
 
 WhUe a foe hath life to fly; 
 
 Rise land, and gore him ! 
 
 Lucifer. ISow get on land, and hie along 
 O'er forest, copse, and glade; 
 AVe ndve out a league or two more to go 
 Before our journey's made ; 
 With speed that flmgs the sun mto the shade 
 
 Festus. See the gold sunshme patching, 
 And streaming and streaking across 
 The gray-green oaks ; and catching, 
 By its soft brown beard, the moss. 
 
 Lucifer. Ah ! here we get an open plain . 
 Here well get down. 
 Away, good steeds ! be ofl" agam ! 
 
 Festus. "NVe must be near to town. 
 
 1 am bound to thee forever 
 By the pleasure of this day ; 
 Henceforth Ave will never sever, 
 Come what come mav.
 
 FESTTIS. 147 
 
 Scene — A Village Feast — Evening. 
 Festds, Lucifer, and others. 
 
 Festus. It is getting dark. One has to walk quite 
 close 
 To see the pretty faces that Ave meet, 
 
 Lucifer. A disagreeable necessity. 
 Truly. 
 
 Festus. We'll rest upon this bridge. I am tired. 
 Yon tall, slim tree ! does it not seem as made 
 For its place there, a kind of natural maypole"? — 
 Beyond, the lighted stalls stored with the good 
 Things of our childhood's world ; and behind them, 
 The shouting showman and the clashing cjmbal ; 
 The open-doored cottages and blazing hearth, — 
 The little ones running up with naked feet, 
 And cake in either hand, to their mother's lap, — 
 Old and young laughmg, schoolboys with theu' plaj"- 
 
 things, 
 Clowns cracking jokes, and lasses with sly eyes. 
 And the smiles settling in their sunflecked cheeks, 
 liike noon upon the mellow apricot, — 
 Make up a scene I can for once give in to. 
 It must please all, the social and the selfish. 
 Are they not liappy ? 
 
 Lucifer. Why, it matters not. 
 
 They seem so : that's enougli.
 
 148 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. But not the same. 
 
 Lucifer. Yet truth and falsehood meet in seeming, 
 like 
 The falling leaf and shadow on the pool's face. 
 And these are joys, like beauty, but skin deep. 
 
 Festus. Remove all such, and what's the joy of 
 earth ? 
 It is they create the appetite of life — 
 Give zest and relish to the lot of millions. 
 And take the taste for them away — what's left] 
 A drv, ungainlv skeleton of soul. 
 
 Lucifer. PoAver is aye above the soul, and joy 
 Below it. Pleasure men prefer to power. 
 
 [^Children at Play. 
 
 Festus. Play away, good ones ! I could romp with 
 you. 
 To look upon the fair face of a child 
 Feels like a resui;rection of the heart. 
 Children are vast ui blessings ; kings and queens 
 According to the djTiasties of Love. 
 The might and the delight of nations lies 
 In them, and for them earth is Avhat it is. 
 
 Lucifer. Another row of dragon's teeth ! a row 
 Of grinders, look ye. 
 
 An old !Max. Pity the poor, blind man ! 
 
 Festus. Here is substantial pity. 
 
 Old Man. Heaven reward you ! 
 
 Festus. Blind as the blue skies after sunset. 
 Blind !
 
 FF.STUS. 149 
 
 And I am tired of looking on what is. 
 
 One might as well see beauty nevermore, 
 
 As look upon it with an empty eye. 
 
 I would this world were over. I am tired. 
 
 Nought happens but what happens to one's self; 
 
 And all hath happened I have wished, and more. 
 
 Our pleasures all pass from us, one by one. 
 
 With that relief Avhich sighing gives the heart, 
 
 Though each sigh leaves it lower. It is sad 
 
 To think how few our pleasures really are; 
 
 And for the Avhich we risk eternal good. 
 
 There's nothing that can satisfy one's self, 
 
 Except one's self Well, it is very sad. 
 
 And by the time we come of age we have felt. 
 
 In one degree or other, all that age 
 
 Can offer. Wc have reaped our field ere noon. 
 
 The rest is reproduction ; sowing — reaping — 
 
 Losing again. Toil and gain tire alike. 
 
 We cannot live too slowly to be good 
 
 And happy, nor too much by line and square. 
 
 But youth is burning to forestall its nature. 
 
 And will not wait for Time to ferry it 
 
 Over the stream, but flings itself into 
 
 The flood, and perishes. And yet, why not? 
 
 There is no charm in time as time, nor good. 
 
 The long days arc no happier than the short ones 
 
 'Tis sometime now since I was here. We leave 
 
 Our home in youth — no matter to what end ; — 
 
 Study — or strife — or pleasure, or what not;
 
 150 FESTUS. 
 
 And coming back in few short years, we find 
 
 All as we left it, outside; the old elms, 
 
 The house, grass, gates, and latchet's selfsame click ; 
 
 But lift that latchet, — all is changed as doom: 
 
 The servants have forgotten our step, and more 
 
 Than half of those who knew us know us not. 
 
 Adversity, prosperity, the grave, 
 
 Play a round game with friends. On some the Avorld 
 
 Hath shot its evil eye, and they are passed 
 
 From honor and remembrance, and a stare 
 
 Is all the mention of their names receives ; 
 
 And people know no more of them than of 
 
 The shapes of clouds at midnight, a year back. 
 
 Lucifer. Let us move on to where the dancing is ; 
 We soon shall see how happy they all are. 
 Here is a lo\'ing couple quarrelling ; 
 And there another. It is quite distressing. 
 See yonder. Two men fighting ! 
 
 Festus. TMiat avail 
 
 These vile exceptions to the rule of joy? 
 
 Lucifer. Behold the happiness of which thou 
 spakest ! 
 The highest hills are miles below the sky ; 
 And so far is the lightest heart below 
 True happiness. 
 
 Festus. This is a snake-like world, 
 
 And always hath its tail within its mouth, 
 As if it ate itself, and moralled time. 
 The world is like yon children's meriy-go-round ;
 
 FESTUS. 151 
 
 What men admire are carriages and hobbies, 
 
 AA'hich the exalted manikins enjoy. 
 
 'li.cre Is a noisy, ragged croAvd below 
 
 Of nrchins drives it round, who only get 
 
 The excitement for their pains — best gain, perhaps • 
 
 For it is not they who labor tliat grow dizzy 
 
 Nor sick — that's for the idle, proud above, 
 
 AVho soon dismount, more weary of enjoying 
 
 Than those below of working ; and but fair. 
 
 It is wretchedness or recklessness alone 
 
 Keejis us alive. Were Ave happy, Ave should die. 
 
 Yet Avnat is death ] I like to think on death : 
 
 It is but the appearance of an apparition. 
 
 One ouiiht to tremble ; but oughts stand for nothing. 
 
 I hate the thought of Avrinkling up to rest; 
 
 The toothlikc aching ruin of the body, 
 
 With the- heart all out, and nothing left but edge. 
 
 GiA^e me the long, high-bounding fool of life, 
 
 AVhicli cries, Let me but leap unto my graA-e, 
 
 And I'U not mind tlie AA'hcn nor Avhere. We never 
 
 Care less for life than Avhcn enjoying it. 
 
 Oh ! I should loA^e to die. What is to die ? 
 
 I cannot hold the meaning more than can 
 
 An oak's arms clasp the blast that bloAvs on it. 
 
 There is an air-like something Avhich must be 
 
 And yef not to be seen, nor to be touched. 
 
 I am made up to die ; for, haAing been 
 
 Every thing, there is nothing left but nothing 
 
 To be again.
 
 152 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. Hark! here's a ballad-singer. 
 Ballad-singer. AU of my own composing ! 
 Festus. Yes, yes — we know 
 
 Singer. My g5i)sy maid ! my gj^Jsy maid ! 
 I bless and curse the day 
 I lost the light of life, and caught 
 The grief which maketh gray. 
 Would that the light which blinded me 
 Had saved me on my way! 
 
 My night-haired love! so sweet she was. 
 So fair and blithe was she; 
 Her smile AA\as brighter than the moon's. 
 Her eyes the stars might see. 
 
 I met her by her lane-spread tent, 
 
 Beside a moss-green stone, 
 
 And bade her make, not mock, my fate* 
 
 My fortune was her own. 
 
 Thou art but yet a boy, she said, 
 
 And I a woman grown. 
 
 I am a man in love, I cried ; 
 
 My heart was early manned: 
 
 She smiled, and only drooped her eyes 
 
 And then let go my hand. 
 
 "We stood a minute: neither spake 
 
 "NMiat each must understand.
 
 FESTtrs. 153 
 
 I told he)", so she would be mine 
 And follow where I went, 
 She straight should have a bridal bower 
 Instead of g)lisy tent. 
 
 O" "^ould she have me wend Avith her, 
 The world between should fall ; 
 For her I would fling up faith and friends, 
 And name, and fame, and all. 
 
 Her smile so bright froze while I spake. 
 And ice was in her eye ; 
 So near, it seemed ere touch her heart 
 I might have kissed the sky. 
 
 T .VI) d that if she loved to ride, 
 
 Or if she longed to reign, 
 
 I would make her Queen of every race 
 
 "Which tear-like trode the world's sad face, 
 
 Or bleed at every vein. 
 
 She laid her finger on her lip, 
 And pointed to the sky ; 
 There is no God to come, she said- 
 Dost thou not fear to die? 
 
 And what is God, I said, to thee J 
 riiy people worship not. 
 
 20
 
 154 FESTUS. 
 
 The good, the happy, and the free, 
 She said, they need no God. 
 
 I looked until I lost mine eyes; 
 
 I felt as though I were 
 
 In a dark cave, with one weak lighl • 
 
 The light of life — with her; 
 
 And that was wasting fast away ; 
 
 I watched, but would not stu\ 
 
 Agam she took my hand in hers. 
 And read it o'er and o'er ; 
 Ah ! eyes so young, so sweet, I said, 
 Make as they read love's lore. 
 
 She held my hand — I trembled whils: -- ■ 
 For sorely soon I felt 
 She made the love-cross she foretold, 
 And all the woe she dealt. 
 
 Unhappy I should be, she said, 
 And young to death be given: 
 I told her I believed in her. 
 Not ui the stars of Heaven. 
 
 Hush ! we breathe Heaven, she said, and boA\cd ; 
 And the stars speak through me. 
 Let Heaven, I cried, take care of Heave:. . 
 I only care for thee.
 
 FESTUS. 155 
 
 She shrank" I looked, and begged a kiss; 
 I knew she had one for me ; 
 She would deny me none, she said, 
 But give me none Avould she. 
 
 My gj'psy maid ! my gypsy maid ! 
 'Tis three long years lilie this 
 Since there I gave and got from thee 
 That meetmg, parting kiss. 
 
 I saw the tears start in her eye, 
 And trickle down her cheek ; 
 Like falling stars across the sky, 
 Escaping from their Maker's eye: 
 I saw, but spared to speak. 
 
 Go, and forget ! she said, and slid 
 Below her lowly tent ; 
 I will not, cannot ; — hear me, girl ! 
 She heard not, and I Avent. 
 
 At eve, by sunset, I was there, 
 
 The tent was there no more ; 
 
 The fire which warmed her flickered still — - 
 
 The fire she sat before. 
 
 I stood by it, till througli the dark 
 T saw not wliore it lay ; 
 And then, like that, my heart went out 
 In ashy grief and gray.
 
 156 FESTUS. 
 
 My gypsy maid ! my gj'psy maid ' 
 Oh ! let me bless this day ; 
 This day it was I met thee first, 
 And yet it shall be and is cursed, 
 For thou hast gone away. 
 
 Lucifer. Another, please — not quite so gloomy, 
 
 friend. 
 GiKL. I wonder if the tale it tells be true. 
 Singer. I dare say — but you want a merrier. 
 Every man's life has its apocrj-pha; 
 !Mine has, at least. I have said more than need be. 
 It happened, too, when I was very young. 
 We never meet such gypsies when we are old; 
 And yet we more complain of youth than age. 
 Now, make a ring, good people. Let me breathe ! 
 
 ^Sings. 
 Oh ! the wee green ncuk, the sly green neuk, 
 
 The wee sly neuk for me! 
 ^^Tiare the wheat is wavin' bright and brown, 
 
 And the wind is fresh and free. 
 ^\Tiare I Aveave wild weeds, and out o' reeds 
 
 Kerve wliisslcs as I lay ; 
 And a douce low voice is murmurin' by 
 Through the lee-lang simmer day. 
 Oh ! the wee green neuk, &c. 
 
 .And wharc a' things luik as though thcv lo ed 
 To langiiisli in the sun;
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 FESTUS. 157 ' 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 And that if they feed the fire they dree, i 
 
 They wadna ae pang were gone. I 
 
 Whare the lift aboon is stUl as death, 
 And bright as life can be; 
 
 While the douce low voice says, Na, na, ua ! 
 But ye mauna luik sae at me. 
 Oh! the wee green neuk, &c. 
 
 Whare the lang rank bent is saft and cule, . | 
 
 And freshenin' till the feet ; 
 And the spot is sly, and the spinnie high, 
 
 Whare my luve and I mak scat: 
 And I tease her till she rins, and then 
 
 I catch her roun' the tree; i 
 
 While the poppies shak' their heids and blush: ] 
 
 Let 'em blush till they drap,' for me! 
 
 Oh! the wee green neuk, &c. | 
 
 Festus. And all who know such feelings and such , 
 
 scenes i 
 
 WUl, I am sure, reward you. Here — take this. ^ 
 
 Others. And this, and this — too! 
 
 j 
 Singer. Thank ye all, good friends! I 
 
 Festus. There's much that has no merit but its , 
 
 truth, I 
 
 And no excuse but nature. Nature does 
 
 Never wrong : 'tis society Avhich sins. 
 
 Look on the bee upon the wing among flowers; 
 
 How brave, how bright his life ! Then mark him hived,
 
 158 FESTUS. 
 
 Cramped, cringiug iu his self-built social cell. 
 Thus is it in the world-hive: most where men 
 Lie deep in cities as in drifts — death-drifts, 
 Nosing each other like a flock of sheep; 
 Not knowing and not caring whence nor whither 
 They come or go, so that they fool together. 
 
 Lucifer. It is quite fair to halve these lives, and 
 say 
 This side is nature's, that society's, 
 ^\Tien both are side-\iews only of one thing. 
 
 Farmer. I am glad to see you come among us, srr. 
 
 Parsox. Why, I have but little comfort in these 
 pastimes ; 
 And any heart, turned Godwards, feels more joy 
 In one short hour of prayer, than e'er was raised 
 By all the feasts on earth since theii- foimdation. 
 But no one will believe us ; as if we 
 Had never known the vain things of the world, 
 Nor lain and slept in sin's seducing shade, 
 Listless, until God Avoke us ; made us feel 
 We should be up and stirring in the sun; 
 For eA'ery thmg had to be done ere night. 
 "N'STiat is aU this joy and jollity about'? 
 Grant there may be no sin. What good is it] 
 
 Farmer. I can't defend these feasts, sir, and can't 
 blame. 
 
 Parson. Good evening, friends ! ^^Tiy, Festus ! I 
 rejoice 
 We meet again. I have a young fr-iend here,
 
 FESTXJS. 159 
 
 A student — who hath staid with us of late. 
 
 You would be glad, I know, to know each other ; 
 
 Therefore be known so. 
 
 Festus. You are a student, sir. 
 
 Student. I profess little ; but it is a title 
 A man may claim perhaps with modesty. 
 
 Festus. True. All mankind are students. How 
 to live 
 And how to die forms the great lesson still. 
 I know what studj^ is: it is to toil 
 Hard, through the hours of the sad niiduight watch, 
 At tasks which seem a systematic curse, 
 And course of bootless penance. Night by night, 
 To trace one's thought as if on iron leaves ; 
 And sorrowful as though it were the mode 
 >\nd date of death we Avrote on our own tombs : 
 Wring a slight sleep out of the couch, and see 
 The selfsame moon which lit us to our rest, 
 Her place scarce changed perceptibly in Heaven, 
 Now light us to renewal of our toils. — 
 This, to the young mind, wild and all in leaf. 
 Which knowledge grafting, paincth. Fruit soon conies, 
 And more than all our troubles pays us powers ; 
 So that we joy to have endured so much : 
 That not for nothing have we slaved and slain 
 Ourselves almost. And more ; it is to strive 
 To bring the mind up to one's own esteem: 
 Who but tlie generous fail] It is to think, 
 Wliilc: thought is standing thick upon the brs'^c
 
 ibO FESTUS. 
 
 As dew upon the brow — for thought is hrain-sweat — 
 Aud gathermg quick and dark, like storms in sum- 
 mer, 
 Until convvilsed, condensed, in lightning sport, 
 It plays upon the heavens of the mind, — 
 Opens the hemisphered abysses here, 
 And we become revealers to ourselves. 
 
 Student. "When night hath set her silver lamp on 
 high, 
 Then is the time for study ; when Heaven's light 
 Pours itself on the page, like prophecy 
 On time, unglooming all its mighty meanings ; 
 It is then we feel the sweet strength of the stars, 
 And magic of the moon. 
 
 Lucifer. It's a bad habit. 
 
 Student. And wisdom dwells in secret, and on 
 high. 
 As do the stars. The sun's diurnal glare 
 Is fcr the daily herd ; but for the wise. 
 The cold pure radiance of the night-born light. 
 Wherewith is inspiration of the truth. 
 There was a time when I would never go 
 To rest before the sun rose; and for that, 
 Through a like length of time as that now gone, 
 The world shall speak of me six thousand years 
 hence. 
 
 LuciFEE. How know ye that the world won't end 
 to-morrow 1 
 
 Pauson. I now, an early riser, love to hail
 
 FES T US. 161 
 
 'The dreamy struggles of the stars with light, 
 And the recovering breath of earth, slcep-di-owncd, 
 Awakening to the wisdom of the sun. 
 And life of light within the tent of Heaven ; — 
 To kiss the feet of Morning as she walks 
 lu dewy light along the hills, Avhile they. 
 All odorous as an angel's fresh-culled crown. 
 Unveil to her their bounteous loveliness. 
 
 Student. I am devote to study. Worthy books 
 Are not companions — they are solitudes: 
 We lose ourselves in them, and all our cares. 
 The further back we search the human mind, — 
 Mean in the mass, but in the instance great, — 
 Which starting first with deities and stars 
 And broods of beings earth-born. Heaven-begot, 
 And all the bright side of the broad Avorld, now 
 Doats upon dreams, and dim atomic truths. 
 Is all for comfort, and no more for glory — 
 The nobler and more marvellous it shoAvs. 
 Trifles like these make up the present time ; 
 The Iliad and the Pyramids the past. 
 
 Festus. The future Avill have glory not the less. 
 I can conceive a time Avhen the world shall be 
 Much better visibly, and when, as far 
 As social life and its relations tend. 
 Men, morals, manners shall be lifted up 
 To a pure heiglit we know not of nor dream ; — 
 When all men's rights and duties shall be clear. 
 And charitably exercised and borne ; 
 
 21 K*
 
 162 FESTUS. 
 
 AMien education, conscience, and good deeds 
 Shall have just equal sway, and ci\-il claims ; — 
 Great crimes shall be cast out, as were of old 
 De^ils possessing madmen: — Truth shall reign, 
 Nature shall be rethroned, and man sublimed. 
 
 Student. Oh ! then may Heaven come do\\Ti again 
 to earth ; 
 And dwell -nith her, as once, like to a friend. 
 
 Lucifer. As like each other as a sword and scythe. 
 Oh ! then shall lions mew and lambkins roar. 
 
 Festus. And having studied — what next? 
 
 Student, Much I long 
 
 To view the capital city of the world. 
 The mountains, the great cities, and the sea, 
 Are each an era in the life of youth. 
 
 Festus. There to get worldly ways, and thoughts, 
 and schemes ; 
 To learn to detect, distrust, despise mankind — 
 To ken a folse, factitious glare, amid much 
 That shines with seeming saint-like purity — 
 To gloss misdeeds — to trifle with great truths-^ 
 To pit the brain against the heart, and plead 
 Wit before wisdom, — these are the world's ways: 
 It learns us to lose that in crowds which we 
 Must after seek alone — our innocence ; 
 And when the crowd is gone. 
 
 Student. Xot only that; 
 
 There all great things are round one. Interests, 
 Mishtv and mountainous of estimate,
 
 FESTUS. 163 
 
 Are daily heaped or scattered 'neath the eye. 
 
 Great deeds, ^reat thoughts, great schemes, and crimes, 
 
 and all 
 "NVhicli is in pnrposc, or in practice, great 
 Of human nature — there are common things. 
 Men make themsc^lves be deathless as in spite ; 
 As if they waged some lineal feud with time ; 
 As though their fathers were immortal, too. 
 And immortality an every-day 
 Accomplishment. 
 
 Festus. Fie ! fie ! 'tis more for this : 
 
 Amid gayer people and more wanton ways, 
 To give a loose to all tlu^ lists of youth — 
 To train your passion flowers high ahead. 
 And bind them on your brow as others do. 
 The mornlit revel, and the shameless mate — 
 The tabled hues of darkness and of blood — 
 The published bosom, and the crowning smile — 
 The cup excessive ; and if aught there be 
 More vain than these or wanton — that to have — 
 Have all but always in intent, effect. 
 Or fact. Nay, nay, deny it not: I know. 
 Youth hath a strange and strong desire to try 
 All feelings on the heart : it is very wrong, 
 And dangerous, and deadly : strive against it ! 
 
 Student. It might be some old sage was warning v.v. 
 
 Festus. Youth might be wise. Wc sufier less from 
 pains 
 ■Than pleasures.
 
 164 FESTUS. 
 
 Student. I should like to see the world, 
 
 And gain that knowledge which is — 
 
 Festus. Barrener 
 
 Than ice ; possessing and producing nought 
 But means and forms of death or vanity. 
 The world is just as hollow as an eggshell. 
 It is»a surface, not a solid, mind: 
 And all this boasted knowledge of the Avorld 
 To me seems but to mean acquaintance with 
 Low things, or evil, or indifferent. 
 
 Farmer. jNIucIi more is said of knowledge than 
 it's Avorth. 
 A man may gain all knowledge here, and yet 
 Be, after death, as much in the dark as I. 
 
 Lucifer. ^Miat makes you know of living after 
 death 1 
 
 Farmer. Why, nothing that I know ; and there 
 it is ; — 
 But somcthmg I am told has told me so. 
 Xo angel ever came to me to prove it ; 
 And all my friends have died, and left no ghosts. 
 
 Festus. All that is good a man may learn from 
 himself ; 
 And much, too, that is bad. 
 
 Parson. Nay, let me speak ! 
 
 Aught that is good the soul receives of God 
 \Maen He hath made it His; and until then 
 Man cannot know, nor do, nor be, aught good. 
 Oh! there is nought on earth worth being known
 
 F E S X U S . 1 fiO 
 
 Bvit God and our own souls — tlir God we have 
 AVithin our hearts ; for it is not the hope, 
 Nor faith, nor fear, nor notions others have 
 Of God can serve us, but the sense and soul 
 We have of Him within us ; and, for men, 
 God loves us men each mdividually. 
 And deals with us in order, soul by soul. 
 
 Lucifer. But this is not the place for serrnont. 
 
 Parson. Tr;e. 
 
 We heard once, Festus, you were travelling : — 
 Pi-ay, in what parts ] 
 
 Festus. Among the outer orbs. 
 
 Parson. Nay, surely not so far except iji thought, 
 Perchance, or calculation. 
 
 Festds. a month back 
 
 I was in giant land. 
 
 Parson. All ! fee-faw-fum ? — 
 
 They lUd not eat you there? 
 
 Festus. Oli ! no. They much 
 
 Preferred their usual fare. 
 
 Parson. What might it be ; 
 
 Not Englishmen and hasty pudding, eh 1 
 
 Festus. They are no more cannibals tlhan you 
 or I ; 
 But are of various tastes, and patronize, 
 1 know, rich diet. 
 
 Parson. It's excusable. 
 
 And they are great consumers, I dare say. 
 
 Festus. A wheat-stack of our friend's here svcuL^ 
 but make
 
 166 FESTUS. 
 
 One lotif of bread for them. Oak trees tlu-j use 
 As pickles, and tall pines as toothpicks; whales. 
 In their own blubber fried, serve as mere fish 
 To bait their appetites. Boiled elephants, 
 Khiuoceroses, and roasted crocodiles — 
 Every thing dished up whole — with lions stewed, 
 Shark sauce, and eagle pic, and young giraffes 
 ]M;!.ke up a potluck dinner, — if there's plenty. 
 Tiisu as for game, the ptero-dactyles 
 And iclithyosauri are great dainties there, 
 Coming m season only once an age. 
 They reckon there by ages, not by years. 
 
 Student. And as to be\erage ? 
 
 Festus. Oh ! if thirsty, they 
 
 WUl laj^ them doAvn and drink a ri^cr dry, 
 Nor once di-aw breath. 
 
 Parson. Ah! camel, gnat, and all. 
 
 Festus. Others are more abstemious, and consume 
 F.gg-brotli and sunples chiefly. There was one 
 Who, when I saw him first, sat by a fire ; 
 An ejjg, an hour glass, and a Avater bowl 
 Being before him. .111 he said was this: — 
 \Vlien the sand is run 
 The egg is done. 
 This he first boUcd, then roasted, and then ate. 
 
 Student. "What sort of one ? Perhaps an ostrich 
 
 ptro* t 
 
 Festus. Much larger. Here is nothing of the kind. 
 Tiis yolk was like the sun seen in a fog ;
 
 FESTUS. 167 
 
 The white was thin and cloiulcd, and the shell 
 Heav'y and hard, as is our eartli-pie crust. 
 
 Lucifer. What kind of bird it was that laid it — 
 guess ! — 
 
 Parson. Continue. You have travelled in the 
 dark ; 
 But wisdom sometimes inns with ignorance. 
 What of their persons, habits, language, creed ] 
 
 Festus. They live seven thousand years of years 
 like ours, 
 And then die suddenly ; when death takes place. 
 They burn the bodies always in a lake. 
 The spray whereof is ashes, and its depths 
 Unfathomable fire, and never mourn. 
 In form and stature they are mountain-sized ; 
 Could walk through woods like ours as through long 
 
 grass ; 
 Use little verbal language, but express 
 All thought by action and oracular use 
 Of eye or hand. Their chief religion seems 
 Self-punishment by sin and rites of fire. 
 'Twould do the godless good to visit once 
 One of tliis awful race whom once I sa\v ; 
 And who — were time and place more fitting — 
 
 Student. Nay, 
 
 We are apart from others. Nothing save 
 Yon heavenly ark whicli fioats among tlie stars, 
 Now resting on an Ararat of clouds, 
 Hath leave to overlook us.
 
 168 FESTUS. 
 
 Parson. Pray proceed. 
 
 Festus. Once I had travelled through a ^vear)■ 
 world 
 Than all in Heaven more barren and forlorn, 
 Dark as the Avild heart of a thunder-cloud, 
 Strewn Avith the wrecks and ashes of all orbs 
 Fire-stranded, rolling in quick agony ; 
 Peopled with burning ghosts, dislimbed and charred ; 
 And in the midst a giant, by a fire 
 Kindled of burning passions, and full fed 
 With sins long seasoned, at A^hose feet there stood 
 A crystal cistern brimmed \\ith human tears, 
 AVhich sprinkled, but inflamed the fire withal ; — 
 The giant all while watching with stern mien, 
 -Vnd ruthless interest the whole. Dread sir I 
 Said I, as I drew near, what angers thee ? 
 He answered not, but pointed; and I saw 
 Full in the midst of that infernal fire. 
 Blazing aghast m solar solitude, 
 A panting shadow, which, with skeleton eyes 
 And woe-gouged countenance, whereon was hung 
 A white eclipse like darkness pale with pain. 
 Watched for the disappearance of the Heavens 
 With a despairing hope; entranced it lay 
 In nil its horrid perspicuity 
 And glassy gliastliness immortalized. 
 ^Ajion it turned round restlessly, and cried, 
 W^ov, woe is me ! Eternal Spirit God ! 
 Thy wrath is hea\icst when endurable.
 
 FESTUS, 1G9 
 
 Put forth Thy strength and sweep the universe, 
 
 "^^'it}l me, into the night of nothingness, 
 
 That sin and soul may perish. Woe is me ! 
 
 Still shine the blessed Heavens, and still, like fire 
 
 Congealed, my woe perpetuates itself. 
 
 Whereat the giant laughed, rejoicmg in 
 
 His ministry of woe, and blew his hell 
 
 Still fiercer — till it bellowed, and the orb 
 
 Beneath my foot sole seared, and I took leave ; 
 
 For there was somewhat in the giant's air. 
 
 And liis liuge balefire and the naked plain — 
 
 Bald as the crown of Time — which caused me dread. 
 
 Parson. Dreams you have dreamed till you believe 
 in them ; 
 But such as these are awesome. Not the less 
 View them vouchsafed as Avarnings. Oft the mind. 
 Freed by angelic sleep from bodily bonds, 
 Knows scenes and themes like these you have named, 
 
 which tend 
 To edifying much. Such travel is 
 Like mine, the travail simply of the brain. 
 
 Festus. It is pure reality. 
 
 Parson. Well, say no more. 
 
 We may pursue the sense of things too far. 
 Tlie golden side of Heaven's great shield is faith, 
 The siher, reason. I see this, you that ; 
 The junction is invisible to both. 
 
 SruuENT. One thing is sometimes said, another 
 meant. 
 
 22 O
 
 170 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. What are your politics ? 
 
 Farmer. I have none. 
 
 Lucifer. Good- 
 
 Farmer. I have my thoughts. I am no party 
 man. 
 I care for measures more than men, but think 
 Some little may depend upon the men ; 
 Something in fires depends upon the grate. 
 
 First Boy. What are your colors'? 
 
 Second. Blue as Heaven. 
 
 Third. And mine 
 
 Ai'c yellow as the sun. 
 
 First. Mine, green as grass. 
 
 Second. Green's forsaken, and yellow's forsworn. 
 And blue's the color that shall be Avorn. 
 
 Student. As to religion, politics, law, and Avar, 
 But little need be said. All are required, 
 And all are well enough. Of liberty, 
 And slavery, and tyranny we hear 
 Much; but the human mind affects extremes. 
 The heart is in the middle of the system; 
 And all affections gather round the truth. 
 The moderated joys and Avoes of life. 
 I love my God, my country, kind and kin, 
 Nor Avould I see a dog Avronged of his bone. 
 My country ! if a Avretch should e'er arise. 
 Out of thy countless sons, Avho Avould curtaU. 
 Thy freedom, dim thy glory, — Avliile he lives 
 May all earth's peoples cui'sc him — fo)- of all
 
 FESTUS. 171 
 
 Hast thou secured the blessmg ; — and if oue 
 Exist who woidd not arm for liberty, 
 Be he too cursed livmg, and when dead. 
 Let hmi be buried do^^■nwards, with his face 
 Looking to hell, and o'er his coward grave 
 The hare skulk in her form. 
 
 Lucifer. Nay, gently, friend. 
 
 Curse notliing, not the De^il. He's beside you — 
 For aught jou know. 
 
 Student. I neither know nor care. 
 
 [They pass some Card-players. 
 
 Festus. Kings, queens, knaves, tens, would trick 
 the world away. 
 And it were not, now and then, for some brave ace. 
 
 Studeis't. You see yon wretched, starved old man ; 
 his brow 
 Grooved out with wrinkles like the brown dry sand 
 The tide of life is leavmg ? 
 
 Lucifer. Yes, I see him. 
 
 Student. Last week he thought he was about to 
 die: 
 So he bade gold be strewn beneath his pillow, 
 Gold on a chest that he might lie and see, 
 And gold put in a basin on his bed. 
 That he miglit dabble with his fingers in. 
 He's going now to grope for pence or pins. 
 He never gave a pin's worth in his life. 
 ^\liat would you do to him ? 
 
 Lucifer. I would have him WTought
 
 172 FESTUS. 
 
 Into a liWng wire, which, beaten out, 
 Might make a golden network for the world ; 
 Tlien melt liim mch by inch, and hell by hell, 
 Where is the law of wrath. 
 
 Student. Oh, charity! 
 
 It is a thought the De'^il might be proud of — 
 Once and away. Misers and spendthrifts may 
 Torment each other in the world to come. 
 
 Lucifer. And thus do men apportion their own lot ; 
 A grain of comfort and a sack of sin. 
 
 Festus. Men look on death as lightning, always far 
 Off, or in Heaven. They know not it is in 
 Themselves, a strong and inward tendency. 
 The soul of every atom, every hair • 
 That nature's infinite electric life, 
 Escaping from cacli isolated frame. 
 Up out of earth, or down from Heaven, becomes 
 To each its proper death, and adds itself 
 Thus to the great reunion of the whole. 
 There is a man in mourning ! ^Miat does he here 1 
 
 Student. He has just buried the only friend he 
 had. 
 And now comes hither to enjoy himself. 
 
 Festus. "S^liy ^^•iU we dedicate the dead to God, 
 And not ourselves, the liA-ing? Oft Ave speak, 
 With tears of joy and trust, of some dear friend 
 As surely up in Heaven ; while that same soul, 
 For aught we know, may be shuddering even in hell 
 To hear his name named; or there mav be no
 
 FESTUS. UJ 
 
 Soul ill the case — and the fat icy worm, 
 Give iiiiu a tongue, can tell us all about him. 
 
 Student. Here is music. Stay. That simple 
 
 melody 
 Comes on the heart like infant innocence — 
 Pure f(;eling pure ; while yet the new-bodied soul 
 Is swinging to the motion of the Heavens, 
 And scarce hath caught, as yet, earth's backening 
 
 course. 
 Festus. The heart is formed as earth was — its 
 
 first age 
 Formless and void, and fit but for itself; 
 Then feelings half alive, just organized, 
 Come next, — then creeping sports and purposes, — 
 Then animal desires, delights, and loves — 
 For love is the first and granite-like effect 
 Of things — the longest and the highest: next 
 The wild and winged desLres, youth's saurian schemes, 
 Which creep and fly by turns ; which kill and cat, 
 And do disgorge each other : comes at length 
 The mould of perfect, matchless manhood — then 
 Woman divides the heart, and multiplies it. 
 The insipidity of innocence 
 Palls : it is guilty, happy, and undone. 
 A death is laid upon it, and it goes — 
 Quits its green Eden for the sandy Avorld, 
 Where it works out its nature, as it may, 
 In sweat, smiles, blood, tears, cursings, and «vliitt no\, 
 And giant sins possess it ; and it worships
 
 174 FESTt'S. 
 
 Works of the hand, head, heart — its own or otluTS - 
 
 ■\ creature worship, which exdudeth God's: 
 
 The less thrusts out the greater. Warning comes, 
 
 But the heart fears not — feels not ; till at last 
 
 Down comes the flood fiom Heaven ; and that heart 
 
 Broken inwards, earthlike, to its central hell : 
 
 Or like the hright and burning eye we see 
 
 Inly, when pressed hard backwards on the brain, 
 
 Ends and begins again — destroyed, is saved. 
 
 Every man is the first man to himself. 
 
 And Eves are just as plentiful as apples ; 
 
 Nor do we fall, nor are we saved, by proxy. 
 
 The Eden we live in is our o^Ml heart ; 
 
 And the first tiling we do, of our free choice, 
 
 Is sure and necessary to be sin. 
 
 Lucifer. The only right men have is to be damned. 
 A^Tiat is the good of music, or the beauty ^ 
 Music tells no truths. 
 
 Festus. Oh! there is nought so sweet 
 
 As lying and listening music from the hands, 
 And singing from the lips, of one we love — 
 Lips that all others should be tuned to. Then 
 The world would all be love and song ; Heaven's hai-ps 
 And orbs join in ; the whole be harmony — 
 Distinct, yet blended — blending all in one 
 Long and delicious tremble like a chord. 
 But to Thee, God ! all being is a harp, 
 NV.'j'.Tsya Thou makest mightiest melody 
 Hast ever been in love?
 
 FESTUS. 175 
 
 Student. I never was. 
 
 Festus. Spite of momlity or mystei-y, 
 It is love wliicli mostly destinates our life. 
 What makes the world in after life I know not, 
 For our horizon alters as we age: 
 Power only can make up for the lack of love — 
 Power of some sort. The mind at one time grows 
 So fast, it foils ; and then its stretch is more 
 Than its strength ; but, as it opes, love fills it up, 
 Like to the stamen in tlic flov/er of life, 
 Till for the time we well nigh grow all love ; 
 And soon we feel the want of one kind lieart 
 To love what's well, and to forgive what's ill, 
 In us, — that heart wc play for at all risks. 
 
 Student. How can the heart, which lies embodied 
 deep 
 In blood and bone, set like a ruby eye 
 Into the breast, be made a toy for beauty. 
 And, \ane-like, blown about by every wanton sigh 1 
 How can the soul, th(> rich, star-travelled stranger, 
 Who here sojournetli only for a purcliasc, 
 Risk all the riches of his years of toil. 
 And his God-vouched inheritance of Heaven, 
 For one light momentary taste of love 1 
 
 Festus. It is so ; and when once you know the 
 sport — 
 The croAvded pack of passions in full cry — 
 The sweet deceits, the tempting obstacles — 
 The smile, the sigh, the tear, and the emorace-
 
 IT) FESTUS. 
 
 All the delights of love at last in one, 
 
 With kisses close ds stars in the milky way, 
 
 In at the death you cry, though 'twere )Our o\vn 
 
 Student. Upon my soul, most sound morality ! 
 Nothing is thought of viilue, then, nor judgment! 
 
 Festus. Oh! every thing is thought of — bvit not 
 then 
 And — judgment — no! it is nowhere in the field. 
 
 Student. SloAV-paced and late arriving, still it 
 comes. 
 I cannot understand this love ; I hear 
 Of its idolatry, not its respect. 
 
 Eestus. Respect is what we owe ; love what we 
 give. 
 And men would mostly rather give than pay. 
 Morality's the right rule for the world. 
 Nor could society cohere without 
 Vutue : and there are those whose spirits walk 
 Abreast of angels and the future, here. 
 Respect and love thou such. 
 
 Lucifer. Of course you wish 
 Women to love you rather than lo^e them. 
 It is better. Now, you say you are a student. 
 All things take study ; what more than the face — 
 Whether your own, or hers you look and long at? 
 There are many ways to one end : here is one : — 
 You are good looking ; but that matters little : 
 It only pleases them. To please yourself, 
 Your face may be as ugly as the . "\"\'cll, well ;
 
 FESTUS. 177 
 
 But you must cultivate yourself: it will pay you. 
 
 Study a dimple ; work hard at a smile : 
 
 The things most delicate require most pains. 
 
 Practise the upward — now the sidelong glance — 
 
 Now the long passionful un^^■inking gaze, 
 
 ^^'hich beats itself at last, and sees air only. 
 
 Be restless, and distress yourself for her. 
 
 Take up her hand — press it, and pore on it — 
 
 Let it drop — snatch it agam as though 30U had 
 
 Let slip so much of honor or of HeaA'en. 
 
 Swear — vow by all means — never miss an oath : 
 
 If broken, whj' it only spoils itself: 
 
 It is a broken oath, and not a whole one. 
 
 I'rown — toss about — let her lips be for a time ; 
 
 But steal a kiss at last like fire from Heaven. 
 
 AVeep if you can, and call the tears heat-drops. 
 
 Droop your head — sigh deep — play the fool, in .short. 
 
 One hour, and she will play the fool forever. 
 
 Mind ! it is folly to tell women truth ; 
 
 They would rather li\e on lies, so they be SM'eet. 
 
 Never be luuij in one mind to one love. 
 
 You change your practice with jour subject. All 
 
 Differ. But yet, who knows one woman well 
 
 By heart, knows all. It is my experience ; 
 
 And I ad\ise on good authority. 
 
 So thank me for my lecture on delusion. 
 
 Festcs. Tune laughs at love. It is a hateful sight. 
 That bald old gray-beard jeering the boy. Love. 
 But as to women : tli:it game lias two sides. 
 
 23
 
 178 FESTUS. 
 
 Passion is from affection ; and there is nought 
 So maddening and so lowering as to have 
 The worse in passion. Thuak, when one by one, 
 Pride, love, and jealousy, and fifty more 
 Great feelings column up to force a heart. 
 And all are beaten back — all fail — all fall : 
 The tower intact ; but risk it : we must learn. 
 To know the world, be wise and be a fool. 
 The heart will have its swing — the world its way: 
 Who seeks to stop them, only throws himself down. 
 We must take as we find: go as they go, 
 )r stand aside. Let the world have the wall. 
 'Tow do you think, pray, to get through the world 1 
 
 Studeat. I mean not to get through the world at 
 aU, 
 But over it. 
 
 Festus. Aspii-mg ! You will find 
 The world is all uphill when we would do ; 
 All do^vnhill when we suffer. Xay, it will part 
 Like the Red Sea, so that the poor may pass. 
 We make our compliments to wretchedness, 
 And liope the poor want nothing, and are well. 
 But I mean, what profession will you choose? 
 Sui'ely you will do something for a name. 
 
 Student. Names are of much more consequence 
 than things. 
 
 Festus. Well ; here's our honest, aU-exhovting 
 friend. 
 The parson — here the doctor. I am sure
 
 FESTUS. 17ii 
 
 llic Gevdl might act as moderator there, 
 And do mankind some service. 
 
 Lucifer. In Iris way. 
 
 Student. But I care neither for men's souls nor 
 bodies. 
 
 Festus. What say you to the law? Are you 
 ambitious ? 
 
 Student. Nor do I mind for other people's busi- 
 ness. 
 I have no heart for their predicaments : 
 I am for myself I measure every thing 
 By, what is it to me ? from which I find 
 1 have but little in common with the mass, 
 Except my meals and so forth ; dress and sleep. 
 I have that M'ithin me I can Yixv upon : 
 Spider-like, spin my place out any where. 
 
 I'ssTUS. To none of all the arts and sciences, — 
 Astronomy nor entomology, 
 Nor gunnery, for instance, tlien, you feel 
 Attracted heartily and mentally'? 
 
 Student. AVhy, no ; there are so many rise and 
 fall, 
 One knows not whicli to choose. As for the stars, 
 I never look on them without dismay. 
 Earth has outrun them in our modern mind, 
 By worlds of odds. Enough for us, it seems. 
 And our cold calculators, to jot down 
 Their revolutions, distances, and squares; — 
 And the bright laws which stars and sjjirits rule
 
 180 FESTUS. 
 
 Are all laid out and buried grave on ii,ra\-e. 
 
 The fourfold worlds and elemental spheres, 
 
 Which in concentric circles, like the ring 
 
 That the magician stands in, from on high 
 
 Give spiritual calling to our earth, 
 
 And lord it o\ev her, yet in such wise. 
 
 That stUl by them we may conjoin our souls 
 
 Unto the starry spirits of all worlds ; 
 
 Beyond the changeful mansions of the moon, 
 
 Beyond the burning heart of Heaven, where dwell 
 
 The governors of nature and the blest. 
 
 All knowing spirits and celestial, 
 
 And divine demons ; are all gone — extinct. 
 
 There is no danger now of knowing aught 
 
 Which ought not to be known. Xo more of that!- 
 
 And you, ye planetary sons of light ! 
 
 From him who hovereth, mothlike, round the sun 
 
 To six-mooned Ouranus, light's loftiest round, — 
 
 Your aspects, dignities, ascendancies. 
 
 Your partile quartiles, and your jilastic trines. 
 
 And all your heavenly houses and effects, 
 
 Shall meet no more de^•out expounders here. 
 
 You too, ye juried signs, earth's sunny path 
 
 Upon her wheeling orbit, all farewell ! 
 
 Your exaltations and triplicitics, 
 
 Fiery, airy, and the rest ; your falls. 
 
 And detriments, and governments, and gifts. 
 
 Are all abolished. Henceforth ye shall shine 
 
 In \ain to man. Diurnal, carduial,
 
 FESTUS. 181 
 
 Xocturnal, equinoctial, hot or dry, 
 
 Earthy, or moist, or feminine, or fixed, 
 
 Luxurious, vioknit, bicorporate. 
 
 Masculine, barren, and commanding, cold, 
 
 Fruitful or watery, or what not, now 
 
 It matters nothing. The joy of Jupiter, 
 
 The exaltation of the Dragon's head, 
 
 The sun's triplicity and glorious 
 
 Day-house on high, the moon's dim detriment, 
 
 And all the starry inclusions of all signs — 
 
 Shall rise, and rule, and pass, and no one know 
 
 That there are spirit-rulers of all worlds. 
 
 Which fraternize with earth, and, though unknown. 
 
 Hold in the shining voices of the stars 
 
 Communion higli, ever and every where. — 
 
 The mystic charm of numbers, and the sole 
 
 Oneness which is in all, of nature's gr(>at 
 
 Triadic principle, in all things seen ; 
 
 In man thus, as composed of thrice three forms 
 
 Intrinsic ; first, corporeally, blood, 
 
 Body, and bones ; next, intellectively, 
 
 Imagination, judgment, memory ; 
 
 And thirdly, spiritually, mind and soul, 
 
 And spirit, which unites witli God the whole 
 
 Being, and comes from and returns to Tlim, — 
 
 Allures no more man's mind debased. Thus, too, 
 
 Of alchemy ; the golden, starry stone, 
 
 Invisible, the principle of life, 
 
 'l"h(> quintessence of all the elements,
 
 182 F E S T U S . 
 
 Is still unbought ; — still flows the stream of pear) 
 
 Beneath the magic mountain ; still the scent 
 
 As of a thousand amaranthine wreaths, which lurej 
 
 All life unto its sweetness, floats around 
 
 Mistlike, the shining bath where Luna laves, 
 
 Or Sol, bright brother of that mooned maid, 
 
 Triumphs in light ; the spiritual sun. 
 
 The heavenly Earth smaragdine, and the fire- 
 
 Spu'it of life, the live land, still exist. 
 
 Immortally, internally, unseen. — 
 
 Still breathes the Paradisal air around 
 
 The universal whole ; the watery fire. 
 
 Destructive, yet impalpable to sense ; 
 
 Tlie initial and conclusion of the world. 
 
 Yea, the begmning and the end of death ; 
 
 The secret which is shared 'tween God and man, 
 
 And which is nature only, wholly, still 
 
 In heavenly gloom incomprehensible 
 
 Wait the Deific will ; yea, still the light, 
 
 ^V^hereto all elements contribute, burns 
 
 About us and within us, world and soul. 
 
 The primal sperm and matter of the world, 
 
 Whose centre is the limit of all things, — 
 
 The snowy gold, the star and spirit seed 
 
 Which is to render rich and deathless all ; 
 
 The seLf-begot, self-wedded, and self-born, 
 
 Wliich the wind carries in its womb, all have, 
 
 And few receive ; the spirit of the earth. 
 
 The water of immortal life still lives: —
 
 FF.STUS. 183 
 
 The universal solvent of disease 
 
 Still bounds through nature's veins ; and still, iii fino, 
 
 The secrets only to be told by fire 
 
 Starry or beamless, central and extreme, 
 
 Burn to be born. And other natures may 
 
 Use them, and do. In Demogorgon's hall 
 
 Still sits the universal mystery 
 
 Throned in itself and ministered unto 
 
 By its own members: — jNIan, alas! alone 
 
 The recreant spirit of the universe, 
 
 Loves surface knowledge ; calls the crimes of crowds 
 
 Virtue ; adores the useful vices ; licks 
 
 The gory dust from off the feet of war, 
 
 And swears it food for gods, though fit for fiends 
 
 Only; — reversing just the Devil's state 
 
 When first he entered on this orb of man's — 
 
 A fallen angel's form, a reptile's soul. 
 
 Lucifer. Oh ! this is libellous to man, and fiend, 
 And brute together. 
 
 Student. All are art and part 
 
 Of the same mystic treason. But enough ; — 
 The most material, immaterial 
 Departments of pure wisdom are despised. 
 For well Ave know that, properly prepared, 
 Souls self-adapted knowledge to receive 
 Are by the truth desired, illumined ; man's 
 Spirit, extolled, dilated, clarified, 
 By holy meditation and divine 
 Lore, fits him to convene with purer powers
 
 IS4 FESTUS. 
 
 M'hicli do unseen surround us aye, and gladden 
 
 lu human good and exaltation ; thus 
 
 The face of Heaven is not more clear to one 
 
 Than to another outwardly; but one 
 
 By strong intention of his soul perceives, 
 
 Attracts, unites himself to essences 
 
 And elemental spirits of wider range 
 
 And more beneficent nature, by whose aid 
 
 Occasion, circumstance, futurity. 
 
 Impress on him their image, and impart 
 
 Their secrets to his soul ; thus chance and lot 
 
 Are sacred things ; thus dreams are verities. - 
 
 The soul, which like the mountain lakelet lifts 
 
 Its gaze to Heaven alone, wUl learn, ere long, 
 
 To read the cloudy forms of future days 
 
 Which glass them in its vision, or perceive. 
 
 Clear through the crystal egg of time, the play 
 
 Of spirits and forecomingness of things. 
 
 The mysteries of numbers and of names 
 
 Are nothing known of now ; jet Avot we well 
 
 That natural perfection, multiplied 
 
 By spuitual, gives the names of God 
 
 As known to men and angels, and that Fate 
 
 Rules really and nominally all. 
 
 But Oh ! alas for all earth's loftier lore, 
 
 And spiritual sympathy of worlds ! — 
 
 There shall be no more magic nor cabala, 
 
 Nor ]losicrucian nor Alchymic lore. 
 
 Nor fairy fantasies; no more hobgobhns,
 
 FESTUS. 165 
 
 Nor ghosts, nor imps, nor demons. Conjurors, 
 Enchanters, witches, Avizards, shall all die 
 Hojieless and heirless ; their diraiing arts 
 Supernal or infernal — dead with thera. 
 And so 'twUl doubtless be with other things 
 In time ; therefore I wiU commit my brain 
 To none of them. 
 
 Festus. Perchance 'twere wiser not. 
 
 Man's heart hath not half uttered itself yet, 
 And much remains to do as well as say. 
 The heart is sometime ere it finds its focus ; 
 And wlien it does, with the whole light of nature 
 Strained through it to a hair's breadth, it but burns 
 Tlie things beneath it, which it lights to death. 
 "Well, farewell, Mr. Student. May you never 
 Regret those hours which make the mind, if they 
 Unmake the body ; for the sooner we 
 Are fit to be all mind, the better. Blest 
 Is he Avhose heart is the home of the great dead, 
 And their great thoughts. ^Vlio can mistake great 
 
 thoughts 1 
 They seize upon the mind — arrest and search, 
 And shake it — bow the tall soul as by Avind — 
 Rush over it like rivers over reeds, 
 AVhich quaver in the current — turn us cold, 
 And pale, and voiceless ; leaving in the brain 
 A rocking and a ringing, — glorious, 
 But momentary, madness might it last, 
 And close the soul with Heaven as with a seal ! 
 
 24 P*
 
 186 FESTns. 
 
 In lieu of all these things A\hose loss thou mouix'^st 
 
 If earnestly or not I know not, use 
 
 The great, and good, and true, which ever live. 
 
 And are all common to pure eyes and true. 
 
 Upon the summit of each mountain-thought 
 
 Worship thou God — with Heaven uplifted head 
 
 And arms horizon-stretched — for Deity is seen 
 
 From every elevation of the soul. 
 
 Study the Light ; attempt the high ; seek out 
 
 The soul's bright j^ath ; and since the soul is fire 
 
 Of heat intelligential, turn it aye 
 
 To the all-Fatherly source of light and life ; 
 
 Piety purifies the soul to see 
 
 Perpetual apparitions of all grace 
 
 And power, which to the sight of those who dweU 
 
 In ignorant sin are never known. Obey 
 
 Thy genius, for a mmister it is 
 
 Unto the tlu'one of Fate. Draw to thy soul. 
 
 And centralize, the rays which are around 
 
 Of the Di\"inity. Keep thy spirit pure 
 
 From worldly taint by the repeUant strength 
 
 Of A'irtue. Thmk on noble thoughts and deeds 
 
 Ever. Count o'er the rosary of truth ; 
 
 And practise precepts which are proven wise. 
 
 It matters not then what thou fearest. "Walk 
 
 Boldly and wisely in that light thou hast ; — 
 
 There is a hand above Avill help thee on. 
 
 1 am an omnist, and believe in aU 
 
 Religions, — fragments of one golden world
 
 FESTUS. 187 
 
 Yet to be relit in its place iii Heaven — 
 
 For all are relatively true and false, 
 
 As e\'ideuce and earnest of the heart 
 
 To those who practise, or have faith in them. 
 
 The absolutely true religion is 
 
 In Heaven only, yea in Deity. 
 
 But foremost of all studies, let me not 
 
 Forget to bid thee learn Christ's faith by heart. 
 
 Study its truths, and practise its behests: 
 
 They are the purest, sweetest, peacefullest 
 
 Of all immortal reasons or records: 
 
 They will be with thee when all else ha^c gone. 
 
 Mind, body, passion, all wear out — not faith. 
 
 Nor truth. Keep thy heart cool, or rule its heat 
 
 To fixed ends : waste it not upon itself 
 
 Not all the agony of all the damned. 
 
 Fused in one pang, vies with that earthquake throb 
 
 Which wakens it from waste to let us see 
 
 The world rolled by for aye ; and that we must 
 
 Wait an eternity for our next chance, 
 
 Whetlicr it be in Heaven or elsewhere. 
 
 Stuuknt. Sir, 
 
 I will remember this most grave advice, 
 And think of you with all respect. 
 
 Festus. 'Well, mind ! 
 
 The Avorst men often give the best advice. 
 Our deeds are sometimes better tlian our thoughts. 
 Commend me, friend, to e^ery one you meet ; 
 I am a universal favorite.
 
 1 S3 FESTUS. 
 
 Old men admire me deejjly for my beauty, 
 Young women for my genius and strict virtue, 
 And young men for my modesty and wisdom. 
 All turn to me, Avhenever I speak, full-faced, 
 As planets to the sun, or owls to a rushlight. 
 Farewell ! 
 
 Student. I hope to meet again. 
 
 Festds. And I. — 
 
 Yonder' s a woman singing. Let us hear her. 
 
 SiNGEK. In the gray church tower 
 
 Were the clear bells ringing, 
 When a maiden sat in her lonely bower 
 
 Sadly and lowly singing ; 
 And thus she sang, that maiden fliir, 
 Of the soft blue eyes and the long light hair 
 
 This hand hath oft been held by one 
 
 Who noAV is far aAvay ; 
 And here I sit and sigh alone 
 
 Through all the Aveary day 
 Oh, when will he I love return ! 
 Oh, Avhen shall I forget to mourn ! 
 
 Along the dark and dizzy path 
 
 Ambition madly runs, 
 'Tis there they say his course he hath. 
 
 And therefore love he shuns. 
 Oh, fame and honor bind his brow, 
 For so he would be with me now !
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 IS'J 
 
 In the gray church tower 
 
 Were the clear bells ringing, 
 When a bounding step in that lonely bower 
 
 Broke on the maiden singing; 
 She turned, she saw ; Oh, happy fair ! 
 For her love who lo\ed her so well was there ! 
 
 Lucifer. And we might trust these youths and 
 maidens fair. 
 The \^orld was made for nothhig but loNC, love ! 
 Now I think it was made but to be burnt. 
 
 Festus. And if I lo\e not now, while woman is 
 All bosom to the young, when shall I love"? 
 AVho e\'er paused on passion's fiery wheel ^ 
 Or trembUng by the side of lier he loved, 
 AVhose lightest touch brings all but madness, ever 
 Stopped coldly short to reckon up his pulse'? 
 The car comes — and we lie — and let it come ; 
 It crushes — kills — what then? It is joy to die. 
 Enough shall not fool me. I fling the foil 
 Away. Let me but look on aught which casts 
 The shadow of a pleasure, and here I bare 
 A breast which would embrace a bride of fire. 
 Pleasure — we part not! No. It were easier 
 To wring God's lightnings from the grasp of God. 
 I must be mad: but so is all the world. 
 Folly! It matters not. I am all things to myself. 
 If my heart tlnmdered, would the world rock ? Well — 
 Then let tlie mad world fight its shadow down :
 
 190 FESTT)S. 
 
 There soou will be nor sun, nor world, nor shadow 
 
 And thou, my blood, my bright red running soul — 
 
 Rejoice thou, like a river, in thy rapids ! 
 
 Rejoice — thou wilt never pale with age, nor thin ; 
 
 But in thy fuU, dark beauty, vein by vein, 
 
 Fold by fold, serpent-like, encircling me 
 
 Like a stag, sunstruck, top thy bounds and die. 
 
 Throb, bubble, sparkle, laugh, and leap along ! 
 
 Make merry while the holidays shall last. 
 
 Heart ! I could tear thee out, thou fool ! thou fool ! 
 
 And strip thee into shreds upon the wind: 
 
 What have I done that thou shouldst serve me thus ? 
 
 Lucifer. Let us away. We have had enough of 
 this. 
 
 Festus. The nifi'ht is srloomino: on us. It is the 
 hour 
 When lovers Avill speak lowly, for the sake 
 Of being nigh each other ; and when love 
 Shoots up the eye like morning on the east. 
 Making, amends for the long northern night 
 They passed ere either knew the other loved. 
 It is the hour of hearts, when all hearts feel 
 As they could love to mad death, finding aught 
 To give back fire ; for loA'e, like nature, is 
 War — sweet war ! Anns ! To arms ! so they be thine, 
 Woman ! Old people may say what they please — 
 The heart of age is like an emptied wine-cup ; 
 Its life lies in a heel-tap — how can they judge? 
 'Twere a waste of time to ask how they wasted theirs.
 
 FESTUS. 191 
 
 But Avhile the blood is bright, breath sweet, slcin 
 
 smooth, 
 And limbs all made to minister delight — 
 Ere yet we have shed our locks like trees their leaves, 
 And we stand staring bare into the air — 
 He is a fool who is not for love and beauty. 
 I speak unto the young, for I am of them, 
 And alway shall be. What are years to me "i 
 Traitors ! that vice-like fang the hand ye lick : 
 Ye Ml like small birds beaten by a storm 
 Against a dead wall, dead. I pity ye. 
 Oil ! that such mean things should raise hope or fear ; 
 Those Titans of the heart, that fight at Heaven 
 And sleep by fits on fire ; whose slightest stir's 
 An earthquake. I am bound and blest to youth ! 
 Oh ! give me to the young — the fair — the free — 
 The brave, who would breast a rushing, burning world 
 Which came between them and their hearts' delight. 
 None but the brave and beautiful can love. 
 Oh, for the young heart like a fountain playing ! 
 Flinging its bright, fresh feelings up to the skies 
 Tt loves and strives to reach — strives, loves in vain 
 It is of cartli, and never meant for Heaven. 
 Ix't us love both, and die. The sphhix-like heait, 
 Consistent in its inconsistency, 
 I>oathes life the moment that life's riddle is read : 
 The knot of our existence is untied. 
 And Avc lie loose and useless. Life is had ; 
 And then we sigh, and say, Can this bo all ?
 
 192 TEST us. 
 
 It is not what we thought — it is very well — 
 But -\ye want something more — there is but death. 
 And when we have said, and seen, and done, and had, 
 Enjoyed, and suffered, aU we have wished and feared — 
 From fame to ruin, and from love to loathing — 
 There can come but one more change — try it — death. 
 Oh ! it is great to feel we care for nothing — 
 That hope, nor love, nor fear, nor aught of earth 
 Can check the royal lavishment of life ; 
 But like a streamer strewn upon the wind, 
 We fling our souls to fate and to the future. 
 And to die young is youth's divinest gift, — 
 To pass from one world fresh into another. 
 Ere change hath lost the charm of soft regret. 
 And feel the immortal impulse from within 
 Which makes tlie coming, life — cry alway. On! 
 And follow it while strong — is Heaven's last mercy. 
 There is a firefly in the southern clime 
 Which shineth only ^vhen upon the wing ; 
 So is it with the mind : when once we rest. 
 We darken. On ! said God unto the soul 
 As to the earth, forever. On it goes, 
 A rejoicing native of the infinite — 
 As is a bird of air — an orb of Heaven.
 
 FESTUS. 193 
 
 Scene — The Centre 
 Festus and Lucifer. 
 
 Lucifer. Behold us in the fire-crypts of the world ! 
 Through seas and buried mountains, tomblike tracts, 
 Fit to receive the skeleton of Death 
 When he is dead — through earthquakes, and the bones 
 Of earth-swallowed cities, have we wormed 
 Down to the ever-burning forge of fire, 
 Whereon in aAvful and omnipotent ease 
 Nature, the delegate of God, brings forth 
 Her everlasting elements, and breathes 
 Around that fluent heat of life which clothes 
 Itself in lightnings, wandering through the air, 
 And pierces to the last and loftiest pore 
 Of Earth's snow-mantled mountains. In these vaults 
 .\re hid the archives of the universe ; 
 And here, the ashes of all ages gone, 
 Each finally itiurned. These pillars stand, 
 Earth's testimony to eternity. 
 
 Festus. AU that is solid now was fluid once ; 
 AVater, or air, or fire, or some one 
 Permanent, permeating element ; 
 .\s in this focal, world-evolving fire 
 Like what I see around — the vacuous power 
 AVhereon tlio world is based, e'en as wherein 
 It rolls, I must believe. 
 
 25 «
 
 194 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. The original 
 
 Of all things is oi.e thing. Creation is 
 One whole. The ditterences a mortal sees 
 Are diverse only to the finite mind. 
 
 Festus. This marbled-walled immensity o'eiToofed 
 With pendent mountains glittering, awes my soul. 
 God's hand hath scooped the hoUow of this world ; 
 Yea, none but His could ; and I stand in it, 
 Like a forgotten atom of the light 
 Some star hath lost upon its lightning flight. 
 
 Lucifer. Here mayst thou lay thy hand on nature's 
 heart, 
 And feel its thousand yeared throbbings cease. 
 High overhead, and deep beneath our feet. 
 The sea's broad thunder booms, scarce heard ; around, 
 The arches, like uplifted continents 
 Of starry matter, burning inwardly, 
 Stand '; and, hard by, earth's gleaming axle sleeps, 
 All moving, all unmoved. 
 
 Festus. Age here on age 
 
 Lie heaped like withered leaves. And must it end ' 
 
 Lucifer. God worketh slowly ; and a thousand 
 years 
 He takes to lift His hand off. Layer on layer 
 He made earth, fashioned it, and hardened it 
 Into the great, bright, useful thing it is ; 
 Its seas, life-crowded, and soul-hallowed lands 
 He girdled with the girdle of the sun, 
 That sets its bosom glowing like Love's oa\ti
 
 FESTUS. 195 
 
 Breathless embrace, close-clinging as for life ; — 
 
 Veined it with gold, and dusted it with gems, 
 
 liined it Avith fire, and round its heart-fire bowed 
 
 Rock-ribs unbreakable ; until at last 
 
 Earth took her shining station as a star 
 
 In Heaven's dark hall, high up the crowd of worlds. 
 
 All this and thus did God ; and yet it ends. 
 
 The ball He rolled and rounded melts away 
 
 E'en now to its constituent atomies. 
 
 Festus. It is enough. Though here were posited 
 All secrets of existence, natural 
 Or supernatural, dwell not here would I, 
 Though 'twere to drain profoundest fountains. No ! 
 I love it not, the science nor the scene. 
 I long to know again the fresh, green earth. 
 The breathing breeze, the sea and sacred stars. 
 These recollections crowd upon my soul, 
 As constellations on the evening skies. 
 And will not be forgotten. Let us leave ! 
 
 Lucifer. Aught that reminds the exile of his home 
 Is surely pleasant. I, friend, am content. 
 
 Festus. I cannot be content with less than Heaven, 
 O Heaven, I love thee ever! sole and whole. 
 Living and comprehensive of all life ; 
 Thee, agy world, thee, uniyersal Heaven, 
 And heavenly universe ! thee, sacred seat 
 Of intellective Time, the throned stars 
 And old oracular night ; — by night or day, 
 To mc thou canst not but be beautiful,
 
 196 FESTUS. 
 
 I 
 
 Boundless, all-central, universal sphere ! 
 
 AMiether the sun aU-light thee, or the moou, 
 
 Embryed in clouds, mid starry islands round, 
 
 With mighty beauty inundate the au- ; — 
 
 Or wlien one star, like a great drop of light, 
 
 From her full flowing urn hangs tremulous, — 
 
 Yea, like a tear from her the eye of night. 
 
 Let fall o'er natures volume as she reads ; — 
 
 Or, when in radiant thousands, each star reigns 
 
 In imparticipable royalty, 
 
 Leaderless, uncontrasted with the light 
 
 ^\Tierein their light is lost, the sons of fire, 
 
 A rch element of the Heavens ; — when storm and cloud 
 
 Debar the mortal vision of the eye 
 
 From wandering o'er thy threshold, — more and more 
 
 I loAe thee, thinking on the splendid calm 'S 
 
 Which bounds the deadly fever of these days — 
 
 The higher, holier, spiritual Heaven. 
 
 And when this world, witliin whose heartstrings now 
 
 I feel myself encoiled, shall be resolved, 
 
 Thee I shall be permitted still, perchance, 
 
 To love and live in endlessly. 
 
 Lucifer. AU here 
 
 Thou seest hath holden fellowship with gods ; 
 With eldest Time and primal matter, space, 
 And stars, and air, and all-inherent fire. 
 The watery deep and chaos, night, the all, 
 And the interior immortality. 
 And first-begotten Love. These rocks retain 
 
 I
 
 FESTUS. 1*J7 
 
 Their caverued footsteps printed iu pure fire. 
 
 Those Avere the times, the ancient youth of earth, 
 
 The elemental years, when Earth and Heaven 
 
 Made one in holy bridals, — royal gods 
 
 Their brii;lit, immortal issue : when men's minds 
 
 Were vast as continents, and not as now 
 
 Minute and indistinguishable plots, 
 
 With here and there acres of unfilled brains ; when 
 
 lived 
 Tlie great original, broad-eyed, sunken race. 
 Whose wisdom, like these sea-sustaining rocks, 
 I lath formed the base of the world's fluctuous lore ; — 
 AVlien, too, by mountainous travail, human might 
 Sought to possess the everlasting Heavens, 
 And incommunicable, by the right 
 Of self-ac(p,iirement and high kindred with 
 Celestial virtues; — when the mortal powers — 
 ]''orecounsel, wisdom, and experience. 
 Teachers of all arts, founders of all good. 
 With Godhood strove, and gloriously failed — 
 In failure lialf successful ; as these scenes. 
 Fire-fountains, and volcano-utterances, 
 Earth-heavings, island-vomitings, evince. 
 
 Festus. 'J'lie world liath made such comet-like ad- 
 vance 
 Lately on science, we may almost ho[)e. 
 Before we die of sliccr decay, to learn 
 Somethirg about our iniancy. But me 
 'J'liis trouhlcs nf)t. AN'crc all eartli's mountain chains
 
 198 FESTUS. 
 
 To utter fire at once, what a grand show 
 
 Of pyrotechny for our neighbor moon ! 
 
 Let us ascend ; but not through the charred throat 
 
 Of an extinct volcano. 
 
 Lucifer. This way — down. 
 
 So shalt thou thread the world at once. 
 
 Festus. Haste, haste! 
 
 Life is too brittle, time too brief to waste. 
 
 Scene — A ruined Temple. 
 Festus and Lucifek. 
 
 Festus. Here will I worship solely. 
 
 Lucifer. 'Tis a fane 
 
 Once sacred to the sun. 
 
 Festus. It matters not 
 
 What false god here hath falsely been adored, 
 Or what life-hating rites these walls have viewed : 
 The truly holy soul, which hath received 
 The unattainable, can hallow hell. 
 Each orb is to itself the heart of Heaven ; 
 And each belief whereui man roots his hope 
 And lives and dies, the favorite of God. 
 Earth's tale is told in Heaven, Heaven's told in earth 
 Since either 'gan one only faith hath been, 
 The faith in God of all. A thousand types 
 A thousand tribes have chosen. But the hoiir
 
 FESTUS. 199 I 
 
 Already, hawk-like, preens its wing for flight, 
 
 Wlien all shall be remassed in one great creed, j 
 
 All being shall be rebegotten, all 
 
 Worship rededicate, all signs afresh j 
 
 Thrice hallowed ; the degenerate lapse of time 
 
 Having twice fused the s}inbol witli the truth, . 
 
 Ail dark things brightened, all contrariants blent ; — ' 
 
 And truth and love, perradiating life, 
 Be the new poles of nature ; earth at last 
 Joining the great procession of the skies. 
 True faith in flxithful hearts hath ever been ; 
 
 But craft with sanguine darkness all liatli fouled. ' 
 
 Now to the only true and Triune God ; 
 
 These walls shall echo praise, if never yet. 
 Bring me a morsel of the fire witlrout ; 
 For I will make a sacred offering 
 To God, as though the High Priest of the Avorld. 
 He lacks not consecration at best hands 
 
 Whom Thou hast hallowed. Lord, by choice ; and ; 
 
 these, I 
 
 The elements I offer. Thou hast made 
 Holy, by making them. 
 
 Lucifer. Lo ! here is fire. i 
 
 I will await thee in the air. 
 
 Festus. Withdraw ! — 
 
 O Thou ! the sole and spiritual sun, i 
 
 Fountain and fane of Heaven's immortal fire, j 
 
 Whom all the lives of all the elements, | 
 
 Lamb, fish, and dove, — tlie all-producing earth,
 
 200 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 The purifying wave, perfective fire ; 
 "Wliom all the faiths and creeds, and rights of old 
 As now and ever, to the end of Time, 
 In precognition of eternal truth 
 
 Foreshadowed and foretyped, hear Thou, Heaven- 
 throned ! 
 Wliile one, by Thy di-\-ine salvation graced 
 A servant of Thy boundless laAV of love. 
 This temple redevotes to purer end 
 Than they viio built or aaIio abandoned knew. 
 The Avorld is one great prophecy of Thee, 
 And Thou Thine own fulfilment. Heaven and earth 
 Exhaust themselves in sjiubols of theu* God ; 
 Y/hose breath from servile matter formed at first 
 The fading frostwork of created things. 
 All nature typeth Thee and Thine; — the moon. 
 Virgin of Heaven, who nightly bringeth forth 
 The light which is Thine own ui HcaA'eir to earth ; 
 Thou herald star wliich bathest earth in dew, 
 ^\.nd leadst the sun into the sea to his 
 Eternal baptism, ere yet with light 
 He floods the world and cleaves the breathing skies 
 With all pervading and inspiring fire ; — 
 And thou, sweet earth, which sittest weeping there 
 In the sun's shadow, like the penitent one 
 Before His cross, the darkness of whose death 
 Eclipsed all day ; thou, too, and all the stars 
 The flock of light, born of the seed of light. 
 Shall s Mn(>tune range in bliss the spirit-pasturing skies,
 
 FESTUS. 201 
 
 Catch the vivific secret of the sun, 
 
 And quaff serene the waters of the sun. 
 
 Wing of the world which bears it on through Heaven, 
 
 Light ! let us love tliee, we to thee return 
 
 Through our sun's bosom, at whose orient ray 
 
 The gods all vanished like the ghosts of night ; 
 
 Thee, Light unlimited, whose ancient sheen 
 
 Was spiritual man, angelic mind 
 
 The emanaut creation, matter, form. 
 
 And o^'al orbit of the universe. 
 
 All stars arc steps in the great scale of Heaven 
 
 Up to God's throne, from Time's last orb which eyes 
 
 The inner and . the utter infinite 
 
 Round to that highest, deepest, midmost site, 
 
 AAHiere Heaven's star-music ends, forever quelled 
 
 In the supremest silence of the sun. 
 
 For through all spheral forms, the central circling soul 
 
 In bright, expansive progress, fit to match 
 
 The march of angels in the van of Time, 
 
 By-passing all night's constellated chart. 
 
 Where God hath set His burning seal, the sun, — 
 
 Itcsecks thee, lone and universal light, 
 
 Clear glory and the all-involving Heavens. 
 
 Glory of air, and Lord of light, O sun ! 
 
 Great wonder-worker, seer of all the skies ; 
 
 The gates of whose house arc the east and the west; 
 
 Whom God begat on light which first He loved 
 
 Encircling in Himself, but wlio in sliades 
 
 Of primal night wast nursed ; whom all the hours 
 
 26
 
 202 FESTUS. 
 
 Of Time attend, whose travel round the world 
 
 Makes one eternal triumph ; unto whom 
 
 AU earth is sacred ; — Yes ! O sun, to thee 
 
 The death dispeller, life elicitor. 
 
 Shepherd of worlds, and harmonist of Heaven — 
 
 The music of whose golden lyre is light — 
 
 One vast and lining garden of the Lord, 
 
 Watered by light streams, where the vme di\'ine 
 
 And bright flock numbered in spiritual 
 
 Perfectness, flourish alike in multitude of days 
 
 Immortal as thy years, O nightslayer ! 
 
 The elements thy car ckaw ; and all signs 
 
 And natural miracles fi"om thee proceed, 
 
 The ever-coming light ; bright mystery, 
 
 Sense binding, mind attracting, passion taming. 
 
 Light bom, light generatmg, light all life! — 
 
 Thine eloquent fire lights aye their starry heads 
 
 Who in celestial conclave rule with thee. 
 
 And pour upon the crown of darkness light. 
 
 The seasons are thy gospels, and thy twelve 
 
 In spheral order and a starry chain 
 
 Through gods, kings, signs, toils, tribes, gems, mira« 
 
 cles, 
 Heroes and peers unite the universe 
 In love to thee, thy being's boundless law. 
 Creator's sjinbol, and creation's seal. 
 To thee the azure serpent, golden scaled. 
 And noiseless creeping time, that sloughs its years 
 And lays its world-eggs in thy brightness, is
 
 FESTUh. 203 
 
 Hallowed, and them inspirest thou with life. 
 
 World-navelled oracle, whose very light 
 
 Blindeth the strongest eye, whose beam of life, 
 
 Death darting, thou reclaimest through the aye 
 
 Revolving and evolving universe. 
 
 Who to thyself earth's twin chief boons of life 
 
 Dost sanctify for sustenance and joy — 
 
 Symbols of soul and body — that all might 
 
 Know both in Him thou spnbollcst, in God. 
 
 All signs, all seasons, records are of Thee 
 
 And Thy divinest dignities and deeds. 
 
 Thou Lamb of God who didst initiate 
 
 Eternity, prophetic with that sign 
 
 Of universal sinlessness and love ; 
 
 And typed next by the sacrificial ox. 
 
 Earth-embleming. Twin Being, God with man, 
 
 Whose double nature indicates in Heaven 
 
 The natural and the spiritual. Who 
 
 Leading the soul to spirit dost progress 
 
 Backwards to Deity through penitence ; — 
 
 And lion-like — the lion of the law, 
 
 The lamb of love — dost lord it over all life 
 
 And rage against all sin, the sin of Being, 
 
 Dreadful to all save virgin ; seed and branch 
 
 Of the immortal maid beloved of God, 
 
 Bride of the spirit, and her radiant cliild. 
 
 And hallowed in all worship; — who dost hold 
 
 The balance of the just one o'er the workl 
 
 Well weighmg work and faith ; with scorpion sting
 
 204 FESTOS. 
 
 Treating the carnal conscience self-condemned ; — 
 
 Who bend'st the Heavens before Thee like a bow, 
 
 And earth, Thine orbed arrow, shoot'st through air ; - 
 
 Who through Thine infinite mercy madest Thyself 
 
 The scapegoat of tliis dark world-wilderness, 
 
 Bearing the sins of soul in exevy sphere ; — 
 
 And from celestial fountains pourest down 
 
 Floods of regenerating grace, wlierem 
 
 Like some great life that dwelleth in the deep 
 
 Of love, Thou art and livest, man-god, Christ ! — •■ 
 
 Thou art the hero of the u.niverse, 
 
 The Theohuman Bemg erst all tmie 
 
 And all incarnate emanations ; Thou 
 
 Who at Thy birth didst slay sin's serpent-brood. 
 
 And through the foul-stalled stable of this world 
 
 The sourceless circular river of Thy love 
 
 Didst turn ; redeem the soul of man, Thy friend, 
 
 Prom death and hell, destroj' the dragon fiend 
 
 And his seA'en deadly heads, devouring life, 
 
 Regain thy golden apples. Paradise ! 
 
 And to complete the mystic cycle, rise 
 
 Well pro\eu and approved of God to Heaven. 
 
 Time tells his tale by sliadows, and by clouds 
 
 The wind records its progress ; by dark doubts 
 
 The spirit, swiftenuig on its heavenward course. 
 
 The shadow beareth witness to the liglit. 
 
 Thbie, Lord I are all the elements and Avorlds ; — 
 
 The sun is Thy bright servant, and the moon 
 
 Thy scr\ ant"s servant ; — the round, rushing earth,
 
 FESTUS. 205 
 
 The lileful air, the thousand wmged -winds, 
 
 The Heaven-kinned fire, the continental clouds, 
 
 The sea broad breasted, and the tranced lake, 
 
 The rich arterial rivers, and the hills 
 
 That wave theu" woody tresses in the breeze, 
 
 In grateful undulation, all are Thine ; — 
 
 Thine are the snow-robed mountains circling earth 
 
 As the white spirits God the Sa\'ior's throne ; — 
 
 Thine the bright secrets, central in all orbs. 
 
 And rudimental mysteries of life. 
 
 The sun-starred night, the ever-maiden morn. 
 
 The all-prevailing day, consummate eve, 
 
 Confess them Thine through the perpetual world ; — 
 
 All art hath wrought from earth, or science lured 
 
 From truth, like flame out of the fire cloud, are 
 
 Thine ; — Thine the glory, all belongs to Thee, 
 
 Finite, indefinite, and infinite, 
 
 As mountains to a Morld, as worlds to Heaven. 
 
 The liigh-domed city, and tlie toilful town 
 
 And early hamlet, — all that live or die. 
 
 That flourish or decay, that change, or stand 
 
 Before Thy face, unchanged, exist for Thee, 
 
 Or are not at Thy bidding ; Thine, all souls ; 
 
 Atom and w^orld, the universe is Thine ! — 
 
 Thou canst as easily turn Thy kindest eye 
 
 From comprehending the bright Infinite, 
 
 To this crushed temple, where the wild flower decks 
 
 Its earthquake-rifted walls, and the birds build 
 
 In leafage of its columned capitals, —
 
 206 T-ESTUS. 
 
 And to tliis crumbling heart I offer here, 
 
 As trust Thine own eternity. Behold ! 
 
 Accept, I pray Thee, Lord ! this sacrifice ; 
 
 These elemental offerings, simple, pure, 
 
 Which in the name of man I make to Thee, 
 
 Formless, save prostrate soul and kneeling heart — 
 
 In token of Thy perfect monarchy 
 
 And all-comprising mercy. These are they! . 
 
 A flowery turf, a branch, a burning coal, 
 
 A cup of water, and an empty bowl ; 
 
 This air-filled bowl is typic of the world 
 
 Thou fillest Avith Thy spirit, and the soul. 
 
 Receptive of Thy life-conferring truth ! — 
 
 This the symbolic element wherefrom 
 
 We are to be reborn, wherein made pure ; 
 
 Those whom Thou choosest are to be redeemed 
 
 Out of the mighty multitudes of men ; 
 
 Yet all as of one nature be redeemed. 
 
 This coal, torn flaming from the earth, proclaims 
 
 Thy sin-consuming mercy, as of earth ; 
 
 And may our souls ever aspire to Thee, 
 
 As these pale flames unto the stars : this turf 
 
 Is as the earthy nature and abode 
 
 We would subject to Thee ; and lieth here. 
 
 The representative of every star 
 
 And world-extended matter. Lord ! this branch. 
 
 Which waveth high o'er all, Oh, let it sign 
 
 Thine own Eternal Son's humanity, 
 
 "N^Tiich was on c-arth. yet ever lives in Ilcavcn,
 
 Accept! pi-av" Ihci'. l-ani'. 
 
 Tlicsf' K.lcMicrital oli'

 
 FESTUS. 207 
 
 Redemptive of all being. Golden Branch ! 
 
 "Whicli, in the eld-time, seer's and sibyl's words, 
 
 Full of dark central thought and mystic truth, 
 
 Foretold should overspread the spirit world, 
 
 And with its fruit heal every wound of Death, — 
 
 Tree of eternal life, Thee all adore. 
 
 Accept this prayer, O Savior ! that if men 
 
 Can nothing do but sin, Thou mayst forgive 
 
 The creature crime, and bring back all to Thee. 
 
 Thou art the one wlio made the universe ; 
 
 Yet didst Thou walk on earth ; Thou brakest bread 
 
 And drankest wine with men, betokening so 
 
 Thine own complete, Divine Humanity. 
 
 May all obey Thy words and do Thy will ! 
 
 Thy cross be multiplied, till every heart 
 
 Become a Calvary, whereon is wrought 
 
 Tlie mystery of our nature suffering death. 
 
 And the diAdner secret of the soul, 
 
 .Vnd piu-fcct sacrifice; and where above 
 
 This deadly level of creation's orb 
 
 The immortal spirit, mountain-like, aspires 
 
 Into thine infinite, O eternity ! 
 
 What though the written word be born no more. 
 
 The spirit's revelation still proceeds. 
 
 Evolving all perfection ; therefore most 
 
 We bless Thee God our Savior ; whoso are 
 
 Saved are in Thee ; the One, the Twin, Triune. 
 
 The antiformal spirit wants no word 
 
 Wherebv to mark its union with the soul ;
 
 i08 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 For kindled, like a sacrifice of old, 
 
 By Heaven's spontaneous fire, the soul achieves 
 
 In death its final cause, accomplishing 
 
 In xerj aspiration being's end. 
 
 Thou doest all things rightly ; all are best. 
 
 Sorrow, and joy, and power, and suffering. 
 
 For sorrow comes of nature, of God bliss ; 
 
 The mysteries of one are full of woe. 
 
 Cavernous darkness, shrieks and fire ; of Heaven, 
 
 Light, peace, and jubilation, such as He, 
 
 The all-felicitating sun, instils. 
 
 Providing, therefore, all things that must be 
 
 And ought to be, as Thou dost and hast done, 
 
 From the beginning even to the end, 
 
 This heart let cease from prayer, these lips fi-onj 
 
 praise. 
 Save that Avhich Life shall offer pauselessly. 
 Now go I forth again, refreshed, consoled, 
 Upon my time-enduring pilgrimage. 
 Ho ,' Lucifer ! 
 
 Lucifer. I wait thee. 
 
 Festus. AAliither next? 
 
 Lucifer. As thou wilt, apposite or opposite. 
 'Tis light translateth night ; 'tis inspu-ation 
 Expounds experience ; 'tis the west explains 
 The east: 'tis time unfolds eternity.
 
 FESTDS. , ?09 
 
 Scene — A Metropolis — Public Place. 
 Festus and Lucifer. 
 
 Festus. My thoughts go cloudlike round the world, 
 nor rest. 
 I am on fire to realize the fate 
 Which darkly in the future's depths I have seen ; 
 Or else am with the mightiest folly mocked 
 Which ever imped a soul to madness. Speak ! 
 When shall this world acknowledge me^ 
 
 Lucifer. Not now; 
 
 Never, till self-compelled. The time will come. 
 Have patience. 'Tis the hlessing of the angels. 
 
 Festus. Patience! say slow self-murder. 
 
 Lucifer. Wait for what 
 
 Is on the wing already, or else have 
 The aimless satisfactionless result 
 As of a lunge into the empty air. 
 
 Festus. Nay, come then, pretty patience. Sand hy 
 sand 
 The world is worn away, and continents. 
 And oceans take each other's places here. 
 The mountain summit and tlie sea's last depth 
 Is but a ([ucstiou after all of time. 
 Most greatest things are gradual. Star on star 
 The Heavens fulfil their issue ; line by line 
 Old ocean saps earth's vaulted base, and whelms 
 
 27 V*
 
 210 . FESTUS. 
 
 In transubstantiation infinite, 
 Neath his abysmal bowl the mountain tops ; 
 Beam after beam truth warms the spu'it here, 
 Dipped in substantial lightning of the sun, 
 And now with an eternal saving saved. 
 Life to enjoy I feel one must conform 
 Both 10 the laws and by-laws of the world. 
 What can be done herel 
 
 Lucifer. Oh ! a thousand things, 
 
 As well as elsewhere. 
 
 Festus. True ! it is a place 
 
 Wliere passion, occupation, or reflection, 
 May find fit food or field ; but suits not me. 
 My burden is the spirit, and my life 
 Is henceforth solely spiritual. 
 
 Lucifer. Well ; — 
 
 At the occurrent season, too, it shall 
 Be satisfied. It might be even now, 
 From things about us. But look, here comes a man 
 Thou knowest well. 
 
 Festus. I do. Stop, friend! of late 
 
 I have not seen thee. "S^^iither goest thou now ? 
 
 Friend. I am upon my business, and in haste. 
 
 Festus. Business! I thought thou wast a sunple 
 schemer. 
 
 Friend. Mayhap I am. 
 
 Festus. There is a visionary 
 
 Business, as well as A-isionary faith. 
 
 Friend. I have been, all life, living in a mine,
 
 FESTUS. 211 
 
 Lancing the world for gold. I have not yet 
 Fingered the right vein. Oh ! I often wish 
 The time would come again, which science prates of, 
 When earth's bright veins ran ruddy, virgin gold. 
 
 Festus. AVlien the world's gold melts, all the 
 poorer metals, 
 All things less pure, less precious, all beside, 
 WUl vanish ; nought be left but gems and gold. 
 If all were rich, gold Avould be penniless. 
 
 Lucifer. I have a secret I would fain impart 
 To one who would make right use of it. Now, mark ! 
 Chemists say there arc fifty elements. 
 And more ; — Avouldst know a ready recipe 
 For riches ! — 
 
 Friend. That indeed I would, good sir. 
 
 Lucifer. Get then these fifty earths, or elements, 
 Or what not. Mix them up together. Put 
 All to the question. Tease them well Avith fire, 
 Vapor, and trituration — every way; 
 Add the right quantity of lunar rays ; 
 Boil them, and let them cool, and watch what comes. 
 
 Friend. Thrice greatest Hermes! but it must be; 
 yes ! 
 I'll go and get them; good day, — instantly. [Goes 
 
 Lucifer. He'll be astonished, probably. 
 
 Festus. He will 
 
 In any issue of tlic experiment. 
 Perhaps tlic nostrum may explode and blow liim 
 Body and soul to atoms and to —
 
 212 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. Nonsense ! 
 
 Festus. There needs no satire on men's rage for 
 gold ; 
 Their nature is the best one, and excuse. 
 And now, what next ? 
 
 Lucifer. ^^hy, let us take our ease 
 
 Beside this feathery fountain. It is cool 
 And pleasant, and the people passing by 
 Fit subjects for two moralists like us. 
 Here we can speculate on policy. 
 On social manners, fashions, and the news. 
 Now the • political aspect of the world, 
 At present, is most cheerful. To begin, 
 Like charity, at home. Out of all wrongs 
 The most atrocious, the most righteous ends 
 Are happiest wrought. 
 
 Festus. It ofttimes chances so. 
 
 Lucifer. Take of the blood of martyrs, tears of 
 slaves. 
 The groans of prisoned patriots, and the sweat 
 Wrung from the bones of Famine, like parts. Add 
 Vapor of orphan's sigh, and wail of all 
 Whom war hath spoiled, or law first fangcd, then 
 
 gorged ; — 
 The stifled breath of man's free, natural thought, — 
 I'he tyrant's lies ; the curses of the proud ; 
 The usurpations of the lawful heir, 
 'I'he treasonous rebellions of the wise, 
 The poor man's patient prayers ; and let all these
 
 FESTUS. 21o 
 
 Simnior, some centuries, o'er the slow, red fire 
 Of human wratli ; and there results, at last, 
 A glorious constitution, and a grand 
 Totalitv of nothinjjs ; — as we see. — 
 
 [Soldiers pass ; music, ^«r. 
 Man is a military animal. 
 Glories in gunpowder, and loves parade ; 
 Prefers them to all things. 
 
 Festus. Of recipes. 
 
 Enough ! Life's but a sword's lengtli, at the best. 
 
 Lucifer. War, Avar, still war ! from age to age, 
 old Time 
 Hath washed his hands in the heart's blood of Earth. 
 
 Festus. Yet, fields of death ! ye are earth's purest 
 pride ; 
 For what is life to freedom 1 War must be 
 While men are what they are ; while tliey liavc bad 
 Passions to be roused up ; while ruled by men ; 
 While all the powers and treasures of a land 
 Are at the beck of the ambitious crowd ; - 
 While injuries can be inflicted, or 
 Insults be ofl"ered ; yea, while rights are worth 
 Maintaining, freedom keeping, or life having, 
 So long the sword shall shine ; so long shall war 
 Continue, and the need for war remain. 
 
 Lucifer. And yet all war shall cease. 
 
 Festus. It must and shall. 
 
 Some news seems stirring ; what, I know not j^et. 
 
 N^or I. I heard that one of Saturn's 
 moons
 
 214 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Had flo^^n upon his face and blinded him. 
 
 'Twas also said, in circles I frequent 
 
 At times, his outer ring was falling off. 
 
 If I should find, I'll keep it. It might fit 
 
 A little finger such as mine, I think. 
 
 Poor Saturn ! much I doubt he is breaking up. 
 
 But for these news, I know not what thev be. 
 
 Some one perhaps has lit on a new Aein 
 
 Of stars in Heaven: or cracked one with his teeth, 
 
 To look inside it, or made out at last 
 
 The circulation of the light ; or what 
 
 Think'st thou^ 
 
 Festus. I know not. Ask! 
 
 Lucifer. Sir, what's the news? 
 
 Passer-by. The news are good news, being none 
 at all. 
 
 Lucifer. Your goodness, sir, I deem of like ex 
 tent. 
 We heard the great Bear was confined of twins. 
 
 Stranger. 'Tis not unlikely, stars do propagate. 
 
 Festus. And so much for ci^'ility and news. 
 This city is one of the Avorld's social poles. 
 Round which events revolve : here, dial-like. 
 Time makes no movement but is registered. 
 
 Lucifer. Yon gaudy equipage ! hast ever seen 
 A drowning dragon-fly floating down a brook, 
 Topping the suimy ripples as they rise, 
 Till in some ambushed eddy it is sucked down 
 By something underneath ? Thus with the rich ; — 
 Their gilding makes their death conspicuous.
 
 FESTUS. 215 
 
 Festcs. Some men are nobly rich, some nobly poor, 
 Some the reverse. Rank makes no difference. 
 
 Lucifer. The poor may die in swarms unheeded. 
 They 
 But swell the mass of columned ciphers. Oh, 
 Ye poor, ye wretched, ye bowed down by woe ! 
 Thank God for something, though it were but this, 
 He fire, ye ashes ! 
 
 Festus. Thou art surely mad. 
 
 Lucifer. I meant to moralize. I cannot see 
 A crowd, and not tliink on the fate of man — 
 Clinging to error as a dormant bat 
 To a dead bough. Well, 'tis his own affair. 
 
 Festus. All homilies on the sorts and lot of men 
 Are vain and wearisome. I want to know 
 No more of human nature. As it is, 
 I honor it and hate it. Let that do. 
 
 Lucifer. Here is a statue to some mighty man 
 Who beat his name on the drum of the world's 
 
 ear 
 Till it was stupefied, and, I suppose, 
 Not knowing what it was about, reared up 
 This marble mockery of mortality. 
 Which shall outlive the memory of the man 
 And all like him who water earth with blood, 
 And sow with bones, or any good he did. 
 As eagles outlive gnats. But never mind ! 
 Why carp at insect sins, or crum-like crimes ? 
 The world, the great imposture, still succeeds ;
 
 216 
 
 F EST us. 
 
 StiU in Titanic immortality, 
 
 W. thes 'neath the burning mountain of its sins. 
 ESTus. There's an old adage about sm and some 
 one. 
 The Avorld is not cxactlj' what I thought it, 
 But pretty nearly so ; and after all, 
 'Tis not so bad as good men make it out. 
 Nor such a hopeless wretch. 
 
 Lucifer. For all the world 
 
 Not I would slander it. Dear world, thou art 
 Of all things under Heaven by me most loved. 
 The most consistent, the least fallible. 
 Believe me ever thine affectionate 
 Lucifer. P. S. Sweet, remember me ! 
 
 Festus. Wilt go to the cathedral '? 
 
 Lucifer. No, indeed ! 
 
 I have just confessed. 
 
 Festus. Well, to the concert, then? 
 
 Lucifer. Some fifteen hundred thousand million 
 years 
 Have passed since last I heard a chorus. 
 
 Festus. Good ! 
 
 Lucifer. In sooth, I cannot calculate the time. 
 There are no eras in Eternity, 
 No ages. Time is as the body, and 
 Eternity the spirit of existence. 
 
 Fj'.stus. That would I leam and prove. 
 
 Lucifer. The finite soul 
 
 Can never learn the Infinite, nor be 
 Infonned hv it, unaided.
 
 FESTUS. 217 " 
 
 I 
 
 Festds. He it so. 
 
 i 
 ^^ hat shall we do ? 
 
 LuciFEK. I put myself in your hands. 
 
 Festus. Wilt go on 'Change"? j 
 
 Lucifer. I rarely speculate. 
 
 Steady i-eceipts are mostly to my taste. 
 Besides, I spurn the system. Take my arm. 
 
 Festus. But something must be done to pass the , 
 
 time. I 
 
 Lucifer. True ; let us pass, then, all time. < 
 
 Festus. I shall be 
 
 Most happy ; only show me how. 
 
 Lucifer. ^Vliy, thus. ' 
 
 I have tlie power to make thy spirit free 
 
 Of its poor frame of flesh, yet not by death, — i 
 
 And reunite them afterwards ! Wilt thou 
 Intrust thyself to me 1 
 
 Festus. In God I trust, ■, 
 
 And in Ilis word of safety. Have thy will. j 
 
 AVherc shall it be effected ? i 
 
 Lucifer. Here and noAV. i 
 
 llecline thou calmly on yon marble slab. 
 As though asleep. The world will miss thee not; 
 Its complement is perfect. I will mind 
 That no impertinent meddler troubles there 
 Thy tranced frame. The brain shall cease its life- 
 Engrossing business, and the living blood, 
 The wine of life which mak(>th drunk the soul, 
 Sleep in the sacred vessels of the heart. 
 
 28 8
 
 218 FESTUS. 
 
 Three steps the sun hath <^nkcii from his throne, 
 Ah-eady, downwards, and ere he hath gone, 
 Who calmeth tempests with his mighty hght, 
 We will retui-n ; and till thru the briglit ram 
 Of yonder fountain fails not. 
 
 Festus. Thus be it ! 
 
 Come! we are wasting moments here that now 
 Belong, of right, to immortality, 
 And to another Avorld. 
 
 Lucifer. 
 
 Prepare ! — 
 
 Festus. 
 
 And tl 
 
 Lucifer. 
 
 I vanish altogether. 
 
 Festus. 
 
 Excellent ! 
 
 Lucifer. 
 
 Body and spirit part ! — 
 
 
 Scene — Air. 
 
 Lucifer and Festus. 
 
 Festus. ^Vhere, where am I ? 
 
 Lucifer. We are in space and time, just as we 
 Avere 
 Some half a second since; where wouldst thou bel 
 
 Festus. I would be in Eternity and Heaven ; 
 Tlie spu-it, and the blessed spirit, of 
 Existence. 
 
 Lucifer. And thou shalt be, and shalt pass 
 All secondaiy nature; all the rules
 
 FESTUS. 219 
 
 And the results of time : upon thy spirit 
 
 These things shall act no more ; their hands shall be 
 
 Withered upon thee, as the ray of life 
 
 Returns to that it came from : they shall cease 
 
 In thee, like lightning in the deadening sea. 
 
 But not now ; we have worlds to go through, first. 
 
 When spirit hath deposited its earth, 
 
 And brightly, freely flows, self-purified 
 
 In its own action, acted on by God, 
 
 It holds the starry transcript of the skies 
 
 Booklike within its bosom, evermore. 
 
 But thine even now, exhausted, not exhaled. 
 
 Bears the design of earthly discontent. 
 
 Not sacred satisfaction. Unto him 
 
 Whose soul is saved, all thmgs are clear as stars, 
 
 And, to the chosen, safety ; — to none else. 
 
 Nor cold insurgent heart, nor menial mind 
 
 Can compass this: it is the way of God: 
 
 The starry path of Heaven which none can tread 
 
 But spirits high as Heaven, which He hath raised ; 
 
 Who were of Him before all worlds, and are 
 
 Beloved and saved forever while they live. 
 
 Tliou of the world art yet, with motives, means, 
 
 And ends as others. 
 
 Festus. I will no more of it. 
 
 Lucifer. Oh, dream it not ! Thou knowest not 
 the depth 
 Of nature's dark abyss, thyself, nor God. 
 liight over-strong, and darkness over-long.
 
 220 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Blind equally the eye. Thou mayst yet rise 
 And fall as often as the sea. 
 
 Festcs. How comes it, 
 
 Being a spirit, that I see not all 
 As spirit should 1 
 
 Lucifer. Thou lackest life and death. 
 
 The life of Heaven, and the death of earth. 
 Then wouldst thou see, in harmony with God, 
 Creation's strife. 
 
 Festus. Death alters not the spuit. 
 
 Lucifer. Death must be undergone ere under- 
 stood. 
 One world is as another. Rest we here ! — 
 
 Scene — Another and a better fVorld. 
 
 Festus and Lucifer. 
 
 Festus. What a sweet world ! AMiich is this, 
 Lucifer 1 
 
 Lucifer. This is the star of evening and of beauty. 
 
 Festus. Otherwise Venus. I will stay here. 
 
 Lucifer. Nay : 
 
 It is but a Aisit. 
 
 Festus. Let us look about us. 
 
 It is Heaven — it must be ; aught so beautiful 
 Must, I am sure, have feeling. Cannot worlds live? 
 Least things have life. "Why not the greatest, tool
 
 FSSTU S. 
 
 221 
 
 All atom is u world, a Avoiid an atom 
 Seen relatively : death an act of life. 
 
 LuciFEii. Tliis is a world where every ioveiiest 
 
 thmg 
 Lasts longest; wliere decay lifts never head 
 Above the grossest forms, and matter here 
 Is all transparent substance ; the flower fades not, 
 But every e\e gives forth a fragrant light, 
 Till by degrees the spirit of each flower 
 Essentially consuming the fair frame 
 Refines itself to air ; rejoicing thus 
 The archetypal stores where nature dwells 
 In preexistcnt immortality. 
 The beautiful die never, here: Death lies 
 A dreaming — he has nought to do — the babe 
 Plays with his darts. Nought dies but what should 
 
 die. 
 Here are no earthquakes, storms, nor plagues ; no hell 
 At heart ; no floating flood on high. The soil 
 Is ever fresh and fragrant as a rose — 
 The skies, like one wide rainbow, stand on gold — 
 The clouds are light as rose leaves — and the dew, 
 'Tis of the tears which stars weep, sweet v.itli joy — 
 The air is softer than a loved one's sigh — 
 The ground is glowing with all priceless ore. 
 And glistenmg with gems like a bride's bosom — 
 The trees have silver steins and emerald leaves — 
 The fountains bubble nectar — and the hills 
 .\re half alive with light. Yet it is not Heaven. 
 
 s*
 
 222 
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 Festus. Oh, how this world should pity man's ! 
 I love 
 To walk earth's woods Avhen the storm bends his 
 
 bow, 
 And volleys all his an-ows off at once ; 
 And wlien the dead, brown branch comes crashing 
 
 close 
 To my feet, to tread it down, because I feel 
 Decay my foe : and not to triumph's worse 
 Than not to win. It is w^'ong to think on earth ; 
 But terror hath a beauty even as mildness ; 
 And I have felt more pleasure far on earth, 
 When, like a lion or a day of battle. 
 The storm rose, roared, shook out his shaggy mane, 
 And leapt abroad on the world, and lay down red. 
 Licking himself to sleep as it got light ; 
 And in the cataract-like tread of a crowd. 
 And its irresistible rush, flooding the green 
 As though it came to doom, than e'er I can 
 Feel in this fairy orb of shade and shine. 
 I love earth ! 
 
 Lucifer. Thou art mad to dote on earth 
 
 "When with this sphere of beauty. 
 
 Festus. It is the blush 
 
 Of being ; surely, too, a maiden world, 
 Unmarred by thee. Touch it not, Lucifer! 
 
 Lucifer. It is too bright to tarnish. 
 
 Festus. Didst thou fail 
 
 Lucifer. I cannot faQ. With me success is nature
 
 FESTUS. 223 
 
 I am the cause, means, consequence of ill. 
 
 Thou canst not yet enjoy a sensuous Avoiid — 
 
 Kefined though ne'er so little o'er thine own. 
 
 And yet wouldst enter Heaven. Valhalla's halls, 
 
 And skulls o'erbrimmed AA'ith mead, — cities of gold, 
 
 Cities of silver, temples roofed Avith light, 
 
 God-home and glory-land ; Elysian plains, 
 
 Where peace and pleasure, endless, cloudless joy 
 
 And ever-ripening bliss enraptui'e aU ; — 
 
 The Boodliist's blessed state Nirvana set 
 
 Half between tliat whicli is and wliich is not ; — 
 
 The high, celestial mountains of the air. 
 
 Bright with tlie spiritual hues of Heaven, 
 
 So pure that snow would stain and dew defile. 
 
 Where Music and her sister Beauty dwell, 
 
 And where the waters flow of immortality ; — 
 
 The Aztec's burning Heaven, where liAdng clouds, 
 
 Indwelt by warrior souls, sweep ceaseless round 
 
 The sun, and rise or fall as they desire 
 
 An earth-life or a heaven-life had in turn. 
 
 Whose sword-play makes the lightning, and whose 
 
 voice 
 In battle thunder, as on high they war ; — 
 The pearly palaces and the odorous groves, 
 The infinite brightness and the heavenly forms, 
 The starry transmigrations of all souls, 
 And ever-bounding joy or restful bliss, 
 Which they wlio dwell beside the amber main 
 Believe aAvait them in the world past death ; —
 
 224 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Edeu, where life was toilless, and gave man 
 
 All things to live with, nothing to live for ; — 
 
 The Moslem's bowers of love, and streams of wine, 
 
 And palaces of purest adamant, 
 
 ^^'here dark-eyed houris, a\ ith their }ouug white aimS; 
 
 I'he ever vu'gin, woo and welcome ye, — 
 
 The Clialdee's orbs of gold, where dwells the primal 
 
 light. 
 Were all too pure for thee ; yet shalt thou be 
 Surely in Heaven, ere Death unlock the heart. 
 I said that I would show thee marvels here ; 
 For here dwell manv ani(els — manv souls 
 "NVho ha^e run pure through earth, or been made pure 
 By their salvation since. It is a mart 
 "Where all the holy spiiits of the world 
 Perform sweet interchange, and purchase truth 
 With truth, and love with love. Hither came He, 
 The Son — the Savior of the universe; 
 JSTot in the stable-state He went to earth — 
 A servant unto sla^es ; but as a God, 
 (Jarrjing His kingdom with Him, and His Heaven. 
 
 Festus. Lo, here are spuits ! and all seem to lo\'e 
 Each other. 
 
 Lucifer. He hath only half a heart 
 Who loves not all. 
 
 Festus. Speak for me to some angel. 
 
 Sec, here is one, a veiy soul of beauty: 
 It is the muse. I know her by the lyre 
 Hung on her arm, and eye like fount of fire.
 
 FESTUS. 225 
 
 MciSE. Mortal, approach ! I am the holy Muse, 
 Whom all the great and bright of spirit choose — 
 "Tis I who breathe my soul into the lips 
 Of those great lights whom death nor time eclipse: 
 'Tis I Avho wing the loving heart with song. 
 And set its sighs to music on the tongue: 
 It is I who watch, and, with sweet dreams, reAvard 
 The starry slumbers of the youthful bard ; 
 For I loAc every thing that is sweet and bright, 
 And but this morn, with the first wink of light, 
 A sunbeam left the sun, and, as it sped, 
 I followed, watched, and listened what it said : 
 Wherefore, with all this briglitness am I given 
 From sun to earth ] Am I not fit for Heaven ? 
 From God I came once ; and, though worlds have 
 
 passed, 
 Ages, and dooms, yet I am light to the last. 
 AVhatever God hath once bent to His will 
 Is sacred: so the world's to be loved still. 
 What of this swift, this bright, but downward being, 
 Too burning to be borne — too brief for seeing 1 
 What is mine aim — mine end? I would not die 
 In dust, or water, or an idiot's eye ; 
 I would not cease in blood, nor end in fire, 
 Nor light the loveless to their low desire: 
 No ; let me perish on the poet's page. 
 Whore he kisses from his beauty's brow all age ; 
 Spelling it fair for aye, ami wrinkle scorning, 
 As when first that brow brake on him like a morning. 
 
 29
 
 226 FESTUS. 
 
 But yet I cannot quit this line I tread, 
 
 Though it lead and leave me to the eyeless dead. 
 
 It is niine errand: 'tis for this I come. 
 
 And live, and die, and go do^-n to my doom. 
 
 This is my fate — right and bright to speed on. 
 
 God is His own God: fate and fall are one. 
 
 Straight from the sun I go, like life from God, 
 
 "\Miich hits, now on a Heaven, now on a clod. 
 
 But, spite of all, the world's air warps our way. 
 
 And crops the roses off the cheek of day ; 
 
 As some false friend, who holds our fall in trust, 
 
 Oils our decline, and hands us to the dust. 
 
 AMiere are the sunbeams gone of the young, green 
 
 earth 1 
 Search dust and night : our death makes clear our 
 
 birth. 
 Tt said — and saw earth ; and one moment more 
 Fell bright beside a \-ine-shadowed cottage door : 
 In it came — glanced upon a glowing page, 
 Where, youth forestalling and foreshortening age — 
 Weak with the work of thought, a bojish bard. 
 Sate suing night and stars for his reward. 
 The sunbeam swerved and grew, a breathing dim, 
 For the first time, as it lit and looked on him: 
 His forehead faded — pale his lip and dry — 
 Hollow his cheek — and fever fed his eye. 
 Clouds lay about his brain, as on a hill, 
 Quick with the thunder thought, and lightning 
 
 will.
 
 FESTUS. 227 
 
 His rlenclied hand shook from its more than raid- 
 night clasp, 
 Till his pen fluttered like a winged asp ; 
 Save that no deadly poison blacked its lips : 
 'Twas his to life-enlighten, not eclipse ; 
 Nor would he shade one atom of another, 
 To have a sun his slave, a god his brother. 
 The young moon laid her down as one who dies, 
 Knowing that death can be no sacrifice. 
 For that the sun, her god, through nature's night 
 Shall make her bosom to grow great with light. 
 Still he sate, though his lamp sunk ; and he strained 
 His eyes to work the nightness Avhicli remained. 
 Vain pain ! he could not make the light he wanted, 
 And soon thouglit's wizard ring gets disenchanted. 
 When earth was dayed — Avas morrowed — the first 
 
 ray 
 Perched on his pen, and diamonded its way ; — 
 The sunray that I watched ; which, proud to mark 
 The line it loved as deathless, there died dark — 
 Died in the only path it Avould have trod. 
 Were there as many ways as worlds to God, — 
 Thei'e, in the eye of God again to burn, 
 As all man's glory unto God's must turn. 
 And so may sunbeams ever guide his pen. 
 And God his heart, who lights the morn of men ; 
 For this life is but Beinij's first faint ray ; 
 And sun on sun, and Heaven on Heaven, make up 
 God's day.
 
 228 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 And were there suns in day as stars in night, 
 They would show but like one ray from out His full- 
 sphered light : 
 As but one momentary gleam would Hy ; 
 Or, as years, the arrows of eternity. 
 
 Festus. Poets are all who love — who feel great 
 truths — 
 And tell them ; and the truth of truths is love. 
 There was a time — Oh, I remember well ! 
 "\Mien, like a sea-shell with its seaborn stram, 
 My soul aye rang with music of the lyre ; 
 And my heart shed its lore as leaves their dew — 
 A honey dew, and throve on what it shed. 
 All things I loved ; but song I loved in chief 
 Imagination is the air of mind ; 
 Judgment its earth, and memory its main ; 
 Passion its fire. I Avas at home in Heaven : 
 Swiftlike I lived above : once touching earth. 
 The meanest thing might master me: long wings 
 But baffled. Still and still I harped on song. 
 Oh ! to create within the mind is bliss ; 
 And, shaping forth the lofty thought, or lovely, 
 We seek not, need not Heaven ; and when 
 
 thought, 
 Cloudy and shapeless, first forms on the mind. 
 Slow darkening into some gigantic make. 
 How the heart shakes with pride and fear, as Heaven 
 Quakes under its own thunder; or, as might 
 Of old, the mortal mother of a god, 
 
 the
 
 F EST us. 229 
 
 When first slie saw him lessening up the skies. 
 
 And I began tlic toil divine of verse, 
 
 Which, like a burning bush, doth guest a god. 
 
 But this was only wing-flapping — not flight ; 
 
 The pawing of the courser ere he win ; 
 
 Till, by degrees, from wrestling with my soul, 
 
 I gathered strength to keep the fleet thoughts fast, 
 
 And made them bless me. Yes, there was a time 
 
 AVhen tomes of ancient song held eye and heart — 
 
 Were the sole lore I recked of: tlie great bards 
 
 Of Greece, of Rome, and mine own master land, 
 
 And they who in the holy book are deathless, — 
 
 Men who have ■vulgarized sublimity. 
 
 And bought up truth for the nations ; parted it. 
 
 As soldiers lotted once the garb of God, — 
 
 Men who have forged gods — uttered — made them 
 
 pass : 
 In whose words, to be read with many a heaving 
 Of the heart, is a power, like wind in rain — 
 Sons of the sons of God, who, in olden days. 
 Did leave their passionless Heaven for earth and 
 
 woman, 
 Brought an immortal to a mortal breast. 
 And, like a rainbow clasping the sweet earth, 
 And melting in the covenant of love, 
 Left here a bright precipitate of soul, 
 Which lives forever through the lines of men. 
 Flashing, by fits, like fire from an enemy's front — 
 Wliose thoughts, like bars of sunshine m shut looins,
 
 230 FESTUS. 
 
 Mid glooiii, ail glory, van the ^^'o^icl to light — 
 "Wlio make their very foUics like their souls ; 
 And liki the young moon with a ragged edge, 
 Still, in theii" imperfection, beautiful — 
 Whose weaknesses are lovely as their strengths, 
 Like the white nebulous matter between stars. 
 Which, if not light, at least is likest light, — 
 Men whom we build our love round like an arch 
 Of triumph, as they pass us on their way 
 To glory and to immortality; 
 
 Men whose great thoughts possess us like a passion 
 Through every limb and the whole heart ; whose 
 
 words 
 Haunt us as eagles haunt the mountain air ; 
 Thoughts which command all coming times and 
 
 minds. 
 As from a tower a warden, — fix themselves 
 Deep in the heart as meteor stones in earth. 
 Dropped from some higher sphere ; the words of gods, 
 And fragments of the undeemed tongues of Heaven ; 
 ]\[en \\'ho walk up to fame as to a friend 
 Or their own house, which from the wrongful heir 
 They have wrested, from the world's hard hand and 
 
 gripe, — 
 ^len who, like Death, all bone, but all unarmed. 
 Have ta'en the giant world by the throat, and thrown 
 
 him ; 
 And made him swear to mamtain their name and 
 
 fame
 
 FESTUS. 231 
 
 At peril of his life — who shed great thoughts 
 As easily as an oak looseneth its golden leaves 
 In a kindly largess to the soil it grew on — 
 Whose rich, dark ivy thoughts, sunned o'er with 
 
 love. 
 Flourish around the deathless stems of their names — 
 ^Vhose names are ever on the world's broad tongue. 
 Like sound upon the falling of a force — 
 ^Vhose words, if winged, are with angels' wings ~ 
 Who play upon the heart as on a harp. 
 And make our eyes bright as we speak of them — 
 Whose hearts have a look southwards, and are open 
 To the whole noon of nature, — these I have Avaked 
 And wept o'er, night by night ; oft pondering thus : 
 Homer is gone: and where is Jove'? and where 
 The rival cities seven] His song outlives 
 Time, tower, and god — all that then Avas, save 
 
 Pleaven. 
 Muse. Yea, but the poor perfections of thine eartli 
 Shall be as little as nothing to thee here. 
 
 Festus. God must be happy, who aye makes ; and 
 
 since 
 Mind's first of things, who makes from mind is blest 
 O'er men. Thus saith the bard to his work : — lam. 
 Thy god, and bid thee live as my God me : 
 I live or die with tliec, soul of my soul ! 
 Thou camcst and Avcnt'st, sunlike, from morn to eve ; 
 And smiledst fire upon my heaving heart. 
 Like the sun in the sea, till it arose
 
 232 FESTUS. 
 
 And dashed about its house all might and mirth, 
 
 Like ocean's tongue in StrafFa's stormy cave. 
 
 Thou art a weakly reed to lean upon ; 
 
 But, like that reed the false one filched from Heaven, 
 
 Full of immortal fire — immortal as 
 
 The breath of God's lips — every breath a soul. 
 
 Muse. Mortal ! the muse is with thee : leave her 
 not. . 
 
 Festus. Once my ambition to another end 
 Stirred, stretched itself, but slept again. I rose 
 And dashed on earth the harp, mine other heart, 
 Which, ringing, brake ; its discord ruinous 
 Harmony still ; and coldly I rejoiced 
 No other joy I had, wormlike, to feed 
 Upon my ripe resolve. It might not be : 
 The more I strove against, the more I loved it. 
 
 Lucifek. Come, let us walk along. So say, fare 
 well. 
 
 Festus. I wUl not. 
 
 Muse. No ; my greeting is forever. 
 
 Lucifer. Well, well, come on ! 
 
 Festus. Oh ! show me that sweet soul 
 
 Thou brought' st to me the first night that we met. 
 She must be here, where all are good and fair : 
 And thou didst promise me. 
 
 Lucifer. Is that not she 
 
 Walking alone, up-looking to thine earth'? 
 For, lo ! it shineth through the midday air. 
 
 Festus. It is ! it is !
 
 FESTUS. 233 
 
 Lucifer. Well, I will come again. [Goes. 
 
 Fkstus. Knowest thou me, mine own immortal 
 level 
 How shall I call thee 1 Say, what mayst thou be ! 
 
 Angela. I am a spirit, Festus ; and I love 
 Thy spu-it, and shall love, when once like mine, 
 More than we ever did or can even now. 
 Pure spuits are of Heaven, aU heavenly. 
 Yet marvel not to meet me in this guise, 
 All radiant like a diamond as it is. 
 We wander in Avhat way we will through all 
 Or any of these worlds, and Avhereso'er 
 We are, there Heaven is, here, and there too. God. 
 
 Festus. Thou dost remember me ^ 
 
 Angela. Ay, every thought 
 
 And look of love which thou liast lent to mo, 
 Comes daily through my memory as stars 
 Wear through the dark. 
 
 Festus. And thou art happy, love? 
 
 Angela. Yes: I am happy when I can do good. 
 
 Festus. To be good is to do good. "Wlio dwell 
 here ? 
 Are they all deathless — happy 1 
 
 Angela. All are not: 
 
 Some err, though rarely — slightly. Spuits sin 
 Only in thought ; and they are of a race 
 Higher than thine — have fewer wants and less 
 Temptations — many more joys — greater powers. 
 They need no civil sway: each rules himself— 
 
 30 T*
 
 234 F E s T u s . 
 
 Obeys himself: all live too, as they choose, 
 
 And they clioose nought but good. They who have 
 
 come 
 From earth, or other orb, use the same poAvers, 
 Passions, and purposes, they had ere death ; 
 Although enlarged and freed, to nobler ends, 
 With better means. Here the hard warrior whets 
 The sword of truth, and steels his soul against sin. 
 The fierce and lawless wills which trooped it over 
 His breast — the speared desires that overran 
 The fairest fields of virtue, sleep and lie 
 Like a slain host 'neath snow ; he dyes his hands 
 Deep in the blood of evil passions. Mind ! 
 There is no passion evil in itself; 
 In Heaven we shall enjoy all to right ends. 
 There sit the perfect women, perfect men ; — 
 Minds which control themselves, hearts which indulge 
 Designs of wondrous goodness, but so far 
 Only as soul extolled to bliss and power 
 Most high sees fit for each, divinely. Here, 
 The statesman makes new laws for growing worlds, 
 Through their forefated ages. Here, the sage 
 Masters all mysteries, more and more, from day 
 To day, watching the thoughts of men and angels 
 Through moral microscopes ; or hails afar, 
 By some vast intellectual instrument. 
 The mighty spiiits, good or bad, which range 
 The space of mind; some spreading death and woe 
 On far-off worlds — some great with good and life.
 
 FESTUS. 235 
 
 And here the poet, like that wall of fire 
 
 In ancient song, surrounds the universe ; 
 
 Lighting himself, where'er he soars or dives, 
 
 With his own bright brain — this is the poet's heaven. 
 
 Here he may realize each form or scene 
 
 He e'er on earth imagined ; or bid di-eams 
 
 Stand fast, and fairy palaces appear. 
 
 Here he has Hea^•en to hear him ; to the which 
 
 He sings, with manlike voice and song, the love 
 
 Which lent him his whole strength, as is the wont 
 
 Of all great spirits and good throughout the world. 
 
 Oh ! happiest of happy is the bard ! 
 
 Here, too, some pluck the branch of peace wherewith 
 
 To greet a suffering saint, and show his flood 
 
 Of woe hath sunken : this I love to do. 
 
 My love, we shall be happy here. 
 
 Festus. Shall I 
 
 Ever come here 1 
 
 Angela. Thou mayst. I wlU pray for thee, 
 
 And watch thee. 
 
 Festus. Thou wilt have, then, need to weep. 
 This heart must run its orbit. Pardon tliou 
 Its many sad deflections. It wiU return 
 To thee and to the primal goal of Heaven. 
 
 Angela. Practise thy spuit to great thoughts and 
 things. 
 That thou mayst start, when here, from vantage ground. 
 We can foretell the future of ourselves, 
 And fateful only to himself is each.
 
 2;^6 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Fest€S. I do not fear to die ; for, though I change 
 The mode of being, I shall ever be. 
 World after world Tvill faU at my right hand ; 
 The glorious future be the past despised : 
 AU now that seemeth bright will soon seem dim, 
 And darker grow, like earth, as we approach it ; 
 "\Miile I shall stand upon yon Heaven which now 
 Hangs over me. If aught can make me seek 
 Other to be than that lost soul I fear me, 
 It is that thou lovest me. Heaven were not Heaven 
 Without thee. 
 
 Lucifer. I am here now. Art thou ready 1 
 
 Let us go. 
 
 Angela. Well — farewell. It makes me grieve 
 To bid a loved one back to yon false world — 
 To give up even a mortal unto death. 
 Thou wilt forget me soon, or seek to do. 
 
 Festus. "WTien I forget that the stars shine in air — 
 "\Mien I forget that beauty is in stars — 
 "When I forget that love with beauty is — 
 Will I forget thee : tUl then, all things else. 
 Thy love to me was perfect from the first. 
 Even as the rainbow in its native skies: 
 It did not grow: let meaner things mature. 
 
 Angela. The rainbow dies in Heaven, and not on 
 earth ; 
 But love can never die: from world to world, 
 Up the high wheel of Heaven, it lives for aye. 
 Remember that I wait thee, hoping, here.
 
 FESTUS. 237 
 
 Life is the brief disimion of that nature 
 
 Which hath been one and same in Keaveii ere now, 
 
 And shall be yet again, renewed by death. 
 
 Come to me when thou diest ! 
 
 Festus. I will, I will. 
 
 Angela. Then, in each other's arms, we will wafl 
 through space. 
 Spirit in spirit, one ! or we will dwell 
 Among these immortal groves ; or watch new worlds. 
 As, like the great thoughts of a Maker-mind, 
 They arc rounded out of chaos : and we M'ill 
 Be oft on earth with those Ave love, and help them ; 
 For God hath made it lawful for good souls 
 To make souls good ; and saints to help the saintly. 
 Tliat thou right soon mayst fold unto thy heart 
 The blissful consciousness of separate 
 Oneness with God, in Him in whom alone 
 The saved are deathless, shall become, for thee. 
 My earliest, earnest, and most constant prayer. 
 Oh ! what is dear to creatui-es of the earth ? 
 Life, love, light, liberty 1 But dearer far 
 Than aU — and Oh! a universe more divine — 
 The gift, whidi God endows His chosen with. 
 Of His own uncreated glory, — His 
 Before all worlds, all ages, and reserved 
 Till after all for those He loves and saves. 
 As when the eye first \iews some Andean chain 
 Of shadoAvy, rolling mountains, based on air, 
 Height upon height, aspiring to the last,
 
 23S FZSTUS. 
 
 Evei. to Heaven, in sunny snow sheen, up 
 
 Stretching like angels' piricns — nor can tell 
 
 "NVliich be -.I'-e loftiest nor the loveliest ; 
 
 As when an anny, wakening with the sun, 
 
 Starts to its feet all hope, spear after spear 
 
 And line on line reundulating light, 
 
 AMiile night's dull watchfires reek themselves away — 
 
 So feels the spirit when it first receives 
 
 The bright and mountainous mysteries of God, 
 
 Containing Heaven, moving themselves towards us, 
 
 In their free greatness, as by ships at sea 
 
 Come icebergs, pure and pointed as a star 
 
 Afar off glittering, of invisible 
 
 Depth, and dissohnng in the light above. 
 
 Festus. My prayer shall be that thy prayer be 
 fulfilled. 
 I must to earth again. Farewell, sweet soul ! 
 
 Angela. Farewell ! I love thee, and will oft be 
 with thee. 
 
 Lucifer. I like earth more than this : I rather 
 love 
 A splendid failing than a petty good ; 
 Even as the thunderbolt, whose course is downwards. 
 Is nobler far than any fire which soars. 
 
 Festus. I am detemiined to be good again — 
 Again 1 "When was I othei-wise than ill ? 
 Does not sin pour from my soul like dew fi-om earth. 
 And, vaporing up befoi'e the face of God, 
 Congregate there, in clouds, between Heaven and me ?
 
 FESTUS. 239 
 
 What wonder that I lack delight of life 1 
 
 For it is thus — when amid the world's delights, 
 
 HoAv waiTTi soe'er we feel a moment among them — 
 
 We find ourselves, when the hot blast hath blown, 
 
 Prostrate, and weak, and wretched, even as I am. 
 
 I wish that I could leap from off this star, 
 
 And dash my soul to atoms like a glass. 
 
 Lucifer. I have done nothing for thee yet. Thou 
 shalt 
 See Heaven, and Hell, and all the sights of space, 
 Whene'er thou choosest. 
 
 Festus. Not then now. 
 
 Lucifer. Up! rise! 
 
 Festus. No ; I'll be good ; and will see none of 
 them. 
 Earth draws us like a loadstone. We are coming. 
 
 Scene — A large Party and Entertainment 
 Festus, Ladies, and others. 
 
 Festus. My Helen ! let us rest a while, 
 For most I love thy calmer smile ; 
 We'll not be missed from this gay throng, 
 They dance so eagerly and long ; 
 And were one half to go away, 
 I'll bet the rest would scarce perceive it. 
 
 Helen. With thee I cither go or stay. 
 Prepared, tlie same, to like or leave it.
 
 240 FESTUS. 
 
 These tAvo, perhaps, Avill take our places. 
 They seem to stand with longing faces. 
 
 Festus. Then sit we, love, and sip with me. 
 And I wQl teach thyself to thee. 
 Thy nature is so pure and fine, 
 'Tis most like wine ; 
 
 Thy blood, wliich blushes through each vein, 
 Rosy champagne ; 
 
 And the fau- skin which o'er it grows, 
 Bright as its snows. 
 
 Thy wit, which thou dost work so weU, 
 Is like cool moselle ; 
 Lilce madeira, bright and wann. 
 Is thv smile's charm; 
 Claret's glorj' hath thine eye, 
 Or mine must lie ; 
 But nought can like thy lips possess 
 Deliciousness ; 
 
 And now that thou'rt divinely merry, 
 I'll kiss and call thee sparkling sherry. 
 
 Helen. I sometimes dream that thou wilt leave 
 me 
 Without thy love, even me, lonely; 
 And oft I think, though oft it grieve me. 
 That I am not thy one love only : 
 But I shall always love thee till 
 TTiis heart, like earth in death, stand still. 
 
 Festus. I love thee, and will leave thee never, 
 Until my soul leave life forever.
 
 FESTUS. 2-Jtl 
 
 If earth can from her children run, 
 
 And leave the seasons — leave the sun, — 
 
 If yonder stars can leave the sky, 
 
 Bright truants from theii' home in HeaA^en — 
 
 Immortals who deserve to die, 
 
 Were death not too good to be given, — 
 
 If Heaven can leave and live from God, ^ 
 
 And man tread off his cradle clod — 
 
 If God can leave the world He sowed, 
 
 Right in the heart of space to fade — 
 
 Soul, earth, star. Heaven, man, world, and God 
 
 May part — not I from thee, sweet maid. 
 
 Ah ! see again my favorite dance, 
 
 See the wavelike line advance ; 
 
 And now m cu-cles break. 
 
 Like raindrops on a lake : 
 
 Now it opens, now it closes. 
 
 Like a wreath dropping into roses. 
 
 Helen. It is a lovely scene, 
 Fair as aught on earth ; 
 And we feel, Avhen it hath been. 
 At heart a dearth ; 
 
 As from the breaking up of some bright dream — 
 The failing of a fountam's spray-topped stream. 
 
 Will. Ladies — your lea^c — we'll choose a Queen 
 To rule this fair and festive scene. 
 
 Charles. And it were best to choose by lot. 
 So none can hold herself forgot. 
 
 [Thetf draw lots: it falls to Helen. 
 31 u
 
 34-2 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. I knew, my love, how this would be; 
 I knew that Fate must favor thee. 
 
 All. Lady fau- ! we throne thee Queen ! 
 Bo thy sway as thou hast been — 
 Light, and lovely, and serene. 
 
 Festus. Here — wear this wreath ! No ruder crown 
 Should deck that dazzling brow ; 
 Or ask yon halo from the moon — 
 'Twould weU beseem thee now. 
 I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
 I crown thee Queen of me ; 
 And Oh ! but I am a happy land, 
 And a loyal land to thee. 
 I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
 Thou art Queen in thine own right! 
 Feel ! my heart is as full as a to^vn of joy : 
 Look ! I've crowded mine eyes with light. -i 
 
 I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; ^ 
 
 Thou art Queen by right divine ! 
 And thy love shall set neither night nor day 
 O'er this subject heart of mine. 
 I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
 Thou art Queen by the right of the strong! 
 And thou didst but wm Avhcre thou mightst have slain. 
 Or have bounden in thraldom long. 
 I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
 Thou art my Queen for aye ; 
 As the moon doth Queen the night, my love; 
 As the night doth cro\\n the day ; 
 
 T!
 
 FESTUS. 243 
 
 I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
 Queen of the bra\e and free. 
 For I'm brave to all beauty but thine, my love : 
 And free to all beauty by thee. 
 
 Helen. Here, in this court of pleasure, blest to 
 reign. 
 If not the loveliest, where all are fair, 
 We still, one hour, our royalty retain, 
 To out-quocn all in kindness and in care. 
 Love, beauty, honor, bravery, and wit — 
 Was ever Queen scrvc^d by such noble slaves'? 
 The peerage of the heart — for Heaven's court fit: 
 We'll droain no more that earth hath ills or graves. 
 With mirth, and melody, and love we reign : 
 Begin we, then, our sweet and pleasurous sway ; 
 And here, though light, so strong is beauty's chain, 
 Tliat none sluiU know how blindly they obey. 
 We have but to lay on one light command — 
 That all shall do the most what best they love ; 
 And Pleasure hath her punishments at hand, 
 For all who will not pleasure's rule approve. 
 But no ! there's none of us can disobey, 
 Since, by our one command, we free ye thus: 
 And, as our powers must on your pleasures stay — ■ 
 Support — and you will reign along with us. 
 
 Festus. Ha ! Lucifer ! How now 1 
 
 Lucifer. I come in sooth to keep my vow. 
 
 Festus. Thy vow ? 
 
 Lucifer. To revel in earth's pleasures, 
 
 And tire flown iriirtli in licr own measures.
 
 244 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Go thy wajs: I shrink and tremble 
 To thmk how deep thou canst tUssemble; j 
 
 For Avho would dream that in you breast 
 The heart of Hell was burning ^ 
 Or deem that strange and listless guest 
 Some priceless spirit earning "? 
 I hear, from every footstep, rise 
 A trampled spirit's smothered cries. 
 
 Charles. Fest, engage fair Marian's hand. 
 
 Festus. Pass me ; she is free no less 
 Than I, who by my Queen will stand — 
 ]\Iay it please her loveliness ! 
 
 Helen. Festus, we know the love, and see, 
 Which was with Marian and thee. 
 
 Festus. I will not dance to-night again, 
 Though bid by all the Queens that reign. 
 
 Helen. ^Vhat, Festus ! treason and disloyalty 
 Already to our gentle royalty 1 
 
 Festus. No — I was wrong — but to forgive 
 Be thy sublime prerogative ! 
 
 Helen. Most amply, then, I pardon thee ; 
 In proof whereof, come, dance with me. [^4 dance. 
 
 Laurence. How sweetly Marian svveejjs along ! 
 Her step is music, and her voice is song. 
 Silver-sandalled foot ! how blest 
 To bear the breathmg Heaven above, 
 "Which on thee, Atlas-like, doth rest, 
 And round thee move. 
 Ah ! that sweet little foot : I swear 
 T could kneel down and kiss it there.
 
 FESTUS. 245 
 
 I should not mind if she were Pope ; 
 I would change my faith. 
 
 Charles. Works, too, we hope. 
 
 Laurence. Ah I smile on me again with that 
 sweet smile, 
 "NVliich could from Heaven my soul to thee beguile; 
 As I mine eye would turn from an'ful skies 
 To hail the child of sun and storm arise ; 
 Or, from eve's holy azure, to the star 
 Which beams and becks the spirit from afar ; 
 For fair as yon star-Avreath which high doth shine, 
 And worthy but to deck a brow like thine ; 
 Pure as the light from orbs which ne'er 
 Hath blessed us yet in this far sphere ; 
 As eyes of seraphs lift alone 
 Through ages on the holy throne ; 
 So bright, so fiir, so free from guile. 
 And freshening to my heart thy smile; 
 Ay, passing all things here, and all above. 
 To me, thy look of beauty, truth, and love. 
 
 Harry. Thy friend hath led his lady out. 
 
 Festus. He looks most Avickedly devout. 
 
 Fanny. AVhcn introduced, he said he knew her, 
 And had been long devoted to her. 
 
 Emma. Indeed — but he is' too gallant, 
 And serves me far more than I want. 
 He vows that he could worship me — 
 Wliy — look! he's now upon his knee.' 
 
 V*
 
 I 
 
 246 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. I quaff to thee this cup of wine. 
 And would, though men had nought but brme - 
 E'en the brine of their own tears. 
 To cool those Mng lips of theirs ; 
 And were it all one molten pearl, 
 I would drain it to thee, girl ; 
 Ay, though each drop were worth of gold 
 Too many pieces to be sold ; i 
 
 And though, for eacli I drank to thee, 
 Fate add an age of misery ; 
 For thou canst conjure up my spirit 
 To aught immortals may inherit; 
 To good or evil, woe or weal — 
 To all that fiends or angels feel ; 
 And wert thou to perdition given, 
 I'd join thee in the scorn of Heaven ! 
 
 Emma. Oh fie ! to only think of such a fate ! ^ 
 
 Lucifer. Better than not to thmk on't till too ■ 
 
 late. 
 They'd not believe me, Festus, if I told them. 
 That HeU, and all its hosts, this hour behold thera. 
 
 Festus. Scarcely — that Devil here again! 
 But though my heart burst in the strain, 
 I wiU be happy might and main ! 
 So wreathe my brow with flowers, 
 And pour me pui-ple wine, 
 And make the merry hours 
 Dance, dance with glee like thine.
 
 FESTUS. 247 
 
 I 
 Wliile thus enraptured, I and thou, 
 Love crowns the heart, as flowers the brow. 
 The rosy garland twine 
 Around the noble bowl, 
 like laughing loves that shine 
 
 Upon the generous soul ; j 
 
 Be mine, dear maid, the loves, and thou i 
 
 Shfilt ever bosom them as now. 
 Then plunge the blushing wreatli 
 Deep in the ruddy wine. 
 As the love of thee till death 
 Fs deep in heart of mine. 
 
 While both are blooming on my brow, i 
 
 I cannot be more blest than now. 
 
 Lucifer. Thou talk'st of hearts, in style to me, ; 
 
 quite fjcsh: 
 The human heart's about a pound of flesh. i 
 
 Festus. Forgive him, love, and aught he says. 
 
 Helen. What is that trickling down thy face? 
 
 Festus. Oh, love, that is only Avhie 
 
 From the wreath whicli thou didst twine ; 
 
 ■I 
 And, casting in the bowl, I bound, ^ 
 
 For coolness' sake, my temples round. 
 
 Helen. I thought 'twas a thom which was tearing i 
 
 thy brow ; i 
 
 And if it were only a rose-thorn was tearing, , 
 
 Why, whether of gold or of roses, as now, i 
 
 A crown, if it hurts us, is hardly worth weaiing. ,{
 
 248 FESTUS. 
 
 J 
 
 Lucy. From what fair maid laadst thou that -t 
 
 flower 1 
 It came not from my wreath nor me. 
 
 Charles. Love lives in thee as in a bower, 
 And sure this must have dropped from thee — 
 From thy lip, or from thy cheek : 
 See, its sister blushes speak. 
 Nay, never harm the harmless rose, 
 Though given by a stranger maid : 
 'Tis sad enough to feel that flower 
 Feels it must fade. 
 And trouble not the transient love, 
 Though by another's side I sigh ; 
 It is enough to feel the flame 
 Flicker and die. 
 
 And thou to me art flame and flower 
 Of rosier body, brighter breath ; 
 But softer, warmer than the truth — 
 As sleep than death. 
 
 Festus. The dead of nisjht : earth seems but seem- 
 
 »' 
 
 mg- 
 
 The soul seems but a something dreaming. 
 
 The bird is dreaming in its nest, 
 
 Of song, and sky, and loved one's breast ; 
 
 The lapdog di'eams, as round he lies, 
 
 In moonshine, of his mistress' eyes: 
 
 The steed is dreaming, in his stall. 
 
 Of one long breathless leap and fall. 
 
 J
 
 FESTUS. 24:9 
 
 Tlie hawk hath dreamt him thrice of wingt 
 
 Wide as the skies he may not cleave: 
 
 But waking, feels them clipped, and clings 
 
 Mad to the perch 'twere mad to leave: 
 
 The child is dreaming of its toys — 
 
 The murderer of calm home joys ; 
 
 The weak are dreaming endless fears — 
 
 The proud of how their pride appears: 
 
 The poor enthusiast who dies. 
 
 Of his life-dreams the sacrifice. 
 
 Sees, as enthusiast only can. 
 
 The truth that made him more than man ; 
 
 And hears once more, in visioncd trance, 
 
 That voice commanding to advance, 
 
 Where wealth is gained — love, wisdom won, 
 
 Or deeds of danger dared and done. 
 
 The motlier dreameth of her cliikl — 
 
 The maid, of him who hath beguiled — 
 
 The youth, of her he loves too well ; 
 
 The good, of God — the ill, of hell, — 
 
 Who live, of death — of life, who die — 
 
 The dead, of immortality. 
 
 The earth is dreaming bade her youth ; 
 
 Hell never dreams, for woe is truth ; 
 
 And Heaven is dreaming o'er her prime, 
 
 Long ere the morning stars of time ; 
 
 And dream of Heaven alone can I, 
 
 My lovely one, when thou art nigli. 
 
 32
 
 250 
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 Helen. Let some one sing, 
 song, 
 The graces of this life of ours, 
 Go ever hand in hand along, 
 x\nd ask alike each other's powers. 
 
 Love, mirth, and 
 
 Lucy sitigs. For every leaf the loveliest flower 
 Which beauty sighs for from her bower — 
 For every star a drop of dew — 
 For every sun a sky of blue — 
 For every heart a heart as true. 
 
 For every tear by pity shed 
 
 Upon a fallow-sufferer's head, 
 
 Oh ! be a crown of glory given ; 
 
 Such crowns as saints to gain have striven — 
 
 Such crowns as seraphs wear in Heaven. 
 
 For all who toil at honest fame, 
 A proud, a pure, a deathless name; 
 For aU who love, whc lonng bless. 
 Be life one long, kind, close caress — 
 Be life all love, all happiness. 
 
 Lucifer. T-.ll me Avhat's the chicfcst pleasure 
 In this world's high-heaped measure 1 
 
 All. Power — beauty — love — ^'^'eallh — wiue ! 
 Lucifer. All different votes !
 
 FESTUS. 251 
 
 Fanny. Come, Frederic — thine 1 
 
 What may thy joy-judgment bel 
 
 Frederic. I ECSirce know hoAV to answer thee; 
 Each, apart, too soon will tire ; 
 All together slake desire. 
 So ask not of me the one chief joy of earth, 
 For that Fm unable to say ; 
 
 But here is a wreath which will lose its chief worth. 
 If ye pluck lut one flower away. 
 Then these are the joys which should never dispart — 
 The joys which are dearest to me: 
 As the song, and the dance, and the laugh of the heart, 
 Thou, girl, and the goblet, be. 
 
 Lucifer. Oh, excellent ! the truth is clear — 
 The one opmion, too, I love to hear. 
 
 Helen. Is this a Queen's fate — to be left alone] 
 I wish another had the throne. 
 Festus ! why art tliou not here. 
 Beside thy liege and lady dear'? 
 
 Festi:. My thoughts are happier oft than I, 
 For they are ever, love, with thee ; 
 And thine, I know, as frequent fly 
 O'er all that severs us, to me ; 
 Like rays of stars that meet in space, 
 And mingle in a bright embrace. 
 Never load thy locks with flowers, 
 For thy cheek hath a richer flush ; 
 And than wine, or the sunset hour, 
 Or the ripe yewberry's blush.
 
 252 FESTUS. 
 
 Nevei' braid thy bi'ow with lights, 
 
 Like the sun, on his goklen Avay 
 
 To the neck and the locks of night. 
 
 From the forehead fair of day. 
 
 Never star thy hand with stones, 
 
 For, for every dead light there. 
 
 Is a living glory gone, 
 
 Than the brilliant far more fair. 
 
 Nay, nay ; wear thy buds, braids, gems ' 
 
 Let the lovely never part ; 
 
 Thou alone canst rival them, 
 
 Or in nature, or in art. 
 
 Be not sad ; — thou shalt not be : 
 
 AMiy wilt mourn, love, when with me? 
 
 One tear that in thy eye could start 
 
 Could wash all purpose from my heart, 
 
 ]3ut that of loving thee ; 
 
 If I could ever think to wrong 
 
 A love so river-like, deep, pure, and long. 
 
 Helen. I cast mine eyes around, and feel 
 There is a blessing wanting ; 
 a'oo soon our hearts the truth reveal. 
 That joy is disenchanting. 
 
 Festus. I am a wizard, love; and I 
 A new enchantment will supply ; 
 And the charm of thine own smUe 
 Shall thine own heart of mief bejjuile. 
 Smile — I do command thee, rise 
 From the bright d(>pths of those eyes !
 
 rESTus. 253 
 
 By the bloom wherein thou dwellest, 
 
 As ill a rose-leaved nest; 
 
 By the pleas jire which thou tellest, 
 
 And the bosom ^vhich thou swellest, 
 
 I bid thee risp from rest; 
 
 By the raptuiu which thou causest, 
 
 And the bliss while e'er thou pausest, 
 
 Obey my high behest ! 
 
 Helen. Dread magician ! Cease thy spell ; 
 It hath wrought both quick and well. 
 
 Festus. Ah ! thou hast dissolved the charm ; 
 All ! tliou hast outstepped the ring ; 
 Who shall answer for the harm 
 Beauty on herself wUl bring ] 
 Come, I wUl conjure up again that smile — 
 The scarce departed spirit. There it is ! 
 Settling and hovering round thy lips the whUe, 
 Like some bright angel o'er the gates of bliss. 
 And I could sit and set that rose-bright smile, 
 Until it seem to grow immortal there — 
 A something abstract even of all beauty. 
 As though 'twere in the eye or in the air. 
 Ah ! never may a heavier shadow rest 
 Than thine own ringlets' on that brow so fan-; 
 Nor sob, nor sorrow, shake tlie perfect breast 
 Whicli looks for love, as doth for death despair. 
 And now the smile, the sigh, the blush, the teat — 
 Lo ! all the elements of love are here. 
 Oh, weep not — wither not the soul
 
 254 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Made saturate with hliss ; 
 
 I would not have one briny tear 
 
 Inibitter beauty's kiss. 
 
 Nay, weep not, fear not ! woe nor wrath 
 
 Can touch a soul like thine, 
 
 More than the lightning's blinding path 
 
 May strike the stars divine. 
 
 Sing, then, while thy lover sips. 
 
 And hear the truth that wine discloses ; 
 
 Music lives within thy lips 
 
 Iiike a nightingale in roses. 
 
 Helen sittgs. Oh ! love is like the rose. 
 And a month it may not see. 
 Ere it withers where it grows — 
 Rosalie ! 
 
 I loved thee from afar; 
 Oh ! my heart was lift to thee 
 Like a glass up to a star — 
 Rosalie ! 
 
 Thine eye was glassed in mine 
 As the moon is in the sea. 
 And its shine Avas on the brine — 
 Rosalie ! 
 
 The rose hath lost its red. 
 And the star is in the sea. 
 And the briny tear is shed — 
 Rosalie!
 
 F E S T u s . 255 
 
 Festus. What the stars are to the night, my love, 
 What its pearls are to the sea, — 
 What the dew Is to the day, my love, 
 Thy beauty is to me. 
 
 Helen. I am but here the under-queen of beauty, 
 For yonder hangs the likeness of the goddess ; 
 And so to "-«' jrship her is our first duty. 
 The heavenly minds of old first taught the heavenly 
 
 bodies 
 Were to be worshipped ; and the idolatry 
 Holds to this hour ; though, Beauty ! but of thine. 
 I am thy priestess, and will worship thee. 
 With all this brave and lovely train of mine ; 
 Lo ! we all kneel to thee before thy pictured shrine. 
 Yes — there, thou goddess of the heart. 
 Immortal beauty, there ! 
 Thou glory of Jove's free-love skies, 
 E'en like thyself too fair, 
 Too bright, too sweet for mortal eyes. 
 For earthly heai-ts too strong ; 
 Thy golden girdle lift'st and drawest 
 The heavens and earth along. 
 Oh ! thou art as the cloudless moon, 
 Undimmed and unarrayed ; 
 No robe hast thou, no crown save yon — 
 Goddess ! thy long locks' soft and sunbright braid. 
 And there's thy son. Love — beauty's child — 
 World-known for strangest powers — 
 Boy-god ! thy place is blest o'er all ! 
 Smil'st thou at thoughts of oursi
 
 256 FESTUS. 
 
 And there, by thy luxurious side, 
 
 The Queen of Heaven and Jove 
 
 Stands ; and the deep delirious di-aught 
 
 Drinks, from thy looks, of love. 
 
 And lips, which oft have kissed away 
 
 The thunders from his brow 
 
 Who ruled, men say, the Avorld of worlds, 
 
 As God, our God, rules now. 
 
 And thou art yet as great o'er this 
 
 As erst o'er olden sky ; 
 
 Of all Heaven's darkened deities 
 
 The last live light on high. 
 
 God after god hath left thee lone, 
 
 ^^^lic^l lived on human breath ; 
 
 When prayers were breathed to them no more. 
 
 The false ones pined to death. 
 
 But in the ser%ice of young hearts 
 
 To loveliness and love ; 
 
 Live thou shalt while yon Avandering world 
 
 Named unto thee "shall move. 
 
 Xo fabled dream art thou : all god. 
 
 Our souls acknowledge thee ; 
 
 For what would life from love be worth, 
 
 Or love from beauty bel 
 
 Come, universal beauty, then, 
 
 Thou apple of God's eye. 
 
 To and through which all things were made — 
 
 Things deathless — thmgs that die. 
 
 Oh ! lighten — live before us there — 
 
 II'
 
 FESTUS. 237 
 
 Leap in yon lovely form, 
 
 And give a soul. She comes ! It breathes — 
 
 So briglit — so sweet — so warm. 
 
 Our sacrifice is over : let us rise ! 
 
 For we have worshipped acceptably here ; 
 
 And let our glowing hearts and glimmering eyes, 
 
 (D'erstrained with gazing on thy light too near, 
 
 Prove that our worship, Goddess, was sincere ! 
 
 Festus. I read that we are answered. The soft 
 air 
 Doubles its sv,'eetness; and the fainting flowers, 
 Down-hanging on the walls in wreaths so fair, 
 Bud forth afresh, as in their birthday bowers. 
 Dew-laden, as oppressed with love and shame, 
 The rosebud drops upon the lily's breast ; 
 Brighter the Avine, the lamps have softer flame, 
 Thy kiss flows freer than the grape first pressed. 
 
 Will. A dance, a dance ! 
 
 Helen. Let us remain ! 
 
 Festus. We will not tempt your sport again, 
 
 Helen. Behold where ]\Iarian sits alone, 
 The dance all sweeping round, 
 Like to some goddess hewn in stone, 
 With blooming garlands bound. 
 
 Festus. Tell me, Marian, what those eyes 
 Can discover in the skies 1 — 
 
 Those eyes, that look, so bright, so sweet their huei. 
 As they had gained from gazing on that view 
 The high and starry beauty of their blue. 
 
 33 V*
 
 COS FESTUS. 
 
 Marian. For earth my soul hath lost all love, 
 But Heaven still loves and Avatches o'er me ; 
 \Vliy should I not, then, look above, 
 And pass and pity all before me ■? 
 
 Festus. Oh! if yon worlds that shine o'er this 
 Have more of joy — of passion less — 
 1 would not change earth's checkered bliss 
 For thrice the joys those orbs possess ; 
 AVhich seem so strange their nature is. 
 Faint with excess of happiness. 
 
 Marian. Thy heart with others hath its rest, 
 And it shall wake with me; 
 And if within another breast 
 Thy heart hath made itself a nest, 
 Mine is no more for thee. 
 Heart-breaker, go ! I cannot choose 
 But loA'e thee, and thy love refuse ; 
 And if my brow grow lined while young. 
 And youth fly cheated from my cheek, 
 'Tis, that there lies below my tongue 
 A word I will not speak ; 
 For I would rather die than deem 
 Thou art not the glory thou didst seem. 
 But if ingirt by flood or fire, 
 "Wlio would live that could expire"? 
 Who would not dream, and dreaming die, 
 rf to wake were misery ? 
 
 Festi s. AVhose woes are like to my woes ? What 
 is madness 1
 
 FESTUS. 259 
 
 Tho mind, exalted to a sense of ill, 
 Soon sinks beyond it into utter sadness, 
 And sees its grief before it like a hill. 
 Oh ! I have suffered till my brain became 
 Distinct with woe, as is the skeleton leaf 
 Whose green hath fretted off its fibrous frame, 
 And bare to our immortality of grief 
 
 Marian. Like the light line that laughter leaves 
 One moment on a bright, young brow ; 
 So truth is lost ere love believes ; 
 There can be aught save truth below. 
 
 Festus. But as the eye aye brightlier beams 
 For every fall the lid lets on it, 
 So oft the fond heart happier dreams 
 For the soft cheats love puts upon it. 
 
 Marian. I never dreamed of wretchedness ; 
 I thought to love meant but to bless. 
 
 Festus. It once was bliss to me to Avatch 
 Thy passing smile, and sit and catch 
 The sweet contagion of thy breath — 
 For love is catching — from such teeth; 
 Delicate little pearl-white Avedges, 
 All transparent at the edges. 
 
 Marian. False flatterer, cease ! 
 
 Festus. It is my fate 
 
 To love, and make who love me hate. 
 
 Marian. No! 'tis to sue — to gain — deceive — 
 To tire of — to neglect — and leave: 
 The desolation of the soul
 
 23) 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 
 Is what I feel — 
 
 A sense of lostness that leaves death 
 
 But little to reveal ; 
 
 For death is nothmg but the thought 
 
 Of something being again nought. 
 
 Helen. Cease, lady, cease those aching sighs, 
 "SVhich shake the tear-drops from thine eyes. 
 As morning wind, with wing fresh wet, 
 Shakes dew out of the \-iolet. 
 Forgive me, if the love once thine 
 Hath changed itself unsought to me; 
 I did not tempt it from thy heart, 
 I nothing knew of thee ; 
 And soon, perchance, 'twill be my part. 
 As thou now art, to be. 
 
 Marian. I blame no heart, no love, no fate. 
 And I have nothing to forgive ; 
 I wish for nought, repent of nought. 
 Dislike nought but to live. 
 
 Helen. Nay, sing ; it will relieve thy heart. 
 
 Marian. I cannot sing a mirthful strain ; 
 And feel too much to act my part. 
 E'en of an ebbing vein. 
 
 Festus. Our hearts are not in our own hands 
 '^^^ly wUt thou make me say 
 I cannot love as once I loved? 
 
 Marian. Hear! — 'tis for this I stay — 
 To say we part — forever part ; 
 But, Oh ! how wide the line 
 
 r 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 i
 
 FESTUS. 261 
 
 Between thy Marian's bursting heart 
 
 And that proud heart of thine. 
 
 And thou wilt Avander here and there, 
 
 Ever the gay and free ; 
 
 To other maids Avill fondly swear, 
 
 As thou hast sworn to me; 
 
 And I — Oil ! I shall but retire 
 
 Into my grief alone ; 
 
 And kindle there the hidden fire, 
 
 That burns, that wastes unknown. 
 
 And love and life shall find their tomb 
 
 In that sepulchral flame : — 
 
 Be happy — none shall know for whom — 
 
 I will not dream thy name. 
 
 Festus. As sings the swan with parting breath. 
 So I to thee ; 
 
 While love is leaving — worse than life — 
 Forewarningly. 
 
 Speak not, nor think thou, any ill of me, 
 If thou wouldst not die soon and wretchedly. 
 I cannot waver on my path 
 To shun fair lady's love or Avrath. 
 Nor condescend the world to undeceive 
 Which doth delight in error and believe. 
 Thus then farewell, dear lady, ere I go : 
 And dearly liave I earned my lightest woe. 
 
 Oh ! if we e'er have loved, lady, 
 We must forego it now ;
 
 262 FESTUS. 
 
 Though sore the heart be moved, lady, 
 
 When bound to break its vow. 
 
 Ill alway think on thee, 
 And thou sometunes — on whom, lady? 
 
 And yet those thoughts must be 
 Like flowers flung on the tomb, lady. 
 Then think that I am blest, lady, 
 
 Though aye for thee I sigh ; 
 In peace and beauty rest, lady, 
 
 Nor mourn and mourn as I. 
 
 From one we love to part, lady. 
 
 Is harder than to die ; 
 I see it by thy heart, lady, 
 
 I feel it by thine eye. 
 
 Thy lightest look can tell 
 Thy heaviest thought to me, lady ; 
 
 Oh ! I have loved thee well. 
 
 But well seems ill with thee, lady; 
 Though sore the heart be moved, lady, 
 
 AVhen bound to break its vow — 
 Yet if we ever loved, lady. 
 
 We must forego it now. — 
 
 Lucifer. Come, I must separate you two : 
 Such wretchedness will ne^•er do. 
 The little cloud of grief which just appears, 
 If left to spread, will drown us all in tears, 
 
 Emma. Oblige us, pray, then, with a song.
 
 FESTUS. 263 
 
 Charles. I am sure he has a singing face. 
 
 Will. At cliurch I heard liim loud and long. 
 
 Lucifer. Pardon — but you are doubly wrong. 
 
 Helen. Obey, I beg. Here — give hiin place. 
 
 LuciFEE. I have not sung for ages, mind; 
 So you must take me as you find. 
 This is a song supposed of one — 
 A fallen spirit — name unknown — 
 Fettered upon his fiery throne — 
 Calling on his once angel-love, 
 Who still remaineth true above. \_Sings. 
 
 Thou hast more music in thy voice 
 
 Than to the spheres is given, 
 And more temptations on thy lips 
 
 Than lost the angels Heaven. 
 Thou hast more brightness m thine eyes 
 
 Than all the stars which burn. 
 More dazzling art thou than the throne 
 
 We fallen dared to spurn. 
 
 Go, search through Heaven — the sweetest smile 
 
 That lightens there is thine ; 
 And through Hell's burning darkness breaks 
 
 No frown so fell as mine. 
 One smile — 'twill light ; one tear — 'twill cool ; 
 
 These will be more to me 
 Than all the wealth of all the worlds, 
 
 Or boundless power could be.
 
 264 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Helen. Entreat him, pray, to sing again. 
 Lucifer. Any thing any one desires. 
 Festus. Your loveluaess hath hut to deign 
 To will, and he'll do all that will requii-es. 
 
 Lucifer sings. Oh ! many a cloud 
 Hath lift its wing. 
 And many a leaf 
 Hath clad the spring; 
 But there shall be thrice 
 The leaf and cloud, 
 And thrice shall the world 
 Have worn her shroud, 
 Ere there's any like thee. 
 But where thou wilt be. 
 
 Oh ! many a storm 
 Hath drenched the sun, 
 And many a stream 
 To sea hath run ; 
 But there shall be thrice 
 The storm and stream, 
 Ere there's any like thee, 
 But in angel's dream ; 
 Or in look, or in love, 
 But in Heaven above. 
 
 Lucy. AMiat is love'? Oh! I wonder so* 
 Do tell me — who pretends to know 1 
 
 -£\
 
 FESTUS. 265 
 
 Frank. Ask not of me, love, what is love ' 
 Ask what is good of God above — 
 Ask of the great sun Avhat is light — 
 Ask what is darkness of the night — 
 Ask sin of what may be forgiven — 
 Ask what is happiness of Heaven — 
 Ask what is folly of the crowd — 
 Ask what is fashion of the shroud — 
 Ask what is sweetness of thy kiss — 
 Ask of thyself what beauty is ; — 
 And, if they each should answer. I ! 
 Let me, too, join them with a sigh. 
 Oh ! let me pray my life may prove, 
 When thus, Avith thee, that I am love. 
 
 Festus. I cannot love as I have loved. 
 And yet I know not why; 
 It is the one great woe of life 
 To feel all feeling die: 
 And one by one the heartstrings snap, 
 As age comes on so cliUl ; 
 And hope seems left that hope may cease, 
 And all will soon be still. 
 And the strong passions, like to stoims, 
 Soon rage tliemseives to rest, 
 Or leave a desolated calm — 
 A Avorn and wasted breast ; 
 A lieart that like the Gey.ser spring, 
 Amidst its bosomed snows, 
 
 34 ▼
 
 266 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 May shrink, not rest — but with its blood 
 
 Boils even in repose. 
 
 And yet the things one might have loved 
 
 Remain as they have been, — 
 
 Truth ever lovely, and one heart 
 
 Still sacred and serene ; 
 
 But lower, less, and grosser things 
 
 Eclipse the world-like mind, 
 
 And leave their cold, dark shadow where 
 
 Most to the light inclined. 
 
 And then it ends as it began, 
 
 The orbit of our race. 
 
 In pains and tears, and fears of life, 
 
 And the new dweUing-place. 
 
 From life lo death — from death to life 
 
 We hurry round to God, 
 
 And leave behind us nothing but 
 
 The j)ath that we have trod. 
 
 Helen. In vain I try to liu'e thy heart 
 From grief to mirth ; 
 It were as easy to ward off 
 Night from the earth. 
 
 Festus. Fill ! I'll drink it tiU I cue — 
 Helen's lip and Helen's eye ! 
 An eye which outsparkles 
 The beads of the wine. 
 With a hue whirh outdarklt-s 
 The deeps where they shine.
 
 FESTUS. 267 
 
 Come! with that lightly flushing brow, 
 
 And darkly splendid eye, 
 
 And white and wavy arms which now. 
 
 Like snow-wreaths on the dark, brown bough, 
 
 So softly on me lie. 
 
 Come ! let us love, while love we may, 
 
 Ere youth's bright sands be run ; 
 
 The hour is nigh when every soul 
 
 Which 'scapeth Evil's (h'(;ad control, 
 
 Nor drains the Furies' fiery bowl. 
 
 Shall into Heaven for aye. 
 
 And love its God alone. 
 
 Helen. Xow let me leave my throne ; and if the 
 hours 
 Have measured every moment by a kiss. 
 As I do think, since first ye gave these flowers. 
 It was to teach us how to dial bliss. 
 Farewell, dear cro^^•n, thy mistress wUl not wear, 
 Save when she sitteth rojally alone. 
 Farewell, too, throne ! not quickly wilt thou bear 
 A happier form, if fairer than mine own. 
 
 Will. The ladies leave us ! 
 
 Lucifer. Oh! by all means let them; 
 
 But say, for Heaven itself, Ave'll not forget them ; 
 Say we will pledge them to the top of breath. 
 As loud as thunder, and as deep as death. 
 
 Festus, apart. Where is thy grave, my love'? 
 I want to weep. 
 
 High as thou art this earth above. 
 My woe is deep ;
 
 268 FESTUS. 
 
 And my lieart is cold as is thy grave, 
 
 Where I can neither soothe nor save. 
 
 VVhate'er I say, or do, or see, 
 
 I think and feel alone to thee. 
 
 Oh ! can it — can it be forgiven. 
 
 That I forget thou art in Heaven 1 
 
 Thou wilt forgive me this, and more: 
 
 Love spends his all, and still hath store. 
 
 Thou wilt forgive, if beauty's A\ile 
 
 Should win, perforce, one glance from me ; 
 
 When they, whose art it is to smile. 
 
 Can never smile my heart from thee ; 
 
 And if with them I chance to be, 
 
 And give mine ear up to their singing, 
 
 It, wind-like, only wakes the sea, 
 
 In all its mad monotonv. 
 
 Of memory forth thy music ringing. 
 
 Thou wilt forgive, if now and then 
 
 I link Avith hands less loved than thine ; 
 
 Whose gold-like touch makes kings of men, 
 
 But wakes no wiU in blood of mine ; 
 
 And if with them I toss the wine. 
 
 And set my soul in love's ripe riot. 
 
 It echoes not — this desert shrine, 
 
 Wliere still thy love from Heaven doth shine. 
 
 Moon-like, across some ruin's quiet. 
 
 Thou wilt forgive me, if my feet 
 
 Shouhl move to music with the fair ; 
 
 When, at each turn, I burn to meet 
 
 Thy stream-like step and airy air;
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 And if, before some beauty there, 
 
 Mine eye may forge one glance of gladness. 
 
 It is but the ripple of despair, 
 
 That shows the bed is all but bare, 
 
 And nought scarce left but stony sadness. 
 
 Thou wilt forgi\'e, if e'er my heart 
 
 Err from the orbit of its love ; 
 
 When even the bliss-bright stars wUl start 
 
 Earthwards, some lower sphere to prove. 
 
 Thou wilt forgive, if soft, white arms 
 
 Embrace, by fits, this breast of mine ; 
 
 "Wlieu, while amid their pillowy charms, 
 
 My heart can kiss no heart but thine ; 
 
 And if these lijis but rarely pine 
 
 In the pale abstinence of sorrow, 
 
 It is, that nightly I divine, 
 
 As I this world-sick soul recline, 
 
 I shall be with thee ere the morrow. 
 
 Thou wilt forgive, if once with thee 
 
 I limned the outline of a Heaven ; 
 
 But go and tell our God, from me, 
 
 He must forgive what He hath given ; 
 
 And, if we be by passion driven 
 
 To love, and all its natural madness, 
 
 Tell Him, that man by love hath thriven. 
 
 And that by love he shall be shriven ; 
 
 For God is love, where lovc^ is gladness 
 
 Thou wilt forgive, if clay-bound mind 
 
 Can scarce discover that thou art; 
 
 2fiO
 
 270 . FESTUS. 
 
 But wait ! I fpcl the outward wind 
 
 Rush fresh into my fluttering heart. 
 
 Perchance thy spiiit stays in yon mild star 
 
 In peace, and flame-like purity, and prayer ; 
 
 And, Oh ! when mine shall fly from earth afar, 
 
 I win pray God that it may join thine there ; 
 
 'Twere doubling Heaven, that Heaven with thee to 
 
 share. 
 And, while thou leadest music and her lyre. 
 Like a sunbeam holden by its golden hair. 
 May I, too, mingling with the immortal choir. 
 Love thee, and worship God ! what more may soul 
 
 desire ? 
 Enough for me ; but, if there be 
 More, it shall be left for thee. 
 
 Walter. If any thing I love in chief, 
 It is that flowery, rich relief 
 That wine doth chase on mortal metal 
 Before good wine begins to settle ; 
 But all seem smilingly, serenely dull, 
 And melancholy as the moon at fuU. 
 Quenched by their- company they seem, 
 Like sparks of fire in clouds of steam. 
 
 Charles. They who mourn the lack of Avit, 
 Show, at kast, no more of it. 
 
 Festus. I cannot bear to be alone, 
 I hate to mix with nu'ii ; 
 To me there's torture in the tone 
 Wliich bids me talk again. 
 
 i
 
 1'" 
 
 FESTUS. cJi 
 
 Like silly nestlings, -wanied in vain, 
 
 My heart's young joys have flown ; 
 
 While singing to them, even then, 
 
 They left me one by one. 
 
 I en^T' every soul that dies 
 
 Out of this world of care : 
 
 I en^^ e'en the lifeless skies, 
 
 That they enshrine thee there ; 
 
 And would I were the bright blue air 
 
 Which doth insphere thine eyes, 
 
 That thou mightst meet me every where. 
 
 And feel these faithful sighs. 
 
 E'en as the bubble that is mixed 
 
 Of air and wine right red. 
 
 So my heart's love is shared betwixt 
 
 The living and the dead. 
 
 If on her breast I lay my head, 
 
 My heart on thine is fixed : — 
 
 Wilt tliou I loose, as I have said. 
 
 Or keep the soul thou seek'st '? 
 
 From me thou canst not pass away 
 
 AVhile I have soul or sight ; — 
 
 I see thee on my ■\\aking ■^^'ay, 
 
 And in my dreams thee bright ; 
 
 I see thee in the dead of night. 
 
 And the full life of day ; 
 
 I know thee by a sudden light ; 
 
 It is thy soul, I say.
 
 ?TiI FESTUS. 
 
 If yonder stars be filled Avith forms 
 
 Of breathing clay like ours, 
 
 Perchance the space that spreads between 
 
 Is for a spirit's powers ; 
 
 And loving as we two have loved 
 
 In spirit and in heart, 
 
 Wliether to space or star removed, 
 
 God will not bid us part. 
 
 Frank. As to this seat — its late and fair pes 
 sessor 
 Should, ere she went, have chosen her successor. 
 
 Festus. In right of her Avho sat thereon, 
 I think I might demand the throne ; 
 I rather choose. to let it be. 
 
 All. George shall be King of the company ! 
 
 George. My lo\ing subjects ! I shall first pro« 
 mulge 
 A few good rules by which to indulge ; 
 They are good, according to my thinking, 
 And shall be held the laws of drinking. 
 First — each man shall do what he chooses, 
 Provided that he ne'er refuses, 
 But shall be sworn, by stand and stopper. 
 To drmk as much as I think proper. 
 
 Will. Stay ! — all of you who think, with me, 
 This law should pass. 
 Will please to signify the same 
 By emptpng their glass.
 
 F EST us. 273 
 
 Walter. Filling again and emptying, and so on, 
 At each law — pari passu, as we go on. 
 
 George. Secondly — no man shall be held as 
 mellow 
 Who can distinguish blue from yellow. 
 Thirdly — no man shall miss his turn nor toast, 
 Nor yet give more than two at once, at most. 
 Fourthly — if one at table should fall under, 
 There let him lie — so much extinguished tb under 
 Fifthly — let all, in such case, who still staj^, 
 Like living lightnings, but the brighter play. 
 Sixthly, and last but one — mind this, there sl.an't 
 Be aught said that is not irrelevant. 
 Seventhly — if any of these edicts should not 
 Be kept, it shall be good to j^lead, I would not. 
 
 Charles. Oh, let the royal law 
 Be writ in rosy wme ! 
 And read and kept 
 At every feast 
 Where wit and mirth combine. 
 
 Festus. How sweetly shine the steadfast stars, 
 Each eyeing, sister-like, the earth ; 
 And softly chiding scenes like this. 
 Of senseless and profaning mirth. 
 
 Lucifer. Thou art ever prating of the stars 
 Like an old soldier of his scars ; 
 Thou shouldst have been a starling, friend, 
 And not an earthling: end! 
 
 35
 
 274 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. And could I speak as many times 
 Of each as there are stars in Heaven, 
 I could not utter half the thoughts — 
 The sweet thoughts one to me hath given. 
 The holy quiet of the skies 
 May waken well the blush of shame, 
 A^Tiene'er we think that thither lies 
 The Heaven we heed not — ought not name. 
 O Heaven ! let down thy cloudy lids, 
 And close thy thousand eyes ; 
 For each, in bummg glances, bids 
 The wicked fool be wise. 
 
 I^uciFER. I can interpret well the stars. 
 
 Charles. Indeed ! they need interpreters. 
 
 Lucifer. Then thus, in their eternal tongue 
 And musical thunders, all have sung 
 To every ear which ear hath given. 
 From birth to death, this note of Heaven : — 
 Deathlings ! on earth di'ink, laugh, and love ! 
 Ye mayn't hereafter — under or above. 
 Yes, this the tale they all have told, 
 Since first they made old Chaos shrink — 
 Since first they flocked creation's fold, 
 And filled all air like flakes of gold 
 Which drop yon royal drink : 
 For as the moon doth madmen rule. 
 It is, that near and few they are ; 
 And so in Heaven each single star 
 Doth swav some reasonable fool. 
 
 1 
 
 i
 
 FF.STUS. 215 
 
 Whether on earth or other sphere ; 
 For what's above is what is here. 
 Moons and madmen only change ; 
 What can truth or stars derange ? 
 
 Edward. Brave stars, bright monitors of joy ! 
 Eight well ye time your hours of warning ; 
 For, sooth to say, the eve's employ 
 Doth wax less lovely towards the morning. 
 So push the goblet gayly round — 
 Drink deep of its wealth — drink on ! 
 Our earthly joy too soon doth cloy, 
 Our life is all but gone ; 
 And, not enjoy yon glorious cup, 
 And all the sweets which lie, 
 Like pearls, within its purple well — 
 Who would not hate to die ? 
 
 Wilt. And who, without the cheering glance 
 Of woman's witching eye, 
 Could stand against the storms of fate. 
 Or cankering care defy ? 
 It adds fresh brightness to the bowl ; 
 Then why will men repine 1 
 Content we'll live with Heaven's best gifts — 
 With women, and with wine. 
 
 Harry. Cups while they sparkle — 
 Maids while they sigh ; 
 Bright eyes Avill darkle — 
 Lips gi"ow dry.
 
 276 FESTDS. 
 
 Cheek while the dew-drops 
 
 Water its rose ; 
 
 Life's fount hath few di-ops 
 
 Dear as those. 
 
 Arms wliile they tighten — 
 
 Hearts as they heave; 
 
 Love cannot brighten 
 
 Life's dark eve. 
 
 George. Oh ! the -sAine is like lify ; 
 And the sparkles that play 
 By the lips of the howl 
 Are the loves of the day. 
 Then kiss the bright bubble 
 That breaks in its rise ; 
 Oh ! love is a trouble, 
 As light when it dies. 
 
 Charles. Let the young be glad! though cares 
 in crowds 
 Leave scarce a break of blue, 
 Yet hope gives wings to morning clouds ; 
 And while their shade the skv enshrouds — 
 By love and wine, which through them shine — 
 They are turned to a golden hue. 
 Then give us wine, for we ought to shine 
 In the hour of dark and dew. 
 
 Festl's. Well might the thoughtful race of old 
 A\'ith In-j- twine the head 
 
 Of him they hailed their god of wine, — 
 Thank God ! the lie is dead ;
 
 FESTUS. 277 
 
 For vry climbs the crumbling haU 
 
 To decorate decay; 
 And spreads its dark, deceitful pall 
 
 To hide what wastes away. 
 And wine will circle round the brain 
 
 As iy.'j o'er tlie brow, 
 Till what could once see far as stars 
 
 Is dark as Death's eye now. 
 Then dasli tlie cup down ! 'tis not worth 
 
 A soul's great sacrifice : 
 The wine wQl sink into the earth. 
 
 The soul, the soul — must rise. 
 Charles. A toast! 
 
 Frederic. Here's beauty's fairest flower — 
 The maiden of oiu- own birth-land ! > 
 
 Harry. Pale flxce ! — Oh for one happy hour 
 To hold my splendid Spaniard's hand ! 
 
 Festus. Why differ on which is the fairest form, 
 When all arc the same the heart to warm 1 
 Although by different charms they strike. 
 Their power is equal and alike. 
 Ye bigots of beauty ! behold I stand forth, 
 And drink to th(» lovely all over the earth. 
 Come, fill to the girl by the Tagus' waves ! 
 Wherever she lives there's a land of slaves. 
 And hei'e's to the Scot ! with her dccp-bluc eye, 
 Tike the far-off lochs 'neath her hill-propped sky. 
 To her of the Green Isle ! whose tyrants deform 
 'I'he land, where she beams like the bow in the storm.
 
 278 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 To the Xorman ! so nobly, and stately, and taU ; 
 AVTiose charms, ever changing, can please as they pall 
 Two bowls in a breath ! here's to each and to all ! 
 Come, fill to the English ! whose eloquent brow 
 Says, pleasure is passmg, but coming, and now ; 
 Oh ! her eyes o'er the wine are like stars o'er the sea^ 
 And her face is the face of all Heaven to me. 
 And here's to the Spaniard ! that warm, blooming 
 
 maid, 
 AVith her step superb, and her black locks' braid. 
 To her of dear Paris ! with soul-spending glance, 
 "Whose feet, as she's sleeping, look dreaming a dance. 
 To the maiden whose lip like a roseleaf is curled, 
 And her eye like the star-flag above it unfurled ! 
 Here's to beauty, young beauty, all over the world ! 
 
 Will. Hurrah ! a glorious toast ; 
 'Twould warm a ghost. 
 
 Festus. It moves not me. I cannot drink 
 The toast I have given. 
 
 There! — Earth may pledge it, and she will — 
 Herself and her beauty to Heaven. 
 Drink to the dead — youth's feelings vain ! 
 Drink to the heart — the battered wreck. 
 Hurled from all passions' stormy main ! 
 Though aye the billoAvs o'er it break, 
 The ruin rots, nor rides again. 
 
 Charles. Friend of my heart ! away vath care, 
 And sing, and dance, and laugh ; 
 To love, and to the favorite fair, 
 The wine-cup ever quaff.
 
 FESTUS. 279 
 
 Oh, drink to the lovely ! whatever they are, 
 
 Though fair as snow — as light ; 
 
 For whether or falling, or fixed the star, 
 
 They both are heavenly bright. 
 
 Ont upon Care ! he shall not stay 
 
 Within a heart like thine ; 
 
 There's nought in Heaven or earth can weigh 
 
 Down youth, and love, and wine. 
 
 Then drink with the merry! though we must die, 
 
 Like beauty's tear we'll fall ; 
 
 We have lived in the light of a loved one's eye, 
 
 And to live, love, and die is all. 
 
 Festus. Vain is the Avorld and all it boasts: 
 How brief love's, pleasure's date ! 
 We turn the bowl and all forget 
 The bias of our fate. 
 
 iJEORGE. How goes the enemy 1 
 
 Lucifer. What can he mean? 
 
 Festus. He asks the hour. 
 
 Lucifer. Aha ! then I 
 
 .\dvise, if Time thy foe hath been. 
 Be quick ! shake hands, man, with Eternity.
 
 280 FESTUS. 
 
 Scene — A Churchyard. 
 Festus and Lucifer beside a Grave. 
 
 Festus. Let years crowd on, and age bow down 
 My body to the earth which gave, 
 As yon gray, worn out, crumbhng stone 
 Dips o'er the grave ! 
 ^^^lat though for me no music thrill, 
 Nor mirth delight, nor beauty move; 
 Though the heart stiffen and wax still, 
 And make no love ; 
 Still, deep and bright, like river gold. 
 Imbedded here thy soul shall lie — 
 Sun-grains, that with the sands are rolled, 
 Of memory. 
 
 ShaU that soul never burst the tomb, 
 Draped in long robes of lining light ■? 
 Or, worm-like, alway eat the gloom 
 And dust of night 1 
 
 Lucifer. Oh ! life in sporting on earth lies. 
 Till death share up the rich, green sod ; 
 But if the spirit lives or dies, 
 \Vliy try ye God? 
 
 "What should it never smile nor sigh 
 From cheeks or lips but those beneath 1 
 Doth love not weigh the world's vast liel 
 Doth life not death?
 
 FESTUS. 281 
 
 Festus. I ask Avliy man should suffer death 1 
 LuciFEK. Answer — what right to life hath he? 
 
 God gives and takes away your breath : 
 
 What more have ye 1 
 
 Breath is your life, and life your soul ; 
 
 Ye have it warm from His kind hands: 
 
 Then yield it back to the great Whole 
 
 W'hen He demands. 
 
 Why, deathling, AAdlt thou long for Heaven 1 
 
 WTiy seek a bright, but blinding way"? 
 
 Go, thank thy God that He hath given 
 
 Night upon day: 
 
 Go, thank thy God that thou hast lived. 
 
 And ask no more: 'tis all He gave: 
 
 'Tis all there needs to be believed — 
 
 God and the grave. 
 
 Festus. For Thee, God, will I save my heart ; 
 
 For Tliee my nature's lionor keep ; 
 
 Then, soul and body, all or part — 
 
 Rest, wake, or sleep ! 
 
 Scene — Space. 
 
 Festus and Lucifer. 
 
 Festus. Listen ! I hear the liarmonics of Heaven, 
 From sphere to sphere, and from the boundless round, 
 Reechoing bliss to those serenest heights 
 
 36 X*
 
 282 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Where angels sit and strike their emnlons harps, 
 Wreathed round with flowers and diamonded with 
 
 dew; 
 Such dew as gemmed the ever-during hi cams 
 Of Eden winterless, or as all night 
 The Tree of Life wept from its every leaf 
 Unwithering. And now, mothinks I hear 
 The music of the murmur of the stream 
 Which, through the Bridal City of the Lord, 
 FloAveth all life forever ; and the breath 
 Through tlie star-shading branches of that Tree, 
 Transplanted now to Heaven, but once on earth, 
 Whose fruit is for all beings — breathed of God. 
 Oh ! breathe on me, inspiring spirit-breath ! 
 Oh ! flow to me, ye heart-revi%-ing waves ; 
 Freshen the faded soul that droops and dies. 
 
 Lucifer. The universe is but the gate of Heaven. 
 Lo ! from this highest orb, the croAvn of space 
 And footstool unto Heaven, we can look up 
 And gain a glimpse of glory unconceivcd. 
 
 Festus. 
 
 See how yon angels stretch their shining 
 
 arms 
 
 Wave their star-hunting wings, whicli gleam like 
 
 glass. 
 And locks that look like Morning's when she comes 
 Triumphant in the East. Is this their joy 
 O'er some world penitent ? 
 
 Lucifer. Lo ! there it rides ; 
 
 Blest to discharge on Heaven's all-peacefiil shores
 
 FESTUS. 283 
 
 Its long-accumulated load of life, 
 
 Its deathless freight, — pilgrims of time and space. 
 
 You guilty orh of licsitating light 
 
 Slow looming, there, on its dark path, goes up 
 
 At the forewritten hour, as do all worlds 
 
 To God, to judgment; and the (larthquake groans 
 
 Wliich rend its adamantine breast forebode 
 
 Its agonizing doom. 
 
 Festus. And doth not Heaven 
 
 Grieve with the lost, as gladden with the saved ? 
 
 Lucifer. How many immortals mourn at the 
 decree 
 Of righteous wisdom, which alone to them 
 Is bliss sufficient, being infinite 1 
 
 Festus. If God hath made all, He alone it is 
 Who hath to answer for all. 
 
 Lucifer. • He hath made. 
 
 To secondary natures it seems just 
 That justice should be realized, and there 
 Is one example extant in the skies. 
 
 Festus. But wherefore did it not repent in time? 
 
 Lucifer. AVhat unto us is time, stands before God 
 Eternity. Repentance is the grief 
 For, and effectual abstinence from sin. 
 Which secondary natures, without God, 
 Cannot attain to. 
 
 Festus. Cloudy and clear by turns 
 
 Thy words as Heaven. I know not what to think, 
 Nor how to act.
 
 284 F E S T u s . 
 
 Lucifer. It is natviral ; and none 
 
 Can aim or hit but as appointed them. 
 There is but one great sinner, — human nature, — 
 Predict of every world, and predicate : 
 The wicked one, — the enemy of God, — 
 To be destroyed in the eternal fire 
 Of His wrath, even thus in Deity — 
 In whom as they begin must all things end. 
 God loveth only His OAvn spirit, so 
 All that is base shall perish. From the first 
 These things were fixed, and are and aye shall be 
 Consummating, and are revealed as writ 
 In words always fulfilled, and burning truth 
 Under the buried basements of the skies ; 
 Which, after overthrown, shall reappear. 
 The unenlightened mind sees Deity 
 In all things, but the spiritual soul 
 All things in God. Now, ere we higher rise, 
 Look downwards from this coping of the world, 
 And know that down to the profoimdest depth 
 Of utter space, where not an atom mars 
 The void invisible, it were easier far 
 To cast a line and calculate its rate. 
 Or pierce all space, nor cross the path of light, 
 Than fathom man's dark heart, or sound his soul
 
 F E S T u s . 285 
 
 Scene — Heaven. 
 Lucifer and Festus entering. 
 
 The Archangels. Infinite God ! Thy will is done : 
 The world's last sand is all but run : 
 The niglit is feeding on the sun. 
 
 Lucifer. All-being God ! I come to Thee again. 
 Nor come alone. Mortality is here. 
 Thou bad'st me do my will, and I have dared 
 To do it. I have brought him up to Heaven. 
 
 God. 
 Tliou canst not do what is not willed to be ; 
 Suns are made up of atoms, Heaven of souls ; 
 And souls and suns are but the atoms of 
 The body I, God, dwell in. Wliat wilt thou 
 With him who is here with thee? 
 
 Lucifer. Show him God. 
 
 God. 
 No being, upon part of whom the curse 
 Of death rests — were it only on liis shadow, 
 Can look on God and live. 
 
 Lucifer. Look, Festus, look ! 
 
 Festus. Eternal fountain of the Infinite, 
 On whose life-tide the stars seem strewn like bubbles 
 Forgive me that an atomy of being 
 Hath sought to see its Maker face to face. 
 I have seen all Thy works and wonders; passed
 
 286 FESTUS. 
 
 From star to star, from space to space, and feel 
 
 That to see all which can be seen is nothing, 
 
 And not to look on Thee, the Invisible. 
 
 The spiiits that I met all seemed to say, 
 
 As on they sped upon their starward course, 
 
 And slackened their lightning wings one moment o'ei 
 
 me, 
 I could not look on God, whate'er I was. 
 And thou didst give this spirit at my side 
 Power to make me more than them — immortal. 
 So, when we had winged through Thy ^^ide world of 
 
 things. 
 And seen stars made and saved, destroyed and judged. 
 I said, — and trembled lest Thou shouldst not heai 
 
 me. 
 And make Thyself right ready to forgive, — 
 I will see God, before I die, in Heaven. 
 Forgive me, I^ord ! 
 
 God. 
 
 Rise, mortal ! look on me. 
 Festus. Oh ! I see nothing but like dazzling dark 
 
 ness. 
 Lucifer. I knew how it would be. I am away. 
 Festus. I am Thy creature, God ! Oh, slay me 
 not. 
 But let some angel take me, or I die. 
 Genius. Come liither, Festus. 
 Festus. "N^Tio art thou ? 
 
 Genius. I am
 
 FESTUS. 287 
 
 One who hath aye been by thee from thy birth, 
 Thy guardian angel, thy good genius. 
 
 Festus. I knew thee not till now. 
 
 Genius. I am never seen 
 
 In the earth's low, thick light ; but here in Heaven. 
 And in the air which God breathes, I am clear. 
 I tell to God each night thy thoughts and deeds ; 
 And watching o'er thee both on earth and here, 
 Pray unto Him for thee and intercede. 
 
 Festus. And this is Heaven. Lead on. WUl God 
 forgive 
 That I did long to see Him ? 
 
 Genius. It is the strain 
 
 Of .all high spirits towards Him. Thou couldst not, 
 Even if thou wouldst, behold God ; masked in dust. 
 Thine eye did light on darkness ; but when dead, 
 And the dust shaken off the shining essence, 
 God shall glow througli thcc as through living glass, 
 And every thought and atom of thy being 
 Shall guest His glory, be over-bright with God. 
 Hadst thou not been by faith immortalized 
 For the instant, then thine eye had been thy death. 
 Come, I will show thee Heaven and all angels. 
 Lo ! the recording angel. 
 
 Festus. Him I sec 
 
 High-seated, and the pen within his hand 
 riumcd lilve a storm-portending cloud which curves 
 Half over Heaven, and swift, in use divine, 
 As is a warrior's spear!
 
 288 FESTOS. 
 
 Genius. The book, -wherein 
 
 Are writ the records of the universe, 
 Lies like a world laid open at his feet. 
 And there, the Book of Life, which holds the names, 
 Formed out in starry brilliants, of God's sons, — 
 The spirit-names which angels learn by heart, 
 Of worlds beforehand. Wilt thou see thine ownl 
 
 Festus. My name is ■^^■ritten in the Book of Life. 
 It is enough. That constellated word 
 Is more to me and clearer than all stars, 
 Hencefoi"\\-ard and for aye. 
 
 Genius. Raise still thine eyes ! 
 
 Thy gleaming throne ! hewn from that mount of light 
 "Which was before created light or night 
 Never created, Heaven's eternal base. 
 Whereon God's throne is 'stablished. Sit on it ! 
 
 Festus. Nay, I will forestall nothing more than 
 sight. 
 
 Genius. Turn, then, and ^iew yon streams where 
 spirits sport 
 Quaffing immortal life, preparing aye 
 For higher and intenser being still. 
 These are the upper fountains of the Heavens, 
 The emanations of Eternity ; 
 By washing them in Avhich they purify 
 Their eyes to penetrate the essential light 
 In all things hidden, seen alone by eyes 
 Fire-spirited, etherially clear, 
 \NTiich, like the fabled stone, concei^■ed of fire,
 
 F EST us. 289 
 
 Son of the sun, transmutes all seen to soul. 
 
 And such the bliss and power reserved for man ; 
 
 Yet but the surface-shadow canst thou see. 
 
 The substance is to be. Behold yon group 
 
 Of spirits blest! In their divinest eyes 
 
 The Spirit speaks, and shows that in their own 
 
 All doubt and want hath ceased, as death hath ceased 
 
 Hither they come, rejoicing, marvelling. 
 
 Festus. How all with kindly wonder look on me ! 
 Mayhap I tell of earth to their pure sense. 
 Some seem as if they knew me. I know none. 
 But how claim kinship with the glorified 
 Unless with them like-glorified'? Yet, yes — 
 It is — it must be ; — that angelic spirit ! — 
 My heart outruns me — mother ! see thy son. 
 
 Angel. Child, how art thou here 1 
 
 Festus. God hath let me come. 
 
 Am GEL. Hast thou not come unbidden and un- 
 prepared 1 
 
 Festus. Forgive me, if it be so. I am come. 
 And I have ever said there are two who will 
 Forgive me aught I do — my God and thou ! 
 
 Angel. I do ! — may He ! 
 
 Festus. Dear mother, thou art blessed ; 
 .\nd I am blessed, too, in knowing thee. 
 
 Angel. Son of my hopes on earth and prayers io 
 Heaven ! 
 The love of God ! Oh, it is infinite. 
 Even as our imperfection. Promise, child, 
 
 37 T
 
 290 FESTUS. 
 
 That thou wilt love Him more and more for tliis.. 
 And for His boundless kindness thus towards me. 
 Now, my son, hear me ! for the hours of Heaven 
 Are not as those of earth ; and all is all 
 But lost that is not given unto God. 
 Oft have I seen with joy thy thoughts of Heaven, 
 And holy hopes, which track the soul with light, 
 Rise from dead doubts within thy troubled breast, 
 As souls of drowned bodies from the sea, 
 Upwards to God, and marked them so received. 
 That Oh ! my soul hath overflowed with rapture 
 As now thine eye with tears. But Oh ! my son 
 Beloved ! fear thou ever for thy soul ! 
 It yet hath to be saved. Nought perfect stands 
 But that which is in Heaven. God is all-kind ; 
 And long time hath He made thee think of Him ; 
 Think on Him yet in time. Ere I left earth, 
 With the last breath which air would spare for me. 
 With the last look which light would bless me with, 
 I prayed thou mightst be happy and be wise — 
 And half the prayer I brought myself to God — 
 And lo ! thou art imhappy and unwise. 
 
 Festus. Blessed one ! I rejoice that thou art 
 clear. 
 And all who have cared for me, of my misdeeds. 
 Thy spirit was on those who nurtured me. 
 All word and practice that could be of good 
 Was given me; so that my sin is splendid. 
 Yes ! if T have sinned, I have sinned sublimely ;
 
 FESTUS. 291 
 
 And I am glad I suffer for my faults. 
 
 I would not if i might be bad and happy. 
 
 Angel. God laughs at ill by man made, and 
 
 allows It. 
 The A'aunt of mountainous e^il and the power 
 To challenge Heaven from a molehill, child! 
 
 Fesius. God hath made but few better hearts than 
 
 mine, 
 However much it fliil in the wise ways 
 Of the world, as living in the dull, dark streets 
 Of forms and follies wherein men build themselves. 
 Angel. The goodness of the heart is shown in 
 
 deeds 
 Of peacefulness and kindness. Hand and heart 
 Are one thing with the good as thou shouldst be. 
 The splendor of corruption hath no power 
 Nor \'ital essence; and content in sin 
 Shows apathy, not satisfied control. 
 Do my words trouble thee"? Then treasure them. 
 Pain overgot gives peace, as death does Heaven. 
 All things that speak of Heaven speak of peace. 
 Peace hath more might than war. High brows are 
 
 calm. 
 Great thoughts are still as stars ; and truths, like 
 
 suns. 
 Stir not ; though many systems tend round them. 
 Mind's step is still as Death's; and all great things 
 Which cannot be controlled, whose end is good. 
 Behold yon throne ! there, Love, Faith, Hope are one !
 
 292 FESTUS. 
 
 There judgment, righteousness, and ihpit) makp 
 One and the same thing. God's salvation is 
 His vengeance, and his wrath glory, as on earth 
 Destruction restoration to the pure. 
 Humanity is perfected in Heaven. 
 
 Festus. I did not make myself, nor plan my soul 
 1 am no angel nursed in the lap of light. 
 Nor fed on milk immortrJ of the stars, 
 Xor golden fruit grown in the summery suns. 
 How am I answerable for my heart ] 
 It is my master, and is free with me. 
 As fixed with fate, even as a star which moves, 
 Yet moveth only on a certain course 
 In certain mode ; — its liberties are laws, 
 Its laws tyrannic ; I cannot hinder it. 
 It cannot hinder God. All that we do 
 Or bear is settled from eternity ; 
 Whereof is no beginning, midst, nor end. 
 To act, is ours ; quite sure, whate'er Ave do, 
 Whether it be for our own good or ill, 
 Or others' ill or good, it is for God's 
 Glory — the same and always: it is ordered. 
 The soul is but an organ, and it hath 
 No power of good and evil in itself. 
 More than the eye hath power of light or dark. 
 God fitted it for good ; and evil is 
 Good in another way we are not skilled in. 
 The good we do is of His own good Avill. — 
 The ill, of His own letting. Doth not nature —
 
 FESTUS. 293 
 
 All light ill life, shine marsh-like, too, in death 1 
 Yea, wandering fires Avait even on rottenness, 
 I.ike a stray gleam of thought in an idiot's brain. 
 And thus I look on souls that seem decaying 
 In sin, and flying off by elements. 
 All may not live again ; but all which do 
 Must change perpetually e'en in Heaven ; 
 And not by death to death, but life to life. 
 
 Angel. No ! Step by step, and throne by throne, 
 we rise 
 Continually towards the Infinite, 
 And ever nearer — never near — to God. 
 
 Festus. Yet merit or demerit none I see 
 In nature, human or material. 
 In passions or affections good or bad. 
 We only know that God's best purposes 
 Are oftenest brought about by dreadest sins. 
 Is thunder evil, or is dew divine ? , 
 
 Does virtue lie in sunshine, sin in storm 1 
 Is not each natural, each needful, besf? 
 How know we what is evil from what good 1 
 Wrath and revenge God claimeth as His own. 
 And yet men speculate on right and wrong 
 As upon day and night, forgetting both 
 Have but one cause, and that the same — God's will ; 
 Originally, ultimately Him. 
 
 All right is right divine. A worm hath rights 
 A king cannot despoil him of, nor sin ; 
 Yet wrongs are things necessitate, like wants, 
 
 Y«
 
 294 FESTUS. 
 
 And oft are well permitted to best ends. 
 
 A double error sometimes sets us right. 
 
 In man there is no rule of right and wrong 
 
 Inherent as mere man. "Why, conscience is 
 
 The basest thing of all. Its life is passed 
 
 In justifying and condemning sin ; 
 
 Accomplice, traitor, judge, and headsman, too. 
 
 But conscience knows its business and peiTorms. 
 
 Nothing is lost m nature ; and no soul, 
 
 Though buried in the centre of all sin, 
 
 Is lost to God ; but there it works His will 
 
 And burns conformably. The weakest things 
 
 Are to be made the examples of His might ; 
 
 The most defective, of His perfect grace, 
 
 ^Vhene'er He thinketh well. Oh ! e\ery thing 
 
 To me seems good, and lovely, and immortal ; 
 
 The whole is beautiful ; and I can see 
 
 Nought wrong m man nor nature, nought not meant ; 
 
 As from His hands it comes who flishions all, 
 
 All holy as His word. The world is but 
 
 A revelation. He breathes Himself upon us 
 
 Before our birth, as o'er the formless void 
 
 He moved at first, and we are all inspired 
 
 With His spirit. All thmgs are God, or of God. 
 
 For the whole world is in the mind of God 
 
 What a thought is in ours. Why boast we then 
 
 Of aught ? All that is good belongs to God ; 
 
 .\nd good and God are all things, or shall be. 
 
 Angel. There lacks in souls like thine unsaved, 
 unraised,
 
 FESTUS. 296 
 
 The light within — the light of pcrfcctness — 
 Such as there is in Heaven. The soul hath sunk 
 And perished like a light-house in the sea ; 
 It is for God to raise it and rebuild. 
 
 Genius. And his, thy son's, He will raise. Since 
 Avith me, 
 I have shown him infinite wonders : we have oped 
 And scanned the golden scroll of Fate, wherein 
 Are writ, in God's own hand, all things which happen. 
 There we have seen the record of his being — 
 His long temptation, sin, and suffering. 
 
 Festus. And hear it, O beloved and blessed one ! 
 Mine own salvation! 
 
 Angel. God is great in love ; 
 
 Infinite in His nature, power, and grace ; 
 Creating, and redeeming, and destroying — 
 Infinite infinitely. But in love — 
 Oh ! it is the truth transcendent over all — 
 When thus to one poor spirit He gives His hand, 
 He seems to impart His ^)wn unboundedness 
 Of bliss. We seem to be^' hardly worth destroymg, 
 And much less saving ; yet He loveth each 
 As though all were His equal. 
 
 Festus. I know all 
 
 I lia\e to go through henceforth, — all the doubts, 
 Passions of life, and woes ; but knowing them 
 Hinders them not ; I bear obeyingly ; 
 And pine no more, as once when I looked back 
 And saw how life had balked, and foiled, and fooled me.
 
 29u FESTUS. 
 
 Fresli as a spouting spring upon the hills 
 
 My heart leapt out to life ; it little thought 
 
 Of all the vile cares that would rill into it, 
 
 And the low places it would have to go through, — i 
 
 The di-ains, the crossings, and the mill-work after. 
 
 God hath endowed me with a soul that scoi'ns life — 
 
 An element over and above the -svorld's : 
 
 But the price one pays for pride is mountain-high ; 
 
 There is a curse beyond the rack of death — 
 
 A woe, wherein God hath put out his strength — 
 
 A pain past all the mad wretchedness we feel, 
 
 'Wlien the sacred secret hath flown out of us. 
 
 And the heart broken open by deep care, — 
 
 The curse of a high spirit famishing, 
 
 Because all earth but sickens it. 
 
 Angel. Go, child! 
 
 Fulfil thy fate ! Be — do — bear — and thank God ! 
 To me it seems as I had lived all ages 
 Smce I left earth ; and thou art yet scarce man. 
 
 Festus. It was not, mother, that I knew thy face ; 
 The luminous eclipse that is on it now. 
 Though it was fair on earth, would have made it 
 
 strange 
 Even to one who knew as well as he loved thee ; 
 And if these time-tued eyes ever imaged thine, 
 It was but for a moment, and the sight 
 Passed ; and my life was broken like a line 
 At the first word — but my heart cried out in me. 
 
 Angel. I knew thee well. And now to earth again '
 
 FESTUS. 291 
 
 Go, son! and say to all who once were mine — 
 I love them, and expect them. 
 
 Festus. Blessed one ! 
 
 I will. 
 
 Angel. I charge thee, Genius, bear liim safely. 
 
 Genius. Through light, and night, and all the 
 powers of air, 
 I have a passport. 
 
 Angel. God be with thee, child! 
 
 Genius. Come ! 
 
 Festus. I feel happier, better, nobler now. 
 
 See where she sits, and smiles, and points me out 
 To those who sit along with her. Who are 
 The two? 
 
 Genius. One is the mother of mankind. 
 And one the mother of the Man who saved 
 Mankind ; and she, thine own, the mother of 
 The last man of mankind — for thou art he. 
 
 Festus. Am I ? It is enough : I have seen God. 
 
 Genius. God, and His great idea, the universe. 
 Are over and above us. Be the one 
 Worshipped, the other reverently proved. 
 Wilt sojourn for a time among the worlds. 
 And test their natures 1 
 
 Festus. Gladly. 
 
 Genius. Seek we, then, 
 
 All rareness and variety these worlds 
 Can offer, ere we reach thine orb. Descend ! 
 Now is the age of worlds. Another comes.
 
 2PS FESTUS. 
 
 Scene — A Garden and Pleasure House. 
 Marian, Helen, Edward, Charles, Sophia, and 
 
 OTHERS. 
 
 Edward. Again we meet in this fail' scene ; 
 Ah ! might we be but ever young ! 
 
 Harry. Helen ! We pray thee be again oiu 
 Queen. 
 
 Helen. I prithee hold thy tongue; 
 A royal revolution 'twere indeed. 
 That I should twice reign, and myself succeed. 
 
 Charles. No nay ! No nay ! it must be so : 
 Pennit me. 
 
 Helen. Well, there needs no show 
 Of more reluctance than I feel ; 
 Both kings and queens must court the commonweal. 
 
 Harry. A bumper at meeting ! a bumper at part- 
 ing ! 
 As many you like be between ; 
 
 But we AvUl have a right ruddy brimmer at starting — 
 A health to our beautiful Queen ! 
 Long, long may she reign in our hearts and right arms, 
 And her all but omnipotence last! 
 She shall fear nothing rougher than love's light 
 
 alarms — 
 There is nought in the coming can darken her charms — 
 There is nought can eclipse in the past.
 
 FESTUS. 299 
 
 A brimmer at sitting, a brimmer at starting, 
 
 As many you like be between ; 
 
 But we will have a right ruddy bumper at parting — 
 
 A health to our beautiful Queen ! 
 
 Oh ! while beauty shall live m the form of the fair, 
 
 And love in the heart of the brave. 
 
 The Queen of our souls, she shall never despair, 
 
 For our hearts we Avould di-ain, and our deaths we 
 
 would dare, 
 To avenge Avhom we love, or to save. 
 
 Helen. Born to exert the powers of my state, 
 Charles, I have named thee poet-laureate. 
 
 IIarry. Kiss hands upon appointment. 
 
 Charles. Sovereign fau' ! 
 
 Behold thy grateful servant. 
 
 Helen. Sit thou there, 
 
 In all but full equality with me; 
 Love rules the heart and the mind poesie ; 
 In youth at least, and when in hours like this 
 The rule is pleasure, the exception bliss. 
 
 Laurence. But where is Festus 1 
 
 Helen. . 'Tis to him we owe 
 
 The repetition of this scene of joy. 
 He bids me say he loves ye all ye know. 
 But deems his presence less attraction than annoy. 
 Whatever ye can name, and I command. 
 Is by his bidding welcome thus to all ; 
 But pardon craves ; high quests he hath in hand 
 AVhich wait not on his own nor pleasure's call.
 
 300 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 And though to me his presence be a power, 
 
 His every word with love's bright magic rife, 
 
 Yet he — nor him from that height would I lower — 
 
 Li^'es in the upper hemisphere of life, 
 
 Where angel thoughts and spiritual orbs 
 
 Roll in the majesty of mind profound ; 
 
 Where Truth's bright disk, all doubt-spots dark absorb!!, 
 
 And Inspiration's lightning beams abound. 
 
 "\^1iether he e'er return to scenes like this 
 
 I know not — much I question — but can trace 
 
 The tone, methuiks, of that sad soul of his 
 
 Roll ever-deepening down an endless bass, 
 
 Like an abyss of thunder. But, away ! 
 
 These tears mine eyes have haunted all the day ; 
 
 Now they are vanished. Let us change, I pray. 
 
 The matter of our converse. 
 
 Sophia. Ay, be gay ! 
 
 Helen. Come, we will consecrate the passing houi 
 With songs of love and lays of beauty's power ; — 
 For Avhen the tale of Time hath told 
 A thousand thousand years. 
 His purple pinions starred with gold — 
 Wherewith he doth the world mfold — 
 Will still be stained with dust and tears ; 
 And still life's sole, brief Paradise, in sooth, 
 Be love and beauty in the hour of youth. 
 A song, a dance, one cup to beauty's name, 
 Music, a jest, or pleasant tale in rhjme. 
 Sufficient these, with mirth and gentle game, 
 Alternate with repose, to fill our time.
 
 FESTUS. 301 
 
 And first, a dance ! for Earth and Heaven 
 Are both to choral influence given. 
 
 Charles. The snn in the centre turns solemnly 
 round, 
 And the pale god of shades, the conductor of souls, 
 Seems to warm as he circles the glory profound, 
 Where the goddess of beauty all beamingly rolls; 
 While earth and her sister float brilliantly by, 
 Her heart towards the sun, and her love in her 
 
 eye. 
 Then Mars, like a warrior, gloomy and red 
 Impetuous wheels, ever glancing at one ; 
 While six sister goddesses mazily tread 
 The bright fields of air which encircle the sun ; 
 And Jove, the majestic, serene in his might. 
 Sweeps cloudy and thunderous aye to the light. 
 Then Saturn, old gray-bearded emblem of time. 
 Comes slowly and chilly to join with the rest. 
 And Ouranus next with young Eros sublime. 
 Move slowly, as though they partook with the blest ; 
 And each, his bright be^y of servitors round, 
 Complete the vast figure with harmony crowned. 
 
 Helen. This, then, is your inaugural ode. 
 
 Charles. If you, fair lady, think it so. 
 Your word imposes the sole code 
 Of law, or justice, we may know. 
 
 Helen. Then my authority is absolute. 
 
 Edward. As truth's my liege. 
 
 Helen. We'll see then if it suit
 
 302 FESTUS. 
 
 So like the stars which circie through the skies, 
 As Charles hath sung, 
 Let us too dance with choral harmonies, 
 Ourselves among. 
 
 INIarian, apart. Again that name hath knelled 
 upon mine ear. 
 Though I have never voiced it. 'Tis to me 
 Too deeply, yea, unutterably dear. 
 How warmly, too, she loves him ! Let it be. 
 'S\T\\o most enjoy the light may best endure, 
 When come, the darkness as it now is here. 
 Whatever his, may my troth plight keep sure ! 
 I have turned to thee, moon, from the glance 
 That in triumphing coldness was given ; 
 And rejoiced, as I viewed thee all lonely advance, 
 There Avas something was lonely in Heaven. 
 I have turned to thee, moon, as I lay 
 In thy silent and saddening brightness. 
 And rejoiced, as high Heaven went shining away, 
 That the heart had its desolate lightness. 
 I have turned to thee, moon, from my love. 
 And from all that once blessed me in sadness ; 
 And can marvel no more that, abandoned above. 
 Thou shouldst lend thy bright face to make madness 
 I have turned to thee, moon, from m.\ heart, 
 That in love liath long labored and sorrowed ; 
 And have hoped it might mix, as I watched thee 
 
 depart. 
 Like thyself, with the moi'n which had morrowed.
 
 FESTUS. 303 ■ 
 
 J 
 
 Laurence. Can I behold the lady of my love 
 Mournmg alone, from pleasure all apart 1 
 Again I seek thee, though it be to hear 
 The sentence of destruction to my heart. 
 Yet if it be so, still one moment stay ; 
 For it so haps whene'er I think of thee, 
 
 So blent is thought with love's anxiety, I 
 
 My spirit doth invariably pray. I 
 
 Any blessing God can give 
 Never be withheld from thee ; 
 Nor will I desire to live 
 If that prayer be lost to me; 
 Else I were unworthy thee. 
 
 Read these eyes, love, and believe j 
 
 Ever I am only thine ; 
 End of all my hopes, receive. 
 Dearest, heart and all that's mine ! 
 
 INIarian. I thank thee, Laurence, and believe, -j 
 
 But this is all I can for thee, I 
 
 Save grieve that thou shouldst vainly grieve j 
 
 I to another am as thou to me ' 
 
 In this strange passion which pain sanctifies; 
 This folly, sorrow makes sublime and wise. , 
 
 Laurence. Oh ! there is nothing, in this world 
 
 of ours, \ 
 
 So sad to see 
 
 As the dark worm which dwells wherever flowers | 
 
 Our destiny ; 
 
 Eating the heart out of youth's budding hours ^ 
 
 Of glee. j
 
 304 F E S T u s . 
 
 Not oft in sunny beds, nor sheltered bowers, 
 
 Life's lot is cast. 
 
 But chiefly lost in shade, and chilled by showers. 
 
 Or the rude blast ; 
 
 Till all its delicate and wholesome powers 
 
 Are past. 
 
 And this, then, is the end of all the bliss 
 
 ^Vliich love and beauty offered, and my soul 
 
 Made certain of in natural triumph ; this 
 
 The heritage of life, and this love's goal. 
 
 Marian. Peace ! there is one I name not, came 
 not here 
 Partly because of me. But think'st thou I 
 Came to indulge a wretched vanity 
 With thee, or pry into another's sphere 1 
 With whom I grieve too ; which is more unblest, 
 Whose love is shunned or sought, let time attest ! 
 
 Helen. And now, for pastime, some one tell a 
 tale; 
 Come, an adventure, Charles. 
 
 Charles. Oh, pray dispense 
 
 With my devoirs this time. I fain would try, 
 If any wit be in the company ; 
 By observation, not experience, 
 Of course I judge : for of my own 
 The world and I are cognizant alone. 
 
 Emma. Fatigued, no doubt, with over-admiration 
 Of your sweet self. 
 
 Helen. Well, each one in rotation.
 
 FESTUS. 89j 
 
 Walter. Now I kiiow a delicious tale 
 Will suit you, Carrie, to a T. 
 
 Caroline. Do tell me, then, and I'll believe 
 It more than truth, if need should be. 
 
 Walter. Well ; Love is the child of bliss and woe ; 
 So, from his parents dear, 
 One eye is blinded with a smile, 
 One drowned in a tear. 
 And on one lip there drops a kiss, 
 Like honey from the wild woodbine ; 
 And that's the lip he had from bliss — 
 And that's the lip I will have mine: 
 But on Uic other hangs a lie. 
 And that — but that's 'tween }ou and I. 
 Caroline. How very odd ! 
 Walter. Why, it's a fact. 
 
 And therefore needs no illustration ; 
 But if you think its principle abstract, 
 It is easily shown in operation. 
 
 Caroline. Oh dear ! no, no ! I'll vow it's true. 
 Rather than have it proved by you. . 
 
 George. Well, then, hear me. Now this is true, 
 Although of love and the lyre too ; 
 And, as it happened all to me, 
 I say but what I could out see. 
 I was with the maid I love, 
 We were happy and alone ; 
 Eve's star just lit the gro\i;. 
 And the day had been our own ; 
 
 39 z«
 
 £06 FESTUS. 
 
 And my lyre lay by my side. 
 
 But no music from it came ; 
 
 For as sure as e'er I tried, 
 
 It was harsh or it was tame ; 
 
 So I flung it to my feet, 
 
 And I feigned the while I said, 
 
 Thy love I cannot meet ; 
 
 Thou must not love me, maid. 
 
 And more I might have feigned, 
 
 AMien there came a little boy, 
 
 And his step fell as light 
 
 As a laugh of joy ; 
 
 And he laughed, and said, I'm liove? 
 
 Shall I teach you how to play 1 
 
 And I said, My pretty boy, 
 
 Teach away ! teach aAvay ! 
 
 So he lifted up the lyre, 
 
 And he fingered its strmgs, 
 
 Till I thought they did become 
 
 Like spiritual things ; 
 
 And the gold chords shone. 
 
 From the music he clouded, 
 
 Like the links of the lightning, 
 
 When tempests come crowded; 
 
 And the strain rose and fell, 
 
 'Neath his pink little fingers. 
 
 Like a soul due to earth, 
 
 That in Heaven still ling'i?.
 
 FESTUS. '?f'7 
 
 He ceased ; and all over 
 
 He smiled like the strain 
 
 Of tlie music he made me, 
 
 Nor made me in vain ; 
 
 For I snatched at the lyre 
 
 While yet it Avas ringing, 
 
 And I sang, It is love 
 
 Gives the poet his singing. 
 
 Then I turned to my beauty, 
 
 Who kissed her young bard. 
 
 As she said, Love and song 
 
 Shall have thus their reward. 
 
 He laughed till he cried ; 
 
 I pretended to frown ; 
 
 So my love made him hide 
 
 In her bosom of down ; 
 
 Where at last he gasped out. 
 
 Oh, forgive me, I pray ! 
 
 But I couldn't help laughing — 
 
 Boy, I said, get away ! 
 
 Let none, then, who love not. 
 
 Ever offer to sing ; 
 
 Let none who say false 
 
 Ever strike tlio gold string — . 
 
 He said ; and I saw but the 
 
 Wave of his wing. 
 
 Lucy. These stories are delisjlitful ; I declare 
 I never dreamed that Love was to be seen, 
 More tlian a gliost in tlicse enlightened days.
 
 i.!?."? FESTUS. 
 
 LAnRENCE. Thiice wretched, he to whom he comes, 
 
 I ween. 
 Charles. I had a strange ^isit once from Love ; 
 But when, mdeed, I dread to date it. 
 It is so long since I half forget, 
 But if it please you I'll narrate it. 
 
 Lai;ra. Oh, do ! a poet surely will have something 
 Pretty to say about the poor, dear, dumb thing. 
 Harry. Dumb ! then you know but little of the 
 tyrant; 
 He'd bellow down a fifth-rate actor by rant. 
 
 Charles. It is true I have met him once or twice 
 Since the event of which I tell; 
 He called, I find, the other day, 
 And left his card ; but T. T. L. 
 So, if we meet again, the little god 
 Will get the cut celestial, or a nod 
 At best. But, as I fear I am wasting time, 
 For shortness' sake I'll tell my tale in rhyme. 
 I nursed with care a favorite fire 
 
 In secret and alone ; 
 And oft I blew it ^^ith my breath, 
 
 And oft 'twas all but gone. 
 And not a soul beside myself 
 Cared for my flame or me ; 
 It made me sad, it made me glad, 
 
 'llie veiy secrecy. 
 At length my absence made me missed ; 
 They sought me far and near.
 
 FFSTUS. 309 
 
 Witli muttered scorn, with smile, with sigh, 
 
 With silence, and a tear ; 
 And one said, Let the boy alone, 
 
 His flame will soon expire ; 
 And others said, 'Tis nought to us ; 
 
 And still I fed my fire. 
 And friends and kindred all condemned, 
 
 With stern and fixed eye, 
 The love of folly, which, they said. 
 
 Possessed me ; — spake not I. 
 So one by one they went away, 
 
 'Twere useless to remain; 
 Their presence or their absence nought — 
 
 I fanned my fire again. 
 And Beauty came, but blamed me not; 
 
 So sweetly did she ask 
 Of life and peace, I half forgot 
 
 To tend my wayA\ard task ; 
 Till, while her eyes were lift above, 
 
 I spied it as I turned ; 
 Sprang like a bowstring to the bow, 
 
 And stirred it till it burned. 
 And Pride and World-Ambition came, 
 
 And tried to tread it out ; 
 But every ember foimd its nerve, 
 
 And each with pain did shout; 
 And TiOve camo, not as he was wont, 
 
 With kiss and merry brow. 
 And eyes like two forget-me-nots. 
 
 Dipped in the stream below : —
 
 310 FESTUS. 
 
 But up he came with torrent tears, 
 
 And pale and reckless look, 
 And eye as cold as any stone 
 
 In petrifying brook ; 
 He broke his bow ; his shafts he snapped, 
 
 And swore he would expire ; — 
 I took his bow and arrows both, 
 
 And burnt them in my fire. 
 And all thataU or aught could do 
 
 Was useless to its end ; 
 The flame, though fitful, flourished stiU, 
 
 In spite of foe or friend. 
 It warms me now ; I feel it must 
 
 Respond to my desire ; 
 For I have heaped both heart and soul 
 
 Upon that deathless fii'e. 
 Lucy. Poor thing ! I think you served him very 
 
 iU; 
 But* it accounts for our distressed condition ; 
 For, without arms, nor wound can he nor kUl ; 
 I'm half afraid hell die of inanition. 
 
 AViLL. With poets every thing must deatliless be ; 
 Xow it's the passmgness of things that gives 
 Their most exciting charm to me; 
 Life hath less beauty if it ever lives. 
 All loveliest things pass soonest; clouds and flowers, 
 RainboAvs, heart-kindling glances, the sweet smile ; 
 Because brief, we admire, or make them ours ; 
 But we should slight them lived they longer while.
 
 FESTUS. 311 
 
 Charles. It is sweet to be awakened by a kiss. 
 When dreaming of the very lips which Avaken ; — 
 Ah! never be that visionary bliss, 
 But for the bright reality, forsaken. 
 It is sweet to dream we are blest at last with her 
 Who first made pleasure in our nature stir : 
 Thougli fairer, kinder, since we may have known, 
 That first voluptuous vision sits her throne; 
 Still, in our sleep, plays o'er young passion's part, 
 As pleasure's ghost still haunts the ruined heart 
 Where lie the buried loves of younger years, 
 Whose rites and requiems are sighs and tears. 
 Sleep on, ye living dead, in day ! nor rise. 
 But in night's shadowy shapes and dreamy eyes ; 
 Then let me graft me in your breasts again. 
 And stanch my bosom of its tearing pain. 
 Oh ! fade not — stir not — hold me till I die, 
 In the desire of what I most possess ; 
 For I would die, as I have lived, in love ; 
 To dream of happiness, is happiness : 
 And be it but a dream ; these very dreams 
 Are elements of immortality ; 
 As mind on earth alraiglitily beseems, 
 And body but an impotent reality. 
 But dearer than the kiss, and than the dream, 
 Tlian busy bliss, or than remembered love, 
 It is to feel we sliall be deathless here, — 
 TTiat earth will speak of us when gone above.
 
 •312 FESTCS. 
 
 George. It is sweet to taste the clear, close kiss 
 of meeting, 
 And sweet to lengthen still the long embrace ; 
 It is sweet to see the man we back is beating — 
 Sweet to be startled by a pretty face. 
 It is sweet to hear, if fat, that we grow thinner ; 
 Sweet the first drop of claret after dinner ; 
 But sweeter still than all that's sweet before 
 Is to hear some say, I will say no more ; 
 A blessing I can scarce expect to be 
 From those who are more near than dear to me ; 
 You, Charles, for instance. 
 
 Charles. ^Vhy, you greedy elf, 
 
 Would you have all the nonsense to yourself? 
 
 Helen. Now let us have no argument, I pray. 
 
 Frank. Suppose we have a pretty, lively song. 
 
 Emma. Suppose you sing it, then. 
 
 Frank. Well, never say 
 
 I don't intend to help you, right or wrong. 
 Will no one else 1 Then I'll essay 
 A song I leai-ned but yesterday. 
 
 Oh ! gaze on her beautiful, soft rolling ej'e, 
 And revel with bliss in its languishing love ; 
 Oh! look on its brightness and darkness, and sigh 
 That truth from that Heaven should ever remove. 
 Oh ! gaze on her ringlets of raven-black hair, 
 And her delicate eyebrows' soft pencilly line ;
 
 FESTUS. 313 
 
 Oh ! wish that her bosom were pure as it's fair, 
 That the saint were as worthy of love as the shrine. 
 
 I have gazed — I have loved — I have worshipped ; 
 
 and fain 
 I now would declare it — my madness is past ; 
 But pleasure no more in my heart Avill remain, 
 Than the sparkle of spray on the sand beach cast. 
 I loathe her, and love her — I never can rail — 
 It is past, and I reck not — my fortune I dare; 
 Henceforward the shroud of my hopes is my sail, 
 And the peace which I sought I have found in despair. 
 
 Caroline. If that's called lively, or in part, or 
 wholly, 
 The gods preserve me from your melancholy. 
 
 Harry. 'Tis no use saying that I love you, Sophy, 
 For if I do, you only cry out, Oh, fie ! 
 Nathless, as some one else must sing. 
 Wait only till I screw this string. 
 
 I love not horse, 
 
 I love not wine ; 
 
 Nor song nor dance 
 
 Be joys of mine. 
 
 And dull to me 
 
 Are the skies above ; 
 
 I love not lore, 
 
 I love not love. 
 
 40 AA
 
 31-i FESTUS. 
 
 But thee I now 
 Love, and e'er avlU: 
 For love's the best 
 Point in me stUl. 
 And since my heart 
 Owns nought above thee, 
 It must be Phil- 
 osophy to love thee. 
 Laura. Hast thou got any thing there for me? 
 
 For surely thou never shouldst bring me near thee, 
 
 Unless thou hast some gift with thee 
 
 To bribe me to hear thee. 
 
 Edavard. I bring thee neither bribe noi boon ; 
 
 I offer only flowers, 
 
 "Wliich, gathered thus, dex-ise the hope. 
 
 Each other's hearts are ours. 
 
 But mind, I see one poison bloom 
 
 Thrust like a motto from the tomb. 
 
 Amid some merry song ; 
 
 As every being hath its bane. 
 
 As the brightest clouds are thick A^dth rain. 
 
 And the day hath night-shade long; 
 
 But if one gem of joy there be, 
 
 Too many for the day's bright wreath, 
 
 Then may the night-shade give it thee, 
 
 Though it be joy to death ; 
 
 For I would neither love nor die 
 
 Beneath a broad and laughing sky:
 
 I'ESTUS. 315 
 
 No ; heart and spirit, take your llight, 
 
 Aye, in the still and starry night ; 
 
 Receive them, lady, in that breast, 
 
 With peace and purity to rest ; 
 
 And, Oh ! if not too much for prayer, 
 
 My life, my love, my all be there. . 
 
 Ah, happy flowerets ! if the whUe 
 
 Ye ope beneath her summer smile. 
 
 But to pluck the poison from the rest, 
 
 Beauty of night, come deck my breast. 
 
 Beauty of night, thou art blithe and bright, 
 
 While all thy sister blooms are sleeping; 
 
 And though thou canst but bloom to blight, 
 
 Wilt wake and laugh in dewy light, 
 
 While they are dreaming, tliey are weeping. 
 
 Beduty of night, I will, will win thee ; 
 
 Flower of life, my life is in thee. 
 
 Beauty of night, I knew that light 
 
 Had shade, and knew that night had deeper; 
 
 But they but bring to weary wight 
 
 The sleep which love alone will slight, 
 
 And thou who wring'st life from the sleeper 
 
 Beauty of night, I have, have won thee ; 
 
 Flower of death, my death be on me. 
 
 Laura. Thou may'st be happy if thou wilt, 
 Nor envy these poor flowers their spot ; 
 For close as in a clenched hand. 
 Thy love within my heart hath lot.
 
 ftl6 FESTUS. 
 
 Fanny. Who mentioned ghosts 1 In nothing 1 
 so glory 
 As a true, thiilling, chilling, good ghost story. 
 
 Edward. But on a soft and fragrant summer eve, 
 With glistening flowers and flashing waters by, 
 One lacks the proper impulse to believe : — 
 But then I don't believe them. 
 
 Will. Oh! nor I. 
 
 Lucy. They want a fireside and a howling storm ; 
 Summer time seems too sensual and warm. 
 
 Frederic. Oh ! you are a parlous little infidel, 
 Or I could teU a tale ; but I'm not well. 
 My head seems wrong, and somehow altogether 
 Feels like a bullet on a peacock's feather. 
 
 Walter. Do you believe that spirits interfere 
 With men, events, or actions any where? 
 
 Charles. Let gold-bagged priests from Ganges to 
 Bermudas 
 The gospel preach, according to St. Judas ; — 
 It's my opinion, if the truth were known. 
 That earth pertains to man and beast alone ; 
 And neither saint, nor fiend, nor bright, nor dark 
 
 angel. 
 Between the South Pole and the port of Archangel, 
 Have any call, or leave, or wUl, or power 
 To meddle with a mortal, for an hour. 
 
 Fanny. Oh ! you're an unbeliever. 
 
 Charles. That is true, 
 
 So far as this — I don't believe in vou.
 
 FESTUS. 317 
 
 Helen. Sir, you are rude. Now, Frederic, we wait 
 The story that you spoke of. Tell it straight. 
 
 Frederic. Please you, my liege, 111 try then and 
 
 remember ; 
 And for the rest — why, fancy it's December. 
 'Twas midnight, and a noble sat in his ancestral hall, 
 Where many a stern, old portrait gloomed along the 
 
 gilded wall ; 
 And ivory, marble, ebony, and tapestries adorned 
 The seats he used, the floors he trod ; for meaner 
 
 things he scorned. 
 And youth, and fame, and might were his — the 
 
 splendid might of mind ; 
 His spirit swept and bowed all hearts, as bending 
 
 forests wind ; 
 Yet youth and genius oft, too oft, in worship bow 
 
 the knee 
 At pleasure's shrine, in folly's fane ; more madly 
 
 none than he. 
 He sat, but not in solitude : a damsel by his side, 
 Of beauty, bright and gay of heart, him with the wine- 
 cup plied. 
 Gazing on him with eye as though to him her soul 
 
 were due : 
 Oh, nought 'neath Heaven itself might match that 
 
 eye's dark, sunny blue ! 
 From which, too, ever and anon smiles o'er her face 
 
 would fly. 
 Like the electric flames which flit o'er summer's 
 
 evening sky ;
 
 318 FESTUS. 
 
 And pearls were beaded o'er her brow, and gems lit 
 
 up her breast, 
 Like dew-drops on the morning rose when wakening 
 
 from rest. 
 " One parting goblet," cried the youth, " ere I away 
 
 to-night : 
 Bring me the old monk's skull-cup, girl ; peace to 
 
 his jovial sprite ! " 
 She by the lofty window went, — where in the moon's 
 
 pale sheen 
 The gray old cloisters arch about their fountain 
 
 centred green ; 
 The statued satyrs seemed to grin and jibber 'neath 
 
 her eye. 
 And as she looked, a death-like cloud came creeping 
 
 up the sky, 
 And in one long and trembling moan the night-gust 
 
 strove to die ; — 
 Up to the ebon cabinet, with flowery pearl inlaid. 
 And seized the goblet-skull, and laughed, — how 
 
 laughed that merry maid ! 
 He poured it full with bubbling Avine, impatient to 
 
 be quaffed, 
 Full to the silver-written rim, and drained it at a 
 
 draught ; 
 " Ah, would its owner were but here ! " and gayly bpth 
 
 they laughed. 
 " Again," lie cried, — " but what is that stirs in the 
 
 far-off gloom ? "
 
 FESTUS. 319 
 
 The lady looked and shrieked, and rushed out of that 
 royal room. 
 
 Enveloped in a sable cowl, and stole of sightless hue, 
 
 A ghostly figure glided swift that noble youth unto. 
 
 Why drops the goblet from his grasp 1 Why trembles 
 he with dread ? 
 
 The grave hath given birth ; — he sees a spirit of the 
 dead. 
 
 Another moment, unappalled, erectly still he stands ; 
 
 He would not (juail to man nor fiend, for half his 
 goodly lands. 
 
 Yet, like a tree by sudden gust, his soul was seized 
 with fear 
 
 An instant — and his spirit shook as drew the spectre 
 near ; 
 
 His small, Avhite hand, veined like a leaf, close to his 
 bosom clung. 
 
 And every nerve and sinew grew like to a bowstring 
 strung. 
 
 As with a shadow's voice it said — 
 
 "I am the Monk of old, 
 
 A fragment of wliose mortal frame I at thy feet be- 
 hold. 
 
 For that I plead not, reck not now ; a tiling of nobler 
 fate 
 
 Hast thou perverted and defiled than aught of human 
 state, 
 
 Than bone or body ; sin, in truth, the soul doth des- 
 ecrate."
 
 320 F EST us. 
 
 " Nay, holy father ! " said the youth, " if thou hast 
 left old Death 
 
 To preach to me, at dead of night, waste not thy 
 pious hreath ! 
 
 Pledge me in this ! the night is cold, yet colder is 
 the grave. 
 
 And wine will wann thee ! shrink not back ! immor- 
 tals should be brave! 
 
 Ah ! know'st the cup ? "Well, heed it not ! right 
 welcome shalt thou be 
 
 To drain it with me every night, and — benedicite." 
 
 With that, he raised the cup to fill and quaff it as 
 before, 
 
 TUl fast as poured, the wine became but dust in- 
 crusted gore; 
 
 He cast it on the fire, — the lake could not have 
 quenched it more. 
 
 Again the spectre spake, and still in cold and tomb- 
 like tone, — 
 
 " Drink thou Avith whom thou wilt ; with girls, with 
 gallants, or alone ; 
 
 I come to Avaru thee of thy fate — a fate to me made 
 known." 
 
 The old monk raised his cowl ; nor face, nor feature 
 was there there ; 
 
 Nay, nothing but two eyes, which burnt like stars 
 distinct in air. 
 
 " Thou in a foi'eign clime shalt die, and thy poor, 
 fleshly frame
 
 FESTUS. 321 
 
 Be borne across the seas to rest by theirs from whom 
 
 it came. 
 Thy heart alone shall be inurned upon the spot 
 
 where thou 
 Wilt pay the forfeit of thy life, where Death looks for 
 
 thee now. 
 Embalmed, enshrined thy heart shall be in gemmed 
 
 and costly case. 
 And as a thing of worship set before a nation's face ; 
 Till, in the lapse of coming years, some sacrilegious 
 
 thief 
 Shall filch that relic — set at nought that weeping 
 
 people's grief 
 The sacred dust which dwelt within, the dust which 
 
 now swells high 
 Within thy bosom, he shall strew abroad relent- 
 lessly. 
 And this in retribution, youtli, for that thou there 
 
 hast done." 
 The voice, the vision ceased ; and, lo ! that instant it 
 
 Avas gone. 
 Again the night-wind sweeps along those old and 
 
 ivied halls ; 
 Again o'er lake and fountain free the witching moon- 
 light falls. 
 Checkering through the panes the dim old paintings 
 
 round the Avails. 
 But there Avas one Avho ncA'er Avent into that room 
 
 again ; 
 
 41
 
 322 FESTUS. 
 
 And prayers, and tears, and jeers were eacli alike 
 
 essayed in vain. 
 That dark, unearthly visitor was ever in her mind, 
 liike to the awe which fiUeth fanes where gods have 
 
 once been shrined. 
 And morning met the youth all pale, and pacing to 
 
 and fro ; — 
 But, ah ! the goblet-skuU he touched never again, I 
 troAv. 
 
 Lucy. There ; does not that convert you ? 
 
 Charles. Not a whit, 
 
 I don't believe a single word of it ; 
 Nor yet of summer fairies, winter ghosts, 
 Nor any other spiritual hosts. 
 
 Sophia. See, then, how inconsistent you must be 
 In the sad tale you told us about Love. 
 
 Charles. The credit of my creed concerns but me, 
 Either in Earth below or Heaven above. 
 
 Helen. Men ! I give notice I am sitting here 
 To answer and console the sad in heart. 
 Who is in level 
 
 Charles. I am, sweet judge ; I fear 
 
 And hope, unbiased, you will take my part. 
 
 Helen. What do you wish ] 
 
 Charles. Fair justice, if it please — 
 
 Helen. To mock our ears with your mock 
 miseries 1 — 
 Sit ; we'll not hear them. You shall truly tell 
 That love does oftener than he says, farewell.
 
 F EST us. 323 
 
 Charles. With truth I cannot ; but I'll state my 
 case. 
 
 Helen. ]May it bear out your miserable face ! 
 
 Charles. I have lived on ladies' eyes, 
 Dined on kisses, supped on sighs ; 
 I have warmed me by^ their smiles, 
 I have been wet through with tears ; 
 They've half slain me Avith their wiles — 
 Charming, cheating, pretty dears ; 
 They have scratched me in their play, 
 Sighed and sucked the wound away ; 
 They have squeezed me black and blue. 
 Roughed my hair and boxed my ears. 
 Laughed, and looked me through and through : 
 Oh, the cruel, angel dears ! 
 
 Fanny. Indeed, you have been sadly treated. 
 
 Charles. Ah me ! how I have been jilted, cheated ; 
 It would move the passion of a stone ; 
 And yet when not Avith ladies, I'm alone. 
 I like the company of women most. 
 And after theirs, my own : 
 Among men I feel always lost. 
 Ladies' society for me, or none. 
 
 Helen. Peace ! say no more. We all agree in part. 
 This court thinks fit tc confiscate your heart ; 
 And, till the fine be paid, to one at least — 
 Some lady here — you cannot be released. 
 Begone ! thank us that you escape so well, 
 From what, it is impossible to tell.
 
 324 FKSTUS. 
 
 Charles. Oh ! I appeal against my fate. 
 
 Helen. Just as a cur a coach may bait. 
 It nought avails. 
 
 Charles. But what am I to dol 
 
 The puzzling power of a pair of eyes ! 
 One pair is black, one gray, and one is blue: 
 I am a sacrifice ! 
 
 They are three — the sweet sisters I love in my heart, 
 And all so unlike and so fair : 
 When with all, I am longing to love them apart, 
 And apart, T would all of them there. 
 By the world, I dare say, I shall greedy be reckoned, 
 But my wish I can name in a word : 
 I would live with the first, I Avould die with the 
 
 second, 
 And immortal I'd be with the third. 
 
 Helen. Go ! we have pardoned you with like con- 
 trition 
 As we condemned — without condition; 
 This point excepted, that you sing a song 
 In token your deliverance is wrong. 
 Though just my judgment. Pray don't keep us long, 
 Or banishment, perhaps, may be your lot. 
 
 Charles. Oh ! I protest against it. 
 
 Others. Despot fair ! 
 
 Your sentence is too cruel. 
 
 Helen. Hold, slaves I what 1 
 
 Dispute ! I fine you each. So now, despair. 
 Thus I adopt first the most stringent measure
 
 FESTUS. '325 
 
 Our taxes are your songs, your fines our pleasure: 
 These ladies will assist you now and then. 
 
 Laura. Oh, certainly. 
 
 Ejlma. Behave yourselves like men. 
 
 Charles. There's no escaping, it appears to me, 
 However nod and wink, &c., be. 
 
 Brandy may do for the old, 
 
 And water for all who choose it ; 
 
 And brandy and water, hot or cold, 
 
 There are few who will dare to refuse it. 
 
 But as for myself, I still must think, 
 
 How wrong soever I be, 
 
 There is nothing like wine for a poet's drink ; 
 
 Wine — wine is the drink for me! 
 
 Cider may suit an old maid. 
 
 And a young one, soda water ; 
 
 Grog, toddy, and negus, and lemonade, 
 
 The curious in self-slaughter. 
 
 But as for myself, I still must think, 
 
 How wrong soever I be. 
 
 There is nothing like wine for a poet's drink ; 
 
 Wine — wine is the drink for me! 
 
 Ale may go down with the clown, 
 And beer with the sad and seedy ; 
 And porter and stout, entire and brown. 
 With the dead, or the mad, or the needv.
 
 f 
 
 326 FESTUS, 
 
 But as for myself, I still must think. 
 How wrong soever I be. 
 
 There is nothing like wine for a poet's drink ! 
 Wine — wine is the drink for me ! 
 
 Helen. A broad hint, truly. Pay the bard his fee, 
 I dare say he is thirsty. 
 
 Frank and others. So are we ! 
 
 Charles. What, ho ! a butt of sack ! 
 
 Helen. But no butt here! 
 
 Or sack you'll get another way, I fear. 
 B^member that, within our sacred sight. 
 You should continue abstinent to-night. 
 Indeed, I don't approve that sort of song, 
 And think it very rude, and rather wrong. 
 To make my subjects good, is my main plan; 
 Let them be merry with it if they can : 
 ^Imd, as it is, I am resolved almost 
 To make you forfeit your important post. 
 
 Charles. Lady, I swear I never to offend meant : 
 Our next shall move you all as an amendment. 
 
 Helen. Now seriatim, gentles, if you please, 
 We are quite resolved to list your melodies. 
 
 Lucy. Come, no more flinching. 
 
 Frank, Walter, and others, a2)art. Let us sing 
 a glee. 
 And so, by singing all at once, evade 
 The separate penalty. 
 
 Edward. Dost think thnt she, 
 
 The tyrant of this fair festivity. 
 
 i;
 
 FESTUS. 327 
 
 Will bear to have her words so far Ijcwrayedl 
 No more than ice bear blood-heat in the shade. 
 
 Walter. We can but try. 
 
 Charles. Remember what I told you, 
 
 And think upon the bright eyes that behold you. 
 
 The crow ! the crow ! the great black crow ! 
 He cares not to meet us wherever we go ; 
 He cares not for man, beast, friend, nor foe, 
 For nothing will eat him, he well doth know. 
 
 Know ! know ! you great black crow ! 
 It's a comfort to feel like a great black crow ! 
 
 The crow ! the crow ! the great black crow ! 
 He loves the fat meadow — his taste is low; 
 He loves the fat Avorms, and he dines in a row 
 With fifty fine cousins, all black as a sloe. 
 
 Sloe ! sloe ! you great black crow ! 
 But it's jolly to fare like a great black crow. 
 
 The crow ! the crow ! the great black crow ! 
 He never gets drunk on the rain nor snow ; 
 He never gets drunk, but he never says, No ! 
 If you press him to tipple ever so. 
 So ! so ! you great black crow ! 
 It's an honor to soak like a great black crow. 
 
 The crow ! the crow ! the great black crow ! 
 He lives for a hundred years and mo' ;
 
 J: 
 
 328 FESTUS. 
 
 He lives till he dies, and he dies as slow 
 As the morning mists do-vvn the hUl that go. 
 
 Go ! go ! you great black crow ! 
 But it's fine to live and die like a great black croAV 
 
 Helen. Your principles are purer, I perceive. You 
 Are much the same in practice. 
 
 Frank. I believe you. 
 
 A heart full of feeling, a cup full of wine, — 
 Come — sip, love ; come — sip, love ; 
 Tliere's nothing I lack but that sweet lip of thine, — 
 Thy lip, love — thy lip, love. 
 Thine eyes are like two romping stars. 
 That look as they had drank of wine ; 
 And, flpng fi-om night's brow, had brought 
 Their liquid love to thine. 
 But I forget : thev're not the words 1 mean. 
 
 Helen. Wilt sing, Sophia 1 
 
 Sophia. I obey thee, Queen. 
 
 Of knight and lady to each other true, 
 I sing the generous lay, their due. 
 
 Yes, lady dear, for aye — adieu ! 
 
 The false world I defy, lady ; 
 But thou, sweet soul, so fair, so true, ^ 
 
 I would thou couldst not sigh, lady. ■*; 
 
 Oh ! mind thee not of me when gone. 
 
 But lay tliy memory by, lady ; 
 In liglit and joyance live thou on ; 
 
 Lca\-o me. leave me to sigh, lady !
 
 FESTUS. 329 
 
 fair ! O true ! for aye I go ; 
 From thee, from thee I hie, lady; 
 
 1 must not yield me to thy woe, 
 I dare not list thee sigh, lady. 
 
 Yonder thou seest my father's hall, 
 Whose turrets pierce the sky, lady; 
 
 Ah ! rather might they on me fall. 
 Than I would hear thee sigh, lady. 
 
 To far-off lands now wends his Avay ; 
 
 And, if he there should die, lady, 
 Oh ! let thy true love, happy, say 
 
 He never caused thee sigh, lady. 
 Farewell for aye ! It wrings thy heart ; 
 
 It drowns thy darkening eye, lady. 
 Farewell ! I feel what 'tis to part ; 
 
 But say thou AvQt not sigh, lady. 
 
 Will. ]\Iay none here ever know as true, 
 The false, cold lover's last adieu ! 
 But yet to show things as they be, 
 The false maid, thus, ye all may see. 
 
 Thou lov'st another, maiden ! 
 
 And I am free as thou ; 
 My heart with scorn is laden. 
 
 To speak but with thee now. 
 Though through thy glossy ringlets 
 
 ^ly hand hath often played, 
 
 42 BB*
 
 330 FESTUS. 
 
 Here — take it back ! I loathe it — 
 The long imbosomed braid. 
 
 Away, away ! no more with thee, 
 Thou falsest, fairest maid! 
 
 One heart is ripe and laden 
 
 With love for me e'en now ; 
 I'll woo me, then, the maiden 
 
 More kind, more true than thou. 
 Then give it to my rival. 
 
 The black and glossy braid ; 
 And give the hand which twined it, 
 
 The cheek whereon it played. 
 Away, aAvay ! no more with thee. 
 
 Thou fairest, falsest maid. 
 
 Walter. A gem may have a hundred sides, 
 And glitter bright in each : 
 Where true philosophy presides 
 Pleasure it is to teach ; 
 
 I therefore choose the channs of happy faith, 
 Secure in love's all-present joy; 
 From aught that might e'en dreams alloy, 
 With dread of future skaith. 
 
 I dreamed of thee, love, in the eve, 
 And I lay among bright, blushing flowers ; 
 I awoke — and, ah ! how could I grieve. 
 If the blooms hurried back to their bowers ?
 
 FESTUS. 331 
 
 I di-eamed of thee, love, in the night, 
 And the stars stood around by my head ; 
 I awoke to thy beauty so bright, 
 And the stars hid their faces and fled, 
 
 I dreamed of thee, love, in the morn. 
 And a poet's bright dreamings drew nigh; 
 I awoke, and I laughed them to scorn ; 
 They were black by the blink of thine eye. 
 
 I dreamed of thee, love, in the day. 
 And I wept as I slept o'er thy charms ; 
 I awoke as my dream went away. 
 And my tears were all wet on thine arms. 
 
 Helen. ^Vh ! who would long for bliss above, 
 That tastes the joys below 1 
 Or, hanging on the lips of Love, 
 Would seek to kiss his brow 1 
 Unless to change and clear the taste, 
 Lest sweets in sameness run to waste. 
 
 George. Come, do you dance 1 
 
 Laurence. No ; we two here remain. 
 
 Marian. But why indulge in mutual sorrows 
 vain'? 
 And if I grant this one request — 
 
 Laurence. It is the last time I sliall be so blest. 
 Oh ! thou art kind, and I will think 
 This wine to be thy love I drink;
 
 332 FESTUS. 
 
 Blood, my heart would gladly miss. 
 
 Could it so be filled with this ; 
 
 And each pulse would madlier move, 
 
 Warm with wine, alive with love. 
 
 Look upon it, love, and weep 
 
 Tliine eyelight o'er its purple deep ; 
 
 So each luminous glance shall be 
 
 Like a phosphor globelet in the sea. 
 
 Other lovers soon Avill sue thee — 
 
 Let them — they will ne'er possess 
 
 More than I enjoy, who view the 
 
 Lightning of thy loveliness. 
 
 It may be love and light in Heaven, 
 
 But here, on earth, such love is death ; 
 
 And such light is blindness driven, 
 
 Lance-like, through the breast and breath. 
 
 All who love thee, sure Avill die : 
 
 Thy beauty hath fatality. 
 
 For now is near my heart's last hour ; 
 
 I feel it failing like a flower, 
 
 When folding up its leaves to rest, 
 
 And narrowing in its own sweet breast. 
 
 I mean not, that I die to-day, 
 
 But that my spirit Avears away ; 
 
 And, save thyself, sees nought to lure it 
 
 Back to earth's falsehoods which immure it. 
 
 Marian. Thou wilt live yet many happy yeaie, 
 Far more in number than the tears
 
 r E s T u s . . 333 
 
 Men shed o'er broken hearts, if not : 
 
 \\'hen first forsaken, aye forgot ; i 
 
 While we, according to old fashion, 
 
 With our own tears must slake our passion ; j 
 
 Or, weeping in our bosoms, lorn and lone, . 
 
 Try if tears cannot turn the heart to stone. 
 
 Laurence. Promise, dearest, when I die, 
 
 I 
 ?sot to mourn, nor Aveep, nor sigh; 
 
 Eyes like thine should never weep, 
 
 Nor sweet bosom sorrow keep. i 
 
 Let nor stone, nor verse, nor aught 
 
 Mark where rests — what loved and thought; i 
 
 If they ask thee where I lie, > 
 
 Say, within thy memory. ' 
 
 Weep not thou o'er grave of mme, I 
 
 Sprinkle on it sparkling wine ; ] 
 
 That shall keep the grass all new I 
 
 Like to an immortal dew ; 
 
 And some fallen star shall stay, 
 
 Watching, while thou art away. I 
 
 Scatter rose and ivy wreath 
 
 On the turf I rest beneath ; 
 
 Dance, and sing my favorite song 
 
 Through the deep-blue twilight long; j 
 
 In that rich and ringing tone. 
 
 Heaven to thee, love, lends alone. 
 
 When I'm gone, then, come again ; 
 
 Talk to me in lightsome strain; i
 
 334 FESTUS. 
 
 Should I answer, start not thou ! 
 
 m but say I'm blest as now; 
 
 Should no sound the silence break, 
 
 Think me, Oh ! too blest to speak. 
 
 I^et me lie till angels say, 
 
 AVake ! the world's long Aveek is past. 
 
 Spirit ! this is holyday ; 
 
 This is God's — the best and last. 
 
 Helen. Come, Marian, having finished our parade, 
 We have leisure noAv to list another lay ; 
 But since you have not been dancing, I'm afraid 
 Laurence and you are idle, lovesick, say ? 
 
 Marian. Could I comply, I'd not remain thus mute. 
 
 Frederic. Shall I sing for you as a substitute? 
 
 I saw a rose was fading — 
 
 Fading 'neath mine eye; 
 
 When thus, with love's upbraiding, 
 
 I heard that past one sigh : — 
 
 Oh ! give me back one blush — 
 
 But one from out the many 
 
 I loved to give to thee 
 
 Ere other I knew any — 
 
 Liked or looked on any. 
 
 For I am sad and lonely — 
 Lone, and like to die ; 
 Oh! give me back one only, 
 I am too weak to cry.
 
 FESTXJS. 336 
 
 The beam, the breeze, the dew, 
 Shun now my shrinking bosom ; 
 Tears I have need but few, 
 Their brine can bring no blossom — 
 Me, nor blight nor blossom. 
 
 Then to that rose Avas failing — 
 Failing 'neath mine eye, 
 I said, 'Tis useless wailing; 
 Forget, forgive, and die. 
 One look to Heaven in prayer, 
 And one to me in kindness ; 
 The deathwind shook its leaves, 
 And I was one with blindness — 
 Lone in burning blindness. 
 
 Harry. Although I would not needlessly intrude — 
 
 Fanny. To sing, not being asked, is rude. j 
 
 Harry. To cease with such a dull, down-hearted I 
 
 ditty 
 Would be a wrong, I think, as well as pity. 
 Lucy. Pray, sing us something livelier, then. 
 
 Sophia. And don't be personal again. ' 
 
 Harry. Annie's eyes are like the night, I 
 
 Nell's are like the morning gray, i 
 
 Fanny's like the gloaming light, 
 
 Hal's are sunny as the day: 
 
 Bright — dark — blue — gray, , 
 
 I could kiss them night and day ;
 
 3b6 
 
 FESTCS. 
 
 Gray — blue — dark — blight — 
 Morning, evening, noon, and night. 
 
 Annie's brow's arched like the sky, 
 Nell's is -white without a spot, 
 Hal's is as a palace high, 
 Fanny's lowly like a cot : 
 
 High — arched — low — white, 
 I could kiss them day and night ; 
 
 "N^liite — low — arched — high. 
 Kiss them night and day could I. 
 
 Annie's lips are warm and bright, 
 Fanny's free and full of play, 
 Hal's are sweetest out of sight, 
 Nell's are always in the way ; 
 
 Bright — warm — sweet — play, 
 I could kiss them night and day ; 
 
 Play — sweet — warm — bright, 
 All the day and all the night. 
 
 Will. Mulcted in song, I hasten to discharge 
 The debt I owe, and pay it thus in large. 
 
 Oh! Love's a bold pirate — the soul of the sea! 
 He impresses the proud, and he fetters the free ; 
 His flag's a red heart, in the bows are his guns. 
 And the >vind's always with him — the foe ever nin&
 
 FESTUS. 337 
 
 Oh ! Love's a bold pirate — the sword of the sea ! 
 For the poor he hath plunder, and fame for the free ; 
 At home, in a chase, he nor spares foe nor friend ; 
 Though a stern chase, and long chase, the longest 
 must end. 
 
 Oh ! Love's a bold pirate — the pet of the sea ! 
 
 He will do all, and dare all, 'gainst all that may be ; 
 
 He hails her all fair, just before they fall to't, 
 
 And his foe makes his prize and his consort to boot. 
 
 Helen. The day hath darkened into twihght, 
 night 
 Hath glittered into starlight since Ave met ; 
 The restorative dew hangs thick and bright 
 On herb, and tree, and flower : yon foamy jet 
 Flings up its bubbling music chillier now, 
 And droop the blooms that long have wreathed the 
 
 brow. 
 Ladies, and you, bold serfs ! I now propose 
 To bring this joyous vigil to a close, 
 And as all bidden have now paid their fine. 
 To leave these heroes to their fate — tlicir wine. 
 
 Charles. Except yourself, dear despot, all 
 Have done their best to hum or squall ; 
 But if your beautyship would condescend 
 To teach us what true melody might be. 
 There's not a creature present but would lend 
 His ears to listen for a century.
 
 338 FESTUS. 
 
 Helen. Sir, I respect you for your flatter)'. 
 All compliments, of course, are strange to me ; 
 The moral strength required for flattery now, 
 To a fair Queen, is great, you must allow : 
 I only en\'y you the power to make them. 
 
 Charles. 'Tis, sure, the better part to take them. 
 
 Helen. We don't believe them when you pay 
 them. 
 
 Charles. Nor we when we say them. 
 No longer then, ladies, I pray, 
 At our flattery or fickleness grieve ; 
 If you never believe what we say. 
 We never say Avhat we believe. 
 
 Helen. From our rule and example, gentles, leani, 
 And lay this to your hearts, each one in turn : 
 Pay compliments, pay visits, pay respects, 
 But pay your just debts first. 
 
 Harry. Our whole efiects ! 
 
 Helen. The royal rule of pure equality 
 In complaisance and kindness still shall be 
 Confided in, and reverenced by me ; 
 So shall my deed of abdication make 
 All love the loser, for the losing's sake. 
 Attend ! my song the constancy discovers 
 Of a riglit royal pair of lovers. 
 
 Come, beloved, let us roam 
 
 Forth into the golden fields ; 
 Yon high palace marks our home, 
 
 Ours is all that nature wlds ;
 
 FESTUS, 
 
 339 
 
 Come, bethrotlied and espoused, 
 Earth is rising towards the sun, 
 
 And witli light and joy aroused 
 Meets the love Avithin us one. 
 
 Open now thy sleep-dewed eyes, 
 
 Show the subject-soul its queen ; 
 Brighter than the new-born skies 
 
 Their delicious depths, I ween. 
 Don thee, love, thy royal white ; 
 
 Needs no more divine array ; 
 Fairer than the morning light, 
 
 Rule thou ever with the day. 
 
 Come the morrow, day diAdne, 
 
 All shall wake and bless the sun ; 
 Those thou loAcst shall be mine. 
 
 They, and thou, and I be one ; 
 Crown and throne the world shall gain, 
 
 Thou, the universal state ; 
 Bride of Beauty ! rise and reign ; 
 
 Love thy life, and Heaven thy fate. 
 
 Charles. The meaning whereof, as I take it, — 
 Helen. True ; it's exactly what you make it. 
 George. There's only one thing wanting that could 
 mend 
 Tliat song ; — a blaze of fireworks at the end.
 
 340 F EST us. 
 
 Helen. Farewell, friends ! let us hope to moel 
 again 
 When others may be present whom we know. 
 
 Edward. Adieu ! ye semi-deities ! in vain 
 The world may worship idols. 
 
 George. Pray, do go ! — 
 
 Walter. At last, the so-called soulless have de- 
 parted, 
 Lea\Tiig sundry broken-hearted. 
 
 Frederic. To make the life of perfect mould, 
 Like that in Paradise of old. 
 Each must give their better part ; — 
 We our soul, and they their heart. 
 
 Laurence. The night hath gone, and all the stai'S 
 Have vanished at the sun's bright warning ; 
 StiU the moon, ghost-like, haunts the heaven, 
 As though she deemed to her 'twas given : 
 What hath the moon to do with morning ? 
 So love is fled, and all the fair 
 Gone; some with smiling, some with scorning, 
 Save one, the fairest far above. 
 But what have I to do with love. 
 More than the moon hath with the morning? 
 The moon hath lost her light, and se6ms 
 To dim the scene she was once adorning ; 
 So my poor heart, its love light gone, 
 Still in the heavens where late it shone, 
 Lags like the moon upon the morning.
 
 F EST us. 341 
 
 But 1 am likest to that moon in this, 
 That I am brightest when my love's away ; 
 For when with her, my borrowed light is lost. 
 As is the moon's amid the dazzling day. 
 
 Harry. Come, pass the ruby round. There's nought 
 
 so dull 
 As to behold a noble vessel, full 
 Of radiant blessings, halt upon its way; 
 So fairly give and fairly take, I say. 
 Progress is nature's unexcepted law, 
 'Twere better e'en to go from bad to worse, 
 Than 'tween two like degrees of ill, seesaw ; 
 Stagnation is a universal curse. 
 There is nothing stands stUl — so old sages declare, 
 But the world's ever changing in earth, sea, and air ; 
 All the powers of nature, in truth if we trace, 
 What ai'e they 1 — what are they, but running a race ? 
 The winds from all quarters career through the sky, 
 They blow hot, they blow cold, they blow swift, they 
 
 blow high ; 
 They follow, they flank, and they fly in our face ; 
 What are they 1 — what are they, but running a race I 
 The rivers that run to the ends of the earth 
 Flow thousands of miles from the place of their birth ; 
 From the old and the new world they pour out apace — 
 What are theyl — what are they, but running a race? 
 The worlds they call wanderers rolling on high, 
 That enlighten the earth and enliven the sky, 
 
 cc*
 
 342 FESTUS. 
 
 Going hundreds of miles in a minute through space — 
 What are they? — what are they, but running a race? 
 Then, with goblets before us, Avhatever they hold, 
 Let the hue of the nectar be purple, be gold, — 
 Let us say, as we sit among friends, face to face, 
 "WTiat are they 1 — what are they, but running a race 1 
 
 Laurence. AU this is lively. Beauty, love, and 
 mirth 
 Might seem to flavor even vapid earth 
 To a pure spirit's lips. For my own part, 
 T own it sinks life, deeper in my heart 
 At every fresh recurrence : but at times 
 A thought comes tolling o'er the darkened soul 
 "Which we dare hardly guest ; but ill it chimes 
 AVith scenes of joy like this, which from the roll 
 Of memory we oft would fain erase. 
 
 George. Not I, one jot, save your Ul-omened face. 
 
 Walter. For sacred riddles this is neither time 
 nor place. 
 
 Laurence. Xo ; but of earth some sacred writings 
 teU 
 Its flower was paradise, its fruit was hell. 
 Such is the fruit of worldly pleasure now ; 
 And thus, perhaps, my meaning you may trace. 
 
 Harry. AVe do ; but think it useless to avow 
 Such views at festive moments like the present. 
 
 Charles. Indeed, they call up notions quite un 
 pleasant.
 
 F EST us. 343 
 
 So, let us rout them by another draught 
 And thoughts bright as tlie beverage quaffed. 
 
 Harry. The future is the world of youth — 
 The future is our joy ; 
 We dream of honor, love, and truth. 
 And bliss without alloy. 
 But harp not now on love or truth. 
 Forget your dreams of glory ; 
 The wine will double us our youth — 
 To-morrow dream again of sooth — 
 But now to what's before ye. 
 Oh ! age will cloud youth's sunny brow, 
 And sorrows plough tlie cheek ; 
 Tlie mirth we spread, the joy we know. 
 Then 'twill be vain to seek. 
 Tlie old say, life has more of ill 
 Than good — of grief, than gladness ; still, 
 Within our cup one drop of joy. 
 Too small, if not too sweet, to cloy, 
 Alway doth remain. 
 AVith us it shall be more than love. 
 Or fame, or faith, or gain ; 
 And sAveet as Heaven's own fruit above. 
 The common sweeteners of life's bitter grain. 
 Yes ! yes ! the memory of this night. 
 In age's veriest midnight hours. 
 
 Shall flash on our minds with a northern-light light, 
 And a prelude of pleasure illumine the night, 
 N\'^hose morn we shall breathe in immortal bowers.
 
 844 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Charles. Some say Truth lies in water, some in 
 
 wine ; 
 Suppose I mix them ; now she must be mine. 
 
 Frank. Nothing again will serve to make us 
 
 merry. 
 Frederic. 'Twas stupid in you, Laurence. 
 Laurence. Was it? 
 
 Will. Very. 
 
 Edward. Infernal cant, you'll always find. 
 Upsets all pleasant parties of this kind. 
 
 George. He has put the company, 'tis plain, to 
 
 flight; 
 Walter. And so I say — 
 Charles. I'm going, too. 
 
 All. Good night ! 
 
 Scene — A Visit. 
 
 Festus and Helen. 
 
 Helen. Come to the light, love ! Let me look on 
 thee ! 
 Let me make sure I have thee. Is it thoul 
 Is this thy hand? Are these thy velvet lips, — 
 Thy lips so lovable ? Nay, speak not yet ! 
 For oft as I have dreamed of thee, it Avas 
 Thy speaking woke me. I will dream no more. 
 Am I alive ? And do I really look 
 Upon these soft and sea-blue eyes of thine,
 
 FESTUS. 345 
 
 Wherein I half believe I can espy 
 
 The riches of the seal These dark, rolled locks! 
 
 God ! art Thou not glad, too, he is here 1 — 
 Where hast thou been so long? — never to hear. 
 Never to see, nor see one who had seen thee. 
 Come, now, confess it was not kind to treat 
 
 Me in this manner. 
 
 Festus. I confess, my love. 
 
 But I have been where neither tongue, nor pen, 
 Nor hand could give thee token where I was ; 
 And seen, — but 'tis enough ! I see thee now. 
 
 1 would rather look upon thy shadow there, 
 Than Heaven's bright thrones forever. 
 
 Helen. AVhere hast been'? 
 
 Festus. Say, am I altered ? 
 
 Helen. Nowise. 
 
 Festus. It is well. 
 
 Then in the resurrection we may know 
 Each other. I have been among the worlds. 
 Angels and spirits bodiless. 
 
 Helen. Great God ! 
 
 Can it be so ? 
 
 Festus. It is : — and that both here 
 
 And elsewhere. When the stars come, thou shalt see 
 The track I travelled through the light of night ; 
 Where I have been, and whence my visitors. 
 
 Helen. And thou hast been with angels all the 
 while. 
 And still dost love me 1 
 
 44
 
 346 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Constantly, as now. 
 
 But for the time I did devote my soul 
 To their di\-ine society. I knew 
 Thou wouldst forgive, yet dared not trust myself 
 To see thee, or to pen one word, for fear 
 Thy love should overpower the plan conceived. 
 And acting, in my mind, of ^-isiting 
 The spirits in their space-imbosomed homes. 
 
 Helen. Forgive thee ! 'tis a deed which merits 
 love. 
 And should I not be proud, too, who can say. 
 For me he left all angels ? 
 
 Festus. I forethought 
 
 So thou wouldst say ; but with an offering 
 Came I provided, even with a trophy 
 Of love angelic, given me for thee; 
 For angel bosoms know no jealousy. 
 
 Helen. Show me. 
 
 Festus. It is of jeAvels I received 
 
 From one who snatched them from the richest wreck 
 Of matter ever made ; the holiest 
 And most resplendent. 
 
 Helen. "N^Tiy, what could it be? 
 
 Jewels are baubles only ; whether pearls 
 From the sea's lightless depths, or diamonds 
 Culled from the mountain's crown, or chrys61ith, 
 Cat's eye, or moonstone, — toys are they at best 
 .Jewels are not of all things in my sight 
 Most precious.
 
 FESTUS. 347 
 
 Festus. Nov in mine. It is in the use 
 
 Of which they may be made their value lies ; 
 In the pure thoughts of beauty they call up, 
 And qualities they emblem. So in that 
 Thou wearest there, thy cross ; — to me it is 
 Suggestive of bright thoughts and hopes in Him 
 Whose one great sacrifice availeth all, 
 Living and dead, through all eternity. 
 Not to the wanderer over southern seas 
 Rises the constellation of the Cross 
 More lovelily o'er sky and calm blue wave, 
 Than does to me that bright one on thy breast. 
 As diamonds are purest of all things. 
 And but embodied light which fire consumes 
 ^\.nd renders back to air, that nought remams, — 
 And as the cross is sjinbol of our creed. 
 So let that ornament signify to thee 
 The faith of Christ, all purity, all light, 
 Through fervency resolving into Heaven. 
 Each hath his cross, fair lady, on his heart ; 
 Never may thine be hea\ier or darker 
 Than that now on thy breast, so light and bright, 
 Rising and falling with its bosom-swell. 
 
 Helen. I thank thee for that wish, and for the love 
 Which prompts it — the immeasurable love 
 I know is mine, and I with none would share. 
 Forgive me ; I have not yet felt my wings. 
 Now, have I not been patient ? Let me see 
 My promised present.
 
 •348 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Look, then — they are here ; 
 
 Bracelets of chiysoprase. 
 
 Helen. Most beautiful ! 
 
 Festus. Come, let me clasp them, dearest, on thine 
 arms ; 
 For these of those are worthy, and are named 
 In the foundation stones of the bright city, 
 "\ATiich is to be for the immortal saved, 
 Their last and blest abode ; and such their hue, 
 The golden green of puradisal plains 
 Which lie about it boiindlessly, and more 
 Intensely tinted with the burning beauty 
 Of God's eye, which alone doth light that land, 
 Than our earth's cold grass-garment with the sun ; 
 Though even in the bright, hot, blue-skied East, 
 "N^'here he doth live the life of light and Heaven ; 
 ■WTiere, o'er the mountains, at midday is seen 
 The morning star, and the moon tans at night 
 The cheek of careless sleeper. Take them, love. 
 There are no nobler earthly ornaments 
 Than jewels of the city of the saved. 
 
 Helen. But how are these of that bright city 1 I 
 Am eager for their history. 
 
 Festus. They are 
 
 Thereof proplietically, and have been 
 "WHiat I will show thee presently, when I 
 Relate the story of the angel who 
 Gave them to me. 
 
 Helen. Well ; 1 will wait till then,
 
 FESTUS. 349 
 
 Or any time thou choosest: 'tis enough 
 
 That I believe thee always ; — but would know. 
 
 If not in me too curious to ask, 
 
 How came about these miracles ] Hast thou raised 
 
 The Fiend of fiends, and made a compact dark, 
 
 Sealed with thy blood, spnbolic of the soul, 
 
 Whereby all power is given thee for a time, 
 
 All means, aU knowledge, to make more secure 
 
 Thy spirit's dread perdition at the end ] 
 
 I of such aAvful stories oft have heard. 
 
 And the unla^vful lore which ruins souls. 
 
 Myself have charms, foresee events in dreams ; 
 
 Can prophesy, prognosticate, know well 
 
 The secret ties between many magic hei'bs 
 
 And mortal feelings, nor condemn myself 
 
 For knowing what is innocent ; but thou ! 
 
 Thy helps are mightier far, and more obscure. 
 
 Was it with wand and circle, book and skull, 
 
 With rites forbid and backwai-d-jabbered prayers, 
 
 In cross-roads or in churchyard, at full moon. 
 
 And by instruction of the ghostly dead, 
 
 That thou hast wrought these wonders, and attained 
 
 Such high, transcendent poAvers and secrets? Speak! 
 
 Or is man's mastery over spirits not 
 
 Of such a vile and vulgar consequence'? 
 
 Festus. Were not my heart as guiltless of all mirth 
 As is the oracle of an extinct god 
 Of its priest-prompted answer, I might smile 
 To list such askings. Mind's command o'er mind.
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 350 FESTUS. 
 
 Spirit's o'er spirit, is the clear effect 
 
 And natural action of an inward gift, 
 
 Given of God, whereby the incarnate soul 
 
 Hath power to pass free out of earth and death 
 
 To immortality and Heaven, and mate 
 
 With beings of a kind, condition, lot, 
 
 All diverse from its own. This mastery 
 
 Means but communion, the poAver to quit 
 
 Life's little globule here, and coalesce 
 
 With the great mass about us. For the rest, 
 
 To raise the de^il were an infant's task 
 
 To that of raising man. '^^^ly, every one 
 
 Conjures the Fiend from hell into himself 
 
 When passion chokes or blinds hun. Sin is hell. 
 
 Helen. How dost thou bruig a spirit to thee, 
 
 Festus ■? — , 
 
 Festus. It is my will which makes it visible. a' 
 
 Helen. A'S'hat are those like, whom thOu hast 
 seen ? 
 
 Festus. They come, 
 
 The denizens of other worlds, arrayed 
 In diverse form and feature, mostly lovely ; 
 In limb and wing ethereal finer far 
 Than an ephemeris' pinion ; others, armed 
 With gleaming plumes, that might o'ercome an air '''[ 
 
 Of adamantine denseness, pranked with fire. I 
 
 All are of different offices and strensfths, ' 
 
 Powers, orders, tendencies, in like degrees ' 
 
 As men. with even more variety ; - i 
 
 : *
 
 FESTUS. 351 
 
 Of different glories, duties, and delights. 
 
 Even as the light of meteor, satellite, 
 
 Planet and comet, sun, star, nebula, 
 
 Differ, and nature also, so do theirs. 
 
 With them is neither need, nor sex, nor age. 
 
 Nor generation, growth, decay, nor death ; 
 
 Or none whom I have known ; there may be such. 
 
 Mature they are created and complete. 
 
 Or seem to be. Perfect from God they come. 
 
 Yet have they different degrees of beaut)', 
 
 Even as strength and holy excellence. 
 
 Some seem of milder and more feminine 
 
 Nature than others, — Beauty's proper sex. 
 
 Shown but by softer qualities of soul, 
 
 More lovable than awful, more devote 
 
 To deeds of individual piety. 
 
 And grace, than mighty missions fit to task 
 
 Sublimest spirits, or the toil intense 
 
 Of cultivating nations of their kind ; 
 
 Or working out from the problem of the world 
 
 The great results of God, — result, sum, cause. 
 
 These ofttimes charged ^vith delegated powers, 
 
 Formative or destructive ; those, in chief, 
 
 Ordained to better and to beautify 
 
 E.xistence as it is ; with careful love 
 
 To tend upon particular worlds or souls ; 
 
 Warning and training whom they love to tread 
 
 The soft and blossom-bordered, silvery paths 
 
 Which lead and lure the soul to paradise,
 
 352 TEST US. 
 
 Making the feet shine Avhich do walk on them; 
 While each doth God's great wUl alike, and hoth 
 With their whole nature's fulness loAe His Avorks. 
 To love them lifts the soul to Heaven. 
 
 Helen. Let me, then! 
 
 "Whence come they] 
 
 Festus. Many of them come from orbs 
 
 Wherein the rudest matter is more worth 
 And fair than queenly gem ; the dullest dust 
 Beneath their feet is rosy diamonds : — 
 Others, direct fi-om Heaven ; but all in high 
 And serious love towards those to whom they come. 
 None but the blest are free to v-isit where 
 They choose. The lost are slaves forever ; here 
 Never but on their Master's merciless 
 Business, nor elsewhere. Still, sometimes with these 
 Dark spirits have I held communion. 
 And in their souls' deep shadow, as within 
 A mountain cavern of the moon, conversed 
 With luem, and wormed fiom them the gna\ving truth 
 Of theii' extreme perdition ; marking oft 
 Nature rcAcaled by torture, as a leaf 
 Unfolds itself in fire, and writhes the Avhile, 
 Burning, yet unconsumed. Others there are 
 Come garlanded with flowers unwithering, 
 Or crowned with sunny jewels, clad in light, 
 And girded with the lightning, in their hands 
 Wands of pure rays or arrowy starbeams ; some 
 Bright as the sun self-lit, in stature tall,
 
 FESTUS. 353 
 
 Strong, straight, and splendid as the gokleu reed 
 Whereby the height, and length, and breadth, and 
 
 depth 
 Of the descendent city of the skies, 
 In which God sometimes shall make glad with man, 
 Were measured by the angel ; — the same reed 
 Wherewith our Lord was mocked, that angel found 
 Close by the cross and took ; God made it gold, 
 And now it makes the sceptre of His Son 
 Over all worlds ; the sole, bright rule of Heaven, 
 The measure of immortal life, the scale 
 Of power, love, bliss, and glory infinite ; — 
 Some gorgeous and gigantic, who, with wings 
 AVide as the wings of armies in the field 
 Drawn out for death, sweep over Heaven, and eyes 
 Deep, dark as sea-worn caverns, with a torch 
 At the end, far back, glaring. Some with wings 
 Like an unfamting rainbow, studded round 
 With stones of every hue and excellence. 
 Writ o'er with mystic words wliich none may read 
 But those to whom their spiritual state 
 Gives correlative meaning fit thereto. 
 Some of these visit me in dreams ; with some 
 Ha^^e I made one in visions, in their own 
 .\bodes of brightness, blessedness, and power ; 
 And know, moreover, I shall joy with them. 
 Ere long their sacred guest, through ages yet 
 To come, in worlds not now perhaps create, 
 As they have been mine here: and some of them 
 
 45 DD*
 
 354 FESTIJS. 
 
 In unimaginable splendors I 
 
 Have Avalked with through their winged worlds of 
 
 light, 
 Double and triple party-colored suns 
 And systems circling each the other, clad 
 In tints of light and air, whereto this earth 
 Hath nothing like, and man no knowledge of: — 
 Orbs heaped with mountains, to the which ours are 
 Mere grave mounds, and theii- skies flower with stars, 
 Violet, rose or pearl-hued, or soft blue. 
 Golden or green, the light now blended, now 
 Alternate; many moons and planets, full. 
 Crescent, or gibbous-faced, illumining 
 In periodic and intricate beauty 
 At once those strange and most felicitous skies. 
 According to the nature of those spheres 
 Their natives are ; some human-like, and some 
 Of great, gigantic grace and happiest air. 
 Yet solemn as the sun ; they walk like winds, 
 Whose dwelling is all immaterial space. 
 And vanish slowly in the hollow heavens. 
 Some of still vaster size and mightier mien, 
 "Whose movement is as thunder in a cloud. 
 Devouring space ; some like to flickering ghosts 
 Of fire, while underneath their every step 
 Spring perfumes up and flowers, bedight in rays 
 Aerial of the purest, brightest skies ; — 
 Others of sanguine hue, whose step is like 
 An instantaneous trembling of the Heavens ;
 
 F E S T u s . 355 
 
 Others again, whose forms for utter bright 
 
 Are indefinable ; from place to place 
 
 Their feet pass like the twinklings of the stars ; 
 
 Some of a cold, pure bodily rayonnance, 
 
 As is the moon's of naked light, ungarbed 
 
 In circuraspheral air, who glide like clouds ; 
 
 And some in bands, some singly, some in groups ; 
 
 For all perchance is starlife after death ; 
 
 While others sworded, sceptred, crowned, and robed ; 
 
 Spirits of power, who rule each one his star ; 
 
 Spirits, who through all time have hoped and seen. 
 
 Through godless darkness and deistic dawn. 
 
 The solar revelation of Heavens light ; — 
 
 Spirits, whose form is fire, whose life is strength, 
 
 Precipitate as tempests, are : — to these 
 
 Add what gives earnest of inferior life. 
 
 Eagle, dove, lion, lamb, ox, serpent, horse ; 
 
 Nor lightly estimate such signs, but mind 
 
 The potent meaning of the simplest sign, 
 
 To one whose mind is meaning to itself. 
 
 For angels can assume th(> form they please, 
 
 And transform things inanimate, as once 
 
 With earth's angelic watcher I beheld. 
 
 The lonely diamond which decked her pale 
 
 Transparent brow was worth a mansion ; worth 
 
 A mine and an estate ; so pure and clear, 
 
 All globular and gloriously sized, 
 
 Tiike one large drop of paradisal dew 
 
 Immortalized, it shone ; and so it was,
 
 356 FESTUS 
 
 Which from a leaf she gathered of the tree 
 Of perfect life on Eden's natal morn. 
 
 Helen. How I should love to visit other worlds, 
 Or see an angel ! 
 
 Festus. Wilt thou now ■? 
 
 Helen. I dare not. 
 
 Not now, at least. I am not in the mood. 
 Ere I behold a spirit, I would pray. 
 
 Festus. Light as a leaf they step, or arrowy 
 Footing of breeze upon a waveless pool ; 
 Sudden and soft, too, like a waft of light, 
 The beautiful immortals come to me ; 
 Oh, ever lovely, ever welcome they ! 
 
 Helen. Thou speakest me of visions; I would 
 learn 
 The nature of all spiritual things. 
 
 Festus. Matter and mind comprise the universe, 
 All conscious nature and self-conscious art. 
 As the twin-tidal wave inarms the world. 
 Spirit and nature act contrariwise. 
 Yet harmonize in contrariety. 
 Now it is earth which riseth towards the sun, 
 And not the sun on earth : yet let us deem 
 God seeketh us, illummating life ; 
 Not that it is our earth rise into Heaven, 
 Forced by orbitual reason towards the Truth 
 Even when retrogressive. In the pure, 
 Black, lifeless void, no star is to be seen, 
 Nothing but nothing seeming palpable.
 
 FESTUS. 35' 
 
 It is only thvougli their sensuous atmospheres 
 That worlds can view each other, or that light 
 Itself becomes enlightening. So with man. 
 So brightest stars are but the darkest dust 
 Illumined from without, and central fire 
 Is self-cousummative of death alone : 
 So light, all colorless, all colors holds. 
 Art is man's nature, nature is God's art : 
 Eternal this, that temporal ; and thus 
 Soul in itself may realize all time 
 By indagation of supremest spheres 
 Material and spiritual, born 
 Of effluent or influent Deity, 
 AVhercby the universe revolves round God 
 In everlasting jieriod, — He Himself 
 Conceiving, bearing, suffering, ending all, 
 Affiliating and inheavcning: — power 
 And means vouched heretofore to some, and now 
 To him wlio words the wonders he hath seen. 
 There is a secret sign whereby the soul 
 Feels certainty of safety and of power 
 Imparted, public to tlie universe 
 Wliich then looks joyful as in sight of rest, 
 And yet unwist of by a single world ; 
 Infallible to one who hath received 
 .Tlie birthriglit of the death-begotten life; 
 Stamped in the spint, as the gleaming seal 
 Upon th(> brows of those imparadised, 
 The true tri-literal monogram of God.
 
 358 FESius. 
 
 High o'er tlie sensible Heavens translated far 
 
 Beyond the interchanging universe 
 
 Of sense and substance, body, life and death, 
 
 And deathfulness of evil, being's bane. 
 
 The soul to whom this sign is given lives ; 
 
 And is a soul of the first magnitude. 
 
 All truth is vague, all error is distinct ; 
 
 One being less, one greater than man's soul : 
 
 Whereof the true transfiguration takes 
 
 Place, and reception in supernal trutli 
 
 When we view all things from a point of Heaven 
 
 Opposed to the world's wisest certainty. 
 
 For then all bright, high, seeming-scattered thoughts 
 
 By ardent contemplation star themselves 
 
 Into the shapes which Faith and Keason love 
 
 To fill up with a Heaven of their own. 
 
 The world is as a great sarcophagus, 
 
 Engraven inwardly and outwardly 
 
 With livuig emblems of its inner life 
 
 And soul-containing tenant of all time. 
 
 The same hath infinite meanings as the work 
 
 Of spirit and tenure of humanity ; 
 
 Backwards to God, and forwards read for man : 
 
 Oft dift'er text and order; wise is he 
 
 Who scans and construes all in harmony. 
 
 A sacred side there is to e^ery thing, 
 
 As given or forbidden, false or true. 
 
 According to the greater truth involved, 
 
 One side is always bright, one always dark.
 
 FESTUS. 359 
 
 Leaflike and moonlike ; and each separate life 
 
 Is as a leaf which waits the shining breath 
 
 Of nature, our mysterious prophetess, 1 
 
 To give it its due order in the world. I 
 
 But as God's own true name is uttered not , 
 
 If known in Heaven the highest, nor on earth, j 
 
 So, too, there are innominable depths, | 
 
 AVhich cannot be revealed of human life, \ 
 
 And ought not if they could; the elements 
 
 Of the premortal manhood which inhered j 
 
 In the conception of creative mind ; 
 
 Since shown to few, and only dimly known. 
 
 Speech is di\ine, but silence Deity. i 
 
 As sleep in life, and dreams in sleep, is truth ; 
 
 In dreams to man. Many the greatest truths ' 
 
 Have been made known in visions or in dreams. ' 
 
 For then it is the soul recalls the spheres . ] 
 
 Of preexistent nature, and evokes i 
 
 The ghosts of coming ages, or unites i 
 
 Past, present, future in one windlike touch, 
 
 Which loosens the world's zone, and renders mind 
 
 The master of creation. Be it so ! 
 
 Once I received a vision — for the crown 
 
 Of nature is passi^^ty, and our 
 
 Best mood the pure recipient — in a state 
 
 Of twiliglit-lilce existence, sucli as that 
 
 Of universal substance, when the sun. 
 
 And light and darkness, moon, and Heaven and carthj 
 
 Were nigh all one, and nought distinct save souls,
 
 360 FESTUS, 
 
 Echoes of Light, reacting heavenwaidly. 
 
 It was the spirit of the universe, 
 
 Whose breast was of like hemispheres of bliss, 
 
 A\Tiereon the worlds were nursed, that I beheld. 
 
 The fragrance of the fadeless fields of Heaven, 
 
 The endless blessings of an act of grace, 
 
 Or mercy's matron bosom filled her Avords ; 
 
 And each articulate air she did expire 
 
 O'erladen with the lore of ages, e'en 
 
 As earth was with her old baptismal flood ; 
 
 In her deep eye immortal quiet dAvelt 
 
 As though all Heaven had settled on one star. 
 
 She spake, and I regarded with such awe 
 
 As eaglet when he first beholds the sun. 
 
 And though what I remember be all true, 
 
 Yet, in so far as worded, it is not 
 
 The .entire truth uncircumscribable ; 
 
 Can a spar speak how it was crystallized 1 
 
 She spake, I said, the spirit, and at her word 
 
 Behold the Heavens were opened as a book. 
 
 I am the world-soul, nature's spirit I. 
 
 Ere universe or constellation was. 
 
 System, or sun, or orb, or element. 
 
 Darkness, or light, or atom, I first lived ; 
 
 I and necessity, tliough twain in life, 
 
 Yet one in beinjj. Time and life are one • 
 
 But insomuch as nature is destroyed 
 
 In God's assumption to Di\-ine estate 
 
 Of an especial soul, necessity
 
 FESTUS. 361 
 
 Ends in extreme original nothingness ; 
 
 And leaves all supernatural existence free, 
 
 As breath in air, like-natured with the same, 
 
 Yet altered in condition, function, form. 
 
 And glorified. God is, and men exist. 
 
 Free agency extends 'tween man and man, 
 
 And every finite nature ; between God 
 
 And man, and every finite being, fate. 
 
 What is divine is, of necessity, free. 
 
 1 heard, and I received, and from my soul. 
 
 Intense in quiet, perfect in repose, 
 
 Like sleep's fantastic frost-work melted death ; 
 
 And entering straight the heaven-surrounding state 
 
 Of deifi<"d existence among gods. 
 
 It grew ignited with divinity. 
 
 Again the world-soul voiced itself, and I 
 
 Drank in tlie fruitful glories of her words 
 
 As earth consumes the golden skyey clouds. 
 
 Two books there are which must be read ; the one 
 
 Wherein the elements exist as leaves, 
 
 And all the worlds as signs and symbols ; thus 
 
 Earth is the symbol of humanity, 
 
 AVater of spirit, fire of Deity, 
 
 And air of all things ; stars, the truths of Heaven. 
 
 Water and fire are elements divine ; 
 
 Earth and air, human ; Heaven and the soul 
 
 From one proceed, and the blue, heated skies ; 
 
 Out of the other, body and abode. 
 
 The sun, too, symbols spirit, and the moon 
 
 46 KB
 
 3G2 FESTUS. 
 
 Soul, and the earth life-essence through all space; 
 
 And agents of destruction, like the flood, 
 
 Presign regeneration ; also fire. 
 
 This present is the result of what is past 
 
 And coming, but the temporal present only ; 
 
 The eternal present is before both past 
 
 And future, and posterior to them both : 
 
 And these are verified in the Eterne, 
 
 In act as in religion ; thus in man ; 
 
 Judgment is life, and memory like death, 
 
 Imagination, immortality. 
 
 The actual and ideal meet but once. 
 
 Where pure impossibilities are facts. 
 
 Judge doubtful things by certainest, and dark 
 
 By what is clear, and dangerous by safe; 
 
 And prophesy of God to all which live. 
 
 And aboriginal Heaven. And of the soul, 
 
 The other tome I spake of, believe thou, 
 
 Body surrounds the human soul as in 
 
 Di\ine nature, which is its contrary, 
 
 God's infinite spirit bounds the universe. 
 
 For Thy creation, although infinite, 
 
 Is infinitely less than Thee, O God ! 
 
 Thine is the spirit, and the soul is Thine, 
 
 And all the thousand instincts of the heart 
 
 The universe is simple ; God and I, 
 
 Cause and effect, are all that in it is ; 
 
 And more ; for Cause containeth its eft'ect. 
 
 Cause, operation, and effect are God,
 
 FESTUS. 363 
 
 Nature, and man : which both partake of one. 
 
 Tlirough error liuraan souls accept the truth, 
 
 As through distortmg air, the light whereby 
 
 They live, of sun or star ; and thus through time. 
 
 And ceaseless as the pulsings of the blood, 
 
 The inspiration of the spirit acts 
 
 In one or other's bosom. Through the world 
 
 The soul receives God, but from God, the soul 
 
 Receives the spiiit ; thus the chosen, thus the world ; 
 
 The cloud-led many, the star-guided wise ; 
 
 For spirit makes all time and nature clear, 
 
 As of old water purified by fire. 
 
 ^lethought I answered as it might be, thus : 
 
 Life, like a floating island, comes and goes. 
 
 We know not, mean not how. Fi-om Heaven to Earth 
 
 A star falls, and we track a cold dark mass 
 
 Of trembling, half-transparent somethingness, 
 
 Which is, in our conception, as unlike 
 
 All astral issue and celestial birth 
 
 As wind is unlike wisdom ; thunder, snow. 
 
 We know not that we are, nor how, nor why. 
 
 The distance between finite, howsoe'er 
 
 Great, and the infinite, is infinite. 
 
 Our life is incomplete and sectional ; 
 
 .Viid the large unity of all we seek 
 
 In vain to realize; yet much we strive; 
 
 And every ideal of union. 
 
 Which youth makes to itself, is beautiful. 
 
 Or blissful, mostly. Still, through every sign.
 
 364 FESTUS. 
 
 From morn, all musical, to blank-starred night, 
 
 Death's wolflike shadow haunts the vital orb; 
 
 With spectral darkness, and eclipse of life, 
 
 Freezing the fiery marrow of the world. 
 
 AVhile yet these words were vibrant on my tongue, 
 
 I saw the sun-god stall his flaming steeds 
 
 In customary splendor ; which, in turn, 
 
 Shaking their lightning trappings off to earth, 
 
 And, snatching a few golden grains of sleep, 
 
 Solaced them with their corner in the west ; 
 
 Towards where earth uplifts her crystal crown, 
 
 Wliite Avith all yeared snows and radiant rime ; 
 
 While ever and again the dancing morn. 
 
 E'en in the mid abyss of solar night, 
 
 With roseate blaze impowers the shining skies. 
 
 And pure, prismatic fire, that lights the stars. 
 
 Stretching her hand into the nebulous depths 
 
 Of everlasting space, again the spirit spake. 
 
 As the etherial essence of the world, 
 
 Whereof all matter is mere increment. 
 
 Speak I in truth to thee ; and now of earth ; — 
 
 F"or as there is one Father of all things. 
 
 And as of spirit is all action born, 
 
 So of one substance is all nature made. 
 
 Eegard not earth as the whole universe, 
 
 Nor minify the orb into a point 
 
 Where all relations vanish. Earth receives, 
 
 In an immortal influence, and gives back, 
 
 Out of her bright and generative heart,
 
 FESTUS. 365 
 
 To all that is therein conceived, and born 
 
 Of her exuberant bosom inwardly, 
 
 The vital virtues of the potent Heavens ; 
 
 Backwards and forwards passing, night and day, 
 
 "With an invisible radiance filling up 
 
 The interstitial skies. To all the forms 
 
 Of plant, fish, brute, bird, insect, and the lives 
 
 Insensible and unconceived, which were, 
 
 One time, as living continents, whereof 
 
 The elemental matter of the world 
 
 Is mainly made, so that men live on life — 
 
 Round to tyrannic man, whose soul's componcd 
 
 Of diverse powers and passions. He who made 
 
 Out of life's infinite estate doth give 
 
 To all these forms renewal in the mass 
 
 Ceaseless ; to man alone a personal 
 
 Regeneration ; for as true as 'tis 
 
 That all are generated, so like surely 
 
 All are to be regenerated; all 
 
 Differ among each other in degree. 
 
 Of beauty, eminence, vitality ; 
 
 The individuals of each species, too, 
 
 Among themselves. If some excel, the rest 
 
 Suffer not therefore. Wrong to none is wrought 
 
 By honor to a high, peculiar few, 
 
 Self-meritless, whose whole position stands 
 
 Ingenerable by themselves. Exists 
 
 This class eclect in all things ; best in man ; 
 
 In whom the motional music of the Heavens,
 
 36G F E S T u s . 
 
 The elemental workings of the world, 
 
 Upward and downward, circular and plane, 
 
 The spirit pure impassable of fire, 
 
 Are s^Tnbolled all in sunlike excellence. 
 
 Behold ! the spirit said, and I beheld 
 
 Earth, the horizon black with numberless 
 
 Men, and a mountainous altar high amidst, 
 
 Shaped like a vast inverted pyramid, 
 
 "\^Tiereby four forms stood ; one arrayed in white, 
 
 And one in uniformal black ; in green 
 
 The third, and of all hues the fourth. And most 
 
 I marked at first the two first named. All bliss 
 
 Each claimed as his alone, denouncing one 
 
 The other : — both all warning that fierce fire 
 
 Burnt for their sake who sware not by a creed 
 
 Garbled, patched up, and contradictory ; 
 
 Confounding text and comment, with no rule 
 
 Interpretative ; now as literal. 
 
 Now figurative, holding laws like plain, 
 
 "N^liich, where most true, impracticable were, 
 
 ^^'here possible, intolerable. Love 
 
 Xathless, they said, this pair, from first to last, 
 
 Being its Author's nature, infinite 
 
 Lo^c to a mortal creature, the sole cause 
 
 ^^^lich prompted God to sacrifice His Son, 
 
 In ord(T that like infinite return 
 
 Of glory and of blessing might accrue 
 
 To the enfranchised universe ; their creeds 
 
 .\nd deeds as arctic from antarctic wide.
 
 FESTUS. 367 
 
 At either side they stood and pressed the world, 
 
 And praj-ed right earnestly and honestly 
 
 All men to serve God and obey the law, 
 
 Accept of Heaven's free grace, and something do 
 
 To help God in the saving of their souls. 
 
 And myriads sought their several priestly sides 
 
 And did as was enjoined them, and rejoiced. 
 
 Then something passed between them and the twain 
 
 Ceasing opponent duarchy atoned, 
 
 In friendship for past enmity, and straight 
 
 Culling all contraries from holy grounds, 
 
 Built up an idol of all elements 
 
 Most disaccordant. Thus his deathly feet 
 
 They framed of fire, of earth his lower limbs. 
 
 His upper part of water, his head, air ; 
 
 And throned him on the broad and upturned base 
 
 Of that earth-piercing altar-pyramid. 
 
 And round about him last a fane they reared. 
 
 To which all earth in di\ers modes gave aid ; 
 
 A circular temple-patent to the sun, 
 
 Soa-lavcrcd, mountain-columntxl, kingdom-paved. 
 
 When, as he sat his throne, there rose a shout 
 
 From the foregathered multitudes, which caused 
 
 The circuraspatial skies shake, cold with dread, 
 
 And earth re\ibrate to her inmost base. 
 
 In his right hand he held the sun and moon, 
 
 And in His left, a winged orb, cross-crowned ; 
 
 Bare by his side hung down a sword of fire, 
 
 Curved comet-wise. A rosary of stars
 
 36b FESTUS. 
 
 Decked either wrist. With stars his breast was mailed 
 Like to a knight's of old, with scales steel-gilt, 
 Or like an ice plant, with perpetual dew, 
 Or diamond beetle round beglobed vnth light. 
 And the unsphered skies darkened momently. 
 To him was brought the world, bound hand and foot, 
 Which more intent!)' worshipped than the poor. 
 Bewildered devotee of Eastern lands, 
 "NATiose idol car-wheels roll through human dust. 
 His golden, squatting demons diamond-eyed. 
 Eound that great altar thousand lesser were, 
 Each one enringed with crowds. The monarch, there 
 Upon that central shrine where sat the god. 
 Laid down his crown ; the warrior cast his sword. 
 The peer his glittering badge, the merchant-prince 
 His hoarded coffer. There the statesman placed 
 His seal of power, the priest his robe, the bard 
 And the harmonious master, lyre and pen : — 
 Who soar or mine, in science or in art. 
 Their elements, and implements, and gifts ; 
 The scribe, and the physician, and the wright. 
 His seA'eral offering. Tliither hied the crowds 
 Of mediate millions, between gain and toil ; 
 Thither the brawny-armed and brown-browed hind, 
 Wliose wealth was in his will and daily work. 
 Repaired, and earth's luxurious, toilless tribes 
 Followed, with each their hands full of good things, 
 And felt their conscience lightened ; blessed their lot. 
 And all went well and ended happily.
 
 FESTUS. 369 
 
 Those minor altars, where the liate and scorn 
 Of the majestic pair who served the highest, 
 And sware athwart the cross to make all souls 
 Believe alike in clockwork-like content. 
 Yet might they not. The many most succeed, 
 The great few fail ; and among those few, these. 
 Each leader held within his hand and read 
 Choice scraps to those about him, from the book 
 Whose words are volumes, and whose laws are liff 
 To spiritual reason onlj-. Hence 
 A countless train of misbeliefs arose 
 Like pure parhelia, high above all power 
 Of man or priest to hinder or destroy. 
 Some of belief thought most ; of practice, some. 
 Some thought of God as darkness, some as light ; 
 And worshipped each ; some held that space was God 
 While others said, and wisely, God is, what ? 
 Some held that God, and all the heavenly powers, 
 As with the starry jjanarchy of space, 
 Were of one essence, like divine and high ; 
 Some that the Word and Holy Spirit were 
 Deific functions only of one God: 
 He who in Hea^'cn was Father, was on Earth 
 Born as the Son, and, in the chosen twelve, 
 Spake him as tonirued fire ; conceiting thus : 
 God as the sun. His word our Lord, its light, 
 And its all-comforting heat, the Holy Ghost. 
 Some deemed that He, the all-existent One, 
 Revolving all things orblike in Himself, 
 
 47
 
 370 FESTUS. 
 
 And future fates, abyss witliin abyss, 
 
 Through endless ages, hit at last on man 
 
 As the consummate accident of time, 
 
 And everlasting bubble, to whom were 
 
 Nought necessary, save necessity. 
 
 Some that in mystical quaternity 
 
 All Deity existed ; and the first 
 
 Ycleped Ineffable, and the last. Truth ; 
 
 Father and Son, gods intermediate. 
 
 These deemed that wholly contemplating God 
 
 The soul, suffused in Deity, required 
 
 No active ^artue, but on God's own breast 
 
 Lay lulled in glory, and in unitive 
 
 Life with divinity, its end fulfilled. 
 
 Inordinately happy. Some maintained, 
 
 That it Avas necessaiy to believe 
 
 That whatsoe'er is done by men, is done 
 
 By God's Spirit ; and thence conclude no sin 
 
 Exists, unless to those who think it such ; 
 
 And that to live without all doubt or di-ead, 
 
 "Were to restore to life the paradise 
 
 Initiate of the soul — that pleasant place, 
 
 Erst deafforested — and realize 
 
 The catholic salvation of the world. 
 
 Some held that, now and then, there speaks in all 
 
 The word of God, His light enlightening all. 
 
 If not resisted carnally. Some judged 
 
 The t>Adl of sin and punishment, alike 
 
 Reflected on divine rule, if etenie ;
 
 FESTUS. o71 
 
 And some believed, despite all threats of fire, 
 
 Here and hereafter, that the soul, ere yet 
 
 Clad with the body, had forelived in Heaven, 
 
 A holy creature ; but that, sinning, earth 
 
 Was its amercement made, its prison flesh ; 
 
 From which emerging, it shall gather back 
 
 Its preexistence, and by grace resume 
 
 The heavenly powers belonging it ; in dreams, 
 
 They said, dim glimpses come of blessed states, 
 
 And shadowings of power, wliich to tlie soul 
 
 Seem inborn and accustomed as a star, 
 
 When first immersed in light it heaves the sun. 
 
 Some held, and erred, that makers there were twain ; 
 
 One good, one evil ; that the soul was made 
 
 Bj- the good Lord, the body by the bad, 
 
 And sin was fleshly ; that the Lord of Life 
 
 Lived in the sun, the Holy Spirit, air. 
 
 Wisdom, the moon, the Father the abyss 
 
 Of light inhabited ; that Christ was Eve's 
 
 Tempter in Eden ; that baptismal rites 
 
 Should be performed with fire, and milk and wine 
 
 Be held accursed. Some believed two souls 
 
 In every man ; celestial this, and that 
 
 Infernal, but expellable by prayer 
 
 And holy habit, fasting, watching, alms ; 
 
 Some thought the Cliristian world to reconcile, 
 
 And heathendom and .Jewry, by a creed 
 
 Of one eternal Father-God, and two 
 
 Christs ; one in Heaven, the otlier born on earth ;
 
 372 FESTUS. 
 
 And that thc^ Holy Spirit wisdom was, 
 The sister of the Son. Some held that He 
 And Satan were two lower powers, whom God 
 Had pitted 'gainst each other dnring time ; 
 But that the final conquest is the Lord's. 
 Others, that at His second coming, Christ 
 Would give His saints a carnal paradise ; 
 Nothing in being vying with that vast 
 Impossibility. Some deemed our Lord 
 Alone was God, the Father, and the Spirit ; 
 And some that He was simply best of men ; 
 Others, that Christ was God, and Jesus, man ; 
 Believing not the aforetime unity 
 Of the Divine and human. Some maintained 
 That each believer was himself a Christ ; 
 Some, that the mortal mother of our Lord 
 A goddess was, and sacrificed to her, 
 Pre-temporal, immortal. Some believed 
 The person of our Savior, while on earth. 
 Was every where at once, and that the same 
 At His ascension settled in the sun — 
 And that the body of the universe 
 With Him was coeternal. Some, that Christ 
 Received His flesh-frame of the elements, 
 AVhich, at His deatla. He paid back to tlie world 
 And rose to Heaven incorporal. Others deemed 
 His body was a dreary phantom, only 
 Impassable of pain, or thirst, or death; 
 Makiui^ the love of God of no effect.
 
 FESTUS. 373 
 
 And tlius the deicidal tribes made qvdt ; 
 
 The deeds of nations, being thoughts of God. 
 
 Others, that Deity, in bread and wine, 
 
 Made into consecrated elements. 
 
 Resided ; round it some, some under it ; 
 
 As though the hand of man imparted God. 
 
 Some thought perfection was attainable 
 
 In this life, and with these means as in Heaven ; 
 
 And that with man it rests to reinstate 
 
 The Adamic Eden, and by converse pure, 
 
 And holy life, redeem the sacred day, 
 
 When nature's every work was miracle ; 
 
 When man, and brute, and angel, all communed 
 
 In happy ease, and fruits made good and wise ; 
 
 As ere the immortal seraph-serpent stung 
 
 Heaven's virgin star, or brake young nature's seal. 
 
 Or left his lightning trail through all divine 
 
 Traditions, and became Avhat now he is. 
 
 The spiritual discord of all life ; 
 
 But, ah ! from that primitial world to this, — 
 
 From Eden to Chaldea, — what a change, 
 
 From Paradise to Persia ! — Some eschewed 
 
 All earth-lore, and would have, that God required 
 
 Good deeds alone from men ; some that, nor )aw 
 
 Nor gospel profited the human soul ; 
 
 That good works furthered not, ill hindered not 
 
 Salvation ; but pure faith alone sufficed ; — 
 
 Others, that neither worship, work, nor faith 
 
 Was requisite ; that war and sociality
 
 374 
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 Were equyl evils, and that marriage was 
 
 Nor type, nor bond, nor good, but simple sin. 
 
 Some said all deadly sin was past church power 
 
 To pardon, even on due penitence ; 
 
 .Vnd that the blessed twelve could never hope 
 
 •Of aught but venial sins to be released, 
 
 Even of God Himself And two there were 
 
 Of mortal men, who deemed that they, the last 
 
 God-witnesses on earth, could save or damn 
 
 Whome'er they willed ; false birth of falsity ! 
 
 Conformably to fate they lived and died, 
 
 Their souls absorpt of darkness, brides of death ; 
 
 For, over all, death works his hellish will. 
 
 Some thought the gates of Heaven were sealed to all 
 
 Until the great re-rising ; some, that the world 
 
 Was made by angels only, and not by God, 
 
 Who would not, with auglit earthly, soil His hand. 
 
 Some in annihilation placed their hope. 
 
 Wherein to be absorbed was bliss thrice blest, 
 
 And deified the devil in their hearts 
 
 In dreams of everlasting nothingness. 
 
 Some thought a kind indifference towards auglit 
 
 Which haps in this life, and full consciousness 
 
 Of blest necessity in every act, 
 
 And charity in all opined of man. 
 
 Made true religion and philosophy. 
 
 Some grains of truth-gold, some few lines of life, 
 
 Starring the vast formations of the false ; 
 
 And for thus meddling with tliese mysteries,
 
 FESTUS. 375 
 
 Unmeant by Heaven to be cleared up on earth ; — 
 Out-taking those who have eyes trained to see, 
 Nor all its scriptural darknesses illumed, 
 Those twin-compellers of conformity, 
 Erst marked, condemned, from time to time, to hell, 
 Rack, massacre, and fire, each bubble sect 
 Wiiich rose in full-blown emptiness to show 
 Their own familiar charity, and prove 
 The inspiration which they claim of God, 
 Who tells all He is Love. Those sects themselves. 
 Full of molecular motion, fought like mites 
 Which fill a water-drop, and day by day 
 Consumed or cursed each other. For the rest, 
 AVho stood round the great altar saying creeds, — 
 And each had his dissenting heretics, — 
 Tlie third one simply smote by the sword-edge 
 All Avho dared doubt his darkly checkered tale. 
 Which was nor very truth, nor very lie, 
 But hung suspended between Heaven and Earth, 
 Baseless as utter void. The fourth Avas meek 
 In mood, as ignorant as tolerant ; 
 Though every now and then he closed his eyes. 
 And rose, and slew promiscuously round. 
 The various modes of practice next I marked. 
 Wherein devoutest trust is ofttimes placed 
 Among mankind, and much my mind was moved; 
 And my soul sank within me like a star 
 Sea-setting, when it leaves all Heaven behind. 
 Some burnt, some drowned, some maimed, some 
 clammed themselves
 
 376 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Or others, all in proof of piety; 
 
 Some sacrificed their children, some their sires, 
 
 Some fruits, some flowers, beasts and the young of 
 
 beasts, 
 In honest, obstinate hope of earning Heaven : 
 Others heaped stone on stone, and shrine on shrine, 
 To mock the span of Heaven and the stars ; 
 Silver inlaid with gold, gold decked with gem ; 
 Others dug out the earth and worshipped fumes, 
 And paid respect to vapors, which, inhaled, 
 Bred holy inspiration. Some, in warm 
 And reeking entrails, read the signs of God, 
 Or deemed they did, prophetic. Others, sun 
 And moon, and stars, or fixed, or wandering. 
 Adored, in the belief that through them came 
 Vast spiritual inflow : earthborn fire 
 Or sunborn, rivers, mountains, seas, stones, herbs, 
 Brute, insect, fish, bird, earth, and air, and man, 
 All these were sworn by, prayed to, in the wild. 
 Sad faith, that man's humanity by them 
 Could gain some earnest of divinity. 
 Some only ate of certain meats, or laid 
 Under dread ban all flesh, and milk, and wine, 
 Extolling green food and the sparkling spring ; 
 As though brutes only spiritually lived, 
 And virtue were a vegetable thing. 
 Some ate and drank, at stated intervals, 
 Oi- more or less, a certain something, Avhich, 
 If what they say, we wrong the cannibals ;
 
 FESTUS. 377 
 
 While others fostcd forty days a year, 
 
 Prayed fifty times a day, or in the face 
 
 Of babes cold Avater plashed, wherewith, past doubt, 
 
 That generation was much edified, 
 
 And the original sin-burnt soul well cooled. 
 
 Others wore iron spikes around their Avaists, 
 
 Burnt fire in their bosoms ; Avith their bread 
 
 ISIixed dust and filth, ate grass, and naked lived ; 
 
 Or crawled, for leagues, like serpents in the dust. 
 
 In sign of self-abasement. Base, indeed, 
 
 Such AAU'ithings, to propitiate our God, 
 
 In Avhom AA-as perfected all sacrifice, 
 
 All penalty, all humblement, all death ; 
 
 He AA'ho AA'as God in HeaA'en ere man on earth. 
 
 Who left His uniA-ersal Avork complete, 
 
 The spiritual as the natural ; 
 
 When, at His bright ascent to Heaven, He gave 
 
 A second Sabbath to the uniA'erse ; 
 
 Who of His OAvn free Avill gives life to all, 
 
 And once, too, of His own free choice, chose death, 
 
 That all might of necessity be free ; 
 
 Turning humanity into deity. 
 
 As water into Avine, and saA'ed the Avhole. 
 
 These things are true of all, some fcAv except. 
 
 Versed in the Avays of Heaven as are the stars, 
 
 Who, through all time, haA'c trusted nought but God ; 
 
 Whose seats are on the mounts of Paradise, 
 
 HeAvn out of living rock, though here they feel 
 
 The flat deformity of creature life. 
 
 48 FF*
 
 378 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Once more I looked around, and hour by hour 
 
 The multitudes departed, yet increased ; 
 
 But one way came they, countless ways they went; 
 
 Through age, birth, pestilence, vice, folly, war, 
 
 Disease, excess, woe, famine, sin, and fate ; 
 
 And as I gazed, priest, altar, crowd, and god 
 
 Vanished, and were no more. On earth's bright head 
 
 The dew of morn and even fell as wont, 
 
 The tear of sorrow and the tear of joy. 
 
 Behold, now. Heaven ! the Spirit said, and I 
 
 One vast and universal Heaven beheld ; 
 
 God's universal and perpetual smile, 
 
 Which, harmonizing all things, all o'erspreads. 
 
 There every thing hath life, the elements 
 
 All vitalized, and glorified, and named 
 
 Love, wisdom, strength, and beauty, and all hues 
 
 Which nature owns, from earth's original blush 
 
 To Heaven's eternal azure, halloAved are ; 
 
 While winds all musical, and odorous 
 
 Like breath of Deity, in sentient clouds, 
 
 The delicate chariots of journeying souls, 
 
 Issue their fruitful blessings round the skies. 
 
 There all-exalting joys abide ; there flow 
 
 The fountains of eternal life, and streams 
 
 Of pei-fect vu'tue for soul-baptism ; 
 
 There roll the wide abysmal mysteries, 
 
 Yet luminous with life; there grow the groves, 
 
 Whose trees of golden boles and pearly fruits, 
 
 Wind-moved forth, utter all harmonious praise.
 
 FESTUS. 379 
 
 Cities and fanes of diamond crown the hills, 
 
 Briglit with the sole companionship of Heaven, 
 
 Of this preearthly paradise ; wherein 
 
 AVho enter are hy kindest angels clad 
 
 In garments wrought of rainbows, and in robes 
 
 Woven of sunset clouds ; while viny wreaths, 
 
 Gemberries bearing, form their coronals, 
 
 Exuberant of all fruitage. Food they need not. 
 
 Who live on life and quaff eternal joy, 
 
 And rest in peace as in the down of doves. 
 
 There many pass all time, the hour of God, 
 
 In pure and wOiole contentment. Others, still. 
 
 In ceaseless, boundless progress, as from star 
 
 To star, from bliss to bliss, pass, until all 
 
 Return to God renewed, like rays of light. 
 
 The all-attractive and delightful light, 
 
 Redeemed up to the sun. In one band there, 
 
 Jew, Christian, Moslem, Heathen, gracious live 
 
 In mutual forgiveness, blessing each 
 
 The other ; Avhat, too, in their several creeds 
 
 Is proven false, each casts away, what true, 
 
 Jill keep uniting and amending ; for 
 
 In all was truth, though thrice the truth in one. 
 
 As to the sleepless eye, form forth at last 
 
 The long, immeasurable layers of light, 
 
 And beams of fire enormous in the East, 
 
 The broad foundations of the Heaven-domed day, 
 
 All fineless as the future, so uprose 
 
 On mine the great celestial certainty.
 
 3S0 FESTUS. 
 
 The mask of matter fell off. I beheld, 
 
 Void of all seeming, the sole substance, mind. 
 
 The actual ideal of the world. 
 
 An absolutest essence tilled my soul, 
 
 And, superseding all its modes and powers, 
 
 Gave to the spirit consciousness divine ; 
 
 A sense of vast existence in the skies, 
 
 Boundless commune with spiritual light, 
 
 And ultimate eternity of Heaven. 
 
 And I returned mine hungry eyes to the light 
 
 Of the great Spirit's eyes, which, past the first 
 
 Intensifying blindness, clearlier saAv 
 
 The words she uttered of triumphant truth ; 
 
 For, truly as my vision heightened, lo ! 
 
 The universal volume of the Heavens, 
 
 Star-lettered in celestial characters, 
 
 Moved musically into worlds like these, 
 
 Which her breath framed, and varied momently; 
 
 And I perceived tliat thus she spake of God : — 
 
 God is the sole and self-existent, one 
 
 Superessential being, of whom was 
 
 He who is with the Father cocterne. 
 
 The first and last of being ; and of both 
 
 The Spirit, and these all are one and same 
 
 In Godhood, yet distinct in Deity. 
 
 From the Son's hand came all things ^^sible, 
 
 And from the Spirit, all in^■isible ; 
 
 Fortu-fiowing from, and ebbing back to Him, 
 
 Creation's God, regeneration's Lord.
 
 FESTUS. 381 
 
 Mau"s Savior must be God ; and slicIi \\as ChrisL. 
 
 The Father of the faithful, and the first 
 
 Of men was each in Him retyped ; and thus 
 
 The chosen and the world are blessed both. 
 
 And all effect commensurate with its cause, 
 
 Each infinite, Creation stands redeemed 
 
 By Him, first, last, and mediate, God with man. 
 
 Full in the bosom of humanity, 
 
 As on the waters of the unborn world, 
 
 The spirit God came down, uniting thus 
 
 The mortal and eternal in the word 
 
 'Foreuttered ere all ages, blessing all. 
 
 This is the legend which surrounds the world, 
 
 Though the best part be nigh obliterate. 
 
 ]\Ien are of one kind, therefore, and two sorts. 
 
 Irrelative, as in mortality; 
 
 United only in tlie spirit state. 
 
 "With each is imperfection, but to these 
 
 Comes by God's grace one elemental shock 
 
 To fuse the ruinous chaos wrought by sin, 
 
 And nature make communicant of Heaven. 
 
 Both gain the end so sought, and must ; but those 
 
 Labor along with wheels, while these have wings. 
 
 To these, God gives His spirit ; while, for all, 
 
 The Son laid down the Heavens as a crown, 
 
 And clothed Himself in clay ; thus taking up 
 
 Of all the nature, that all might in Him 
 
 Be one ; and full and holy equalncss 
 
 Belong humanity as angelhood.
 
 i 
 
 382 FESTUS. 
 
 Of glory varied, level all in bliss. 
 
 The nations all ■which die to be redeemed 
 
 Shall find desire unite Avith destiny. 
 
 .find for the chosen, 'tis enough to know ; t 
 
 God knoweth all whom He doth choose and save ; sM 
 
 And they know tliat He knows. Though all the w 
 
 powers 
 Of air array themselves in lines of fire, ^ 
 
 And arm them with the armory of death ; ^ 
 
 Though all the hosts of hell encamp them round, 
 High as the tented mountains of the earth. 
 Yet, at a wave of His hand, like to slaves, 
 Tliey vanish from the assiegement of the samts. al 
 
 Transition is, to all whicli live, life's law ; 
 To some of downward and deterior lot ; 
 
 The soul subdued to superstition sinks — ^ 
 
 To some, the link of supramundane bliss. 
 Whose souls are dominations incarnate. 
 Yea, sons of stars, which, darting out of Heaven, 
 Made themselves mortal for the mother's sake ; 
 Who with original motion fling off" truths, 
 Of perfect light, oracular of God, 
 Which, in their minds, who worthily receive, 
 Are full of inborn virtue more than known, 
 Accompleti\'e of destiny divine, 
 And, like the luminous rudiments of Heaven, 
 Which gradually gravitate to worlds, 
 Corroborate their nature and make free 
 Their souls to course throus^h the blank void of time
 
 FESTUS. 3S3 
 
 To the bright fulness of eternity. 
 O'er all extends God's love ; for greater need 
 Is that the base or ignorant soul should rise, 
 And be made noble, wise, blest, than sla-se on 
 In hell, through burning ages, to adjust 
 The balance sin on earth had wronged ; for sin; 
 Irreconcilable to Deity, 
 Yet unavoidable to human soul. 
 And, wherefore. He hath absolutely made 
 His own hands answerable, shall become 
 The contrary of all things, and not be. 
 These are the great initials of the world: 
 Being is one, the central, infinite cause. 
 Common to both creator and create, 
 The £i;reat substratum of the universe : 
 Knowing and doing, and the fact of form 
 The coexistent laws of one extreme, 
 The other all imbounding and alone. 
 From one divine, all permeant unity. 
 Proceeds the multitudinous infinite. 
 Mental, material, and essential — God, 
 In justice to Himself and love to all, 
 Basing in elemental cqualness 
 
 The whole on grace ; thus earth and moon were made 
 Like syllables of light, uttered of God ; 
 The earth conceived in music, and the moon, 
 Lady of all the orbed deities, 
 
 liike her who wears in Heaven the twelve-starred 
 crown,
 
 384 F EST ITS. 
 
 And with all creatures blest of God ; who, with 
 
 A sevenfold blessing and in^•iolate rest, 
 
 Yea, with His Sabbath, sealed the perfect world, 
 
 Making it over to eternity, 
 
 And angel musings ; the bright universe, 
 
 The double-tabled book of Heaven and Earth, 
 
 Despite all, due deficiency and sin, 
 
 AMiich in all souls inhere till God assumes, 
 
 Progressing aye, possessing, too, all bliss 
 
 Elect and universal in the Hea\ens. 
 
 From God, the sun-creator, nature was. 
 
 Ethereal essences, all elements, 
 
 And souls therein indigenous, and man 
 
 Symbolic of all being. Out of earth 
 
 The matron moon was moulded, and the sea 
 
 Filled up the shinmg chasm. Both fidfil 
 
 One orbit, and one nature, and all orbs 
 
 ^^"ith them, one fate, one universal end. 
 
 From the projective moment of all light 
 
 The moon was in the sun, and in the sun 
 
 The form of earth was, and the sun in Heaven 
 
 The incanration of the fiery skies. 
 
 And when m earth the sun and moon make one, 
 
 Nature is glorified, and enters Heaven. 
 
 The spirit bursts its immaterial shell 
 
 And form impalpable, regaining thus 
 
 The vast vacuity which fills all life. 
 
 And wherein dwells the incommunicable. 
 
 Again the Spirit, as a gale of light. 
 
 I
 
 F E S T u s . 385 
 
 AVhose words, like cloudless thunder, wrought in me 
 
 Meet apperception of the sum of things. 
 
 The natural creation ended first, 
 
 Commenced the spiritual, which in God 
 
 Aforehand lived ; thus time unfolds the seed 
 
 Sown in eternity and reaped therein ; 
 
 The great paternal and invisible fire, 
 
 "NAliich eateth that it issueth, and wherein 
 
 All filiated nature ceaseth work ; 
 
 Being an infinite means as well as end. 
 
 Thy name, O Immortality, to man 
 
 Sounds clear, essential music ; through the soul 
 
 Thrilling, as through the heartstrings of a star 
 
 Its tidal pulses and dim throbs of light 
 
 Ere fraternized in Heaven ; yea, round that hope, 
 
 So vast, yet vague, whicli, like the northern morn. 
 
 One hour usurps the midsky, and the next 
 
 Lies buried 'neath the pole, are gathered thoughts 
 
 And truths, which, with their weight, determine life ; 
 
 As motion in an atom leads at last 
 
 To a world's orbit — mote and motion given. 
 
 For the exalted Spirit, prepared with power, 
 
 Sublimes and fuses in itself all else ; 
 
 And thus, self-conscious of its inner life, 
 
 Makes all externals subject, and maintains 
 
 That rule o'er thoughts and things, which in itself 
 
 Is present proof of what the world most seeks, 
 
 The boundless union of the soul witli God. 
 
 Now matter makes not one continuous orb, 
 
 49 GO
 
 386 TESTUS. 
 
 Nor is light ail-where massed alike. The stars 
 
 Perradiated each like thunderbolts 
 
 Stand, clustered into omniformal spheres. 
 
 The wise well know true union is in Heaven 
 
 And pure totality, and there alone. 
 
 Behold ! the Spirit said, and I beheld 
 
 A bright, miraculous mystery of God — 
 
 The divine marriage of the sun and moon. 
 
 The sun was flaming high in Heaven ; the moon, 
 
 Mighty, though mUd, and all the saintly stars 
 
 Softer than sunlight, stronger than the moon. 
 
 Shining at once in grandeur and grave bliss. 
 
 It was the world's All-sire ga\e the bride. The stars 
 
 Were her immortal bride maidens, and strewed 
 
 Along the glittering path she trode through Heaven, 
 
 Life-blooms, and wreathed sunrays of all hues. 
 
 Deep m all dayless time, degreeless space. 
 
 The shining fane stood ; and the angels struck 
 
 Their lyres of light, and even to the feet 
 
 Of the Divine Ones bowed them, with serene 
 
 Acclaim, afar-ofF hailing them, and cried, 
 
 AVelcome, thou Lord of Life ; thou Bride of Light ! 
 
 All joy, all bliss be yours in Heaven and Earth, 
 
 And all the universal blessers choose. 
 
 Choicest of all the chosen, art thou here'? 
 
 Thy love is more delicious than the rose; 
 
 Yea, purer than the lUy or the light. 
 
 Lord of the daj ! the world awaits thee now ; 
 
 Earth's eyes are dhn with watching for this day ;
 
 F F. S T u s . 387 
 
 The bread is broken, and the wine is poured, 
 
 And all the guests are gathered from the bounds 
 
 Of Heaven's imperial horizon to this 
 
 The briglit, palatial centre. All things serve 
 
 The hallowing rite which nature owns with God. 
 
 And so t}iey became one. In golden he, 
 
 In silver car came she down the blue skies, 
 
 But on return they clomb the clouds in one. 
 
 And vanished in their snow. The marriage feast 
 
 Was held a universal holiday 
 
 Throughout the light-lit world : nor since have ceased 
 
 The great congratulations. Peace and bliss 
 
 Pervade the perfect state, and all is love. 
 
 Still as a star, Avhich overflows with light. 
 
 She stood and spake intuitive of Heaven, 
 
 The world-divining spirit, whilom named. 
 
 Now such as man is to liimself, is His 
 
 Divine idea ; but the God which is 
 
 Is not the God men worsliip, not alone 
 
 Ineff\ible, but inconceivable ; 
 
 How shall an atom coniprclicnd tlie Heaven { 
 
 Two points men occupy in space and time, 
 
 And half exist of matter and in form : 
 
 Thus, His existence is their opposite ; 
 
 And all is either God or nothingness, 
 
 Being with non-being identical. 
 
 All terms are relative expressing bound, 
 
 But Deity, interminable being. 
 
 Hath (>ver, therefore, been unnamed ; but men,
 
 388 FESTUS. 
 
 Framed to exist in act and utterance, 
 
 And grasping ever at the love of God, 
 
 Strained to the breast of silence, bi'eathe His name 
 
 In pious perpetuity, and throw 
 
 Off, with orbicular action, sphere on sphere, 
 
 Like circlets of reiterated light 
 
 Of thought on objects, vastest and divine. 
 
 In hope to know the great unknowable, 
 
 The all-prophetic, universal I ; 
 
 Within whose ample essence all man's thought 
 
 Respecting it, the infinite abstract 
 
 And limitless negation, whether good 
 
 Being, or life, or wisdom, the abyss, 
 
 Silence, or truth, love, mind, will, intellect, 
 
 Causer of causes, all theosophic lore 
 
 Of man-born, or angelic mind, is lost, 
 
 Like a stray wind which from some airy height 
 
 Soars, suicidal, up the dark inane. 
 
 She ceased, the all-created, gazing down deep 
 
 Into hov own serene and shining breast ; 
 
 O'er which inviolate and sublime abyss, 
 
 Her all-embracing arms she crossed in peace. 
 
 She ceased, and all was silence. Earth and Heaven, 
 
 Like solar seas, unfathomably bright. 
 
 Rolled forth theu* inmost radiance m twin tides, 
 
 Intermmable. Since the first-begotten day, 
 
 Until the last-born eve, when all shall end, 
 
 And life's great vein within the imbosoming Heavens 
 
 Be utterly dried up ; till night shall come
 
 FESTUS. 389 
 
 As some rloud-raonster eats up star on star, 
 
 The children of the liglit ; till nevermore 
 
 Shall cloud refresh earth's lip, nor breeze her oreast, 
 
 Hath been beheld such glory, nor shall be. 
 
 Of nature serving God ; she, sibyl-like, 
 
 Instinct with inspiration, and He her 
 
 Endowing with all bliss, unendingly. 
 
 Helen. But why ai-t thou, of all men, favored thusi 
 To say there is a mystery in this, 
 Or aught, is only to confess God. Speak ! 
 
 Festus. It is God's will that I possess this power, 
 Thus to attract great spirits to mine own, 
 As steel, magnetically charged, draws steel ; 
 Himself the magnet of the universe. 
 Round whom all spirits tremble, and towards whom 
 All tend. 
 
 Helen. If as thou sayest, it is good : — 
 May it be an immortal good to thee. 
 
 Festus. There is no keeping back the power we 
 have. 
 He hath no power Avho hath not power to use. 
 Some of these beings whom I speak of are 
 Pure spirits, other bodies soulical ; 
 For spirit is to soul as wind to air. 
 They give me all I seek, and at a wish 
 Would furnish treasures, thrones, or palaces ; 
 But all these things have I eschewed, and chosen 
 Command of mind alone, and of the world 
 Unbodied and all-lovely. 
 
 OO*
 
 5.- 
 
 390 
 
 K E S T U S . 
 
 Helen. Is not this 
 
 Pleasure too much for mortal to be good I 
 
 iTestus. All pleasure is with Thee, God ! elsewhere, 
 none. 
 Not silver-ceiled hall nor golden throne, 
 Set thick with priceless gems, as Heaven with stars, 
 Or the high heart of youth with its bright hopes ; — 
 Nor marble, gleaming like the Avhite moonlight. 
 As 'twere an apparition of a palace 
 Inlaid with light, as is a waterfall ; — 
 Not rainbow-pinions, colored like yon cloud. 
 The sun's broad banner o'er his evening tent, 
 Can match the bright imaginings of a child 
 Upon the glories of his coming years ; 
 How equal, then, the full-assured faith 
 Of him to whom the Savior hath vouchsafed 
 The Heaven of His bosom ] "What can tempt 
 In its pcrfoiinance equal to that promise"? 
 ]My soul stands fast to Heaven as doth a star ; 
 And only God can move it, who moves aU. 
 There are who miglit have soared to what I spumed ; 
 And like to heavenly orders human souls ; 
 Some fitted most for contemplation, some 
 For action, those for thrones, and these for wheels. 
 
 Helen. Tell me what they discourse upon, these 
 angels. 
 
 Festus. They speak of what is past or coming, 
 less 
 Of present things or actions. Some say most
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 391 
 
 About the future, others of the gone, 
 
 The dim traditions of eternity. 
 
 Or Time's first golden moments. One there was — 
 
 From whose sweet lips elapsed as from a well, 
 
 Continuously, truths which made my soul, 
 
 As they sank in it, fertile with rich thoughts — 
 
 Spake to me oft of Heaven, and our talk 
 
 Was of divine things always — angels, Heaven, 
 
 Salvation, immortality, and God ; 
 
 The different states of spirits, and the kinds 
 
 Of being in all orbs, or physical, 
 
 Or intellectual. I never tired 
 
 Preferring questions, but at each response 
 
 My soul drew back, sealike, into its depths, 
 
 To urge another charge on him. Tliis spirit 
 
 Came to me daily for a long, long time. 
 
 Whene'er I prayed his presence. ]\Iany a \\^orld 
 
 He knew right well, which man's ej'e never yet 
 
 Hath marked, nor ever may mark while on earth ; 
 
 Yet grew his knowledge every time lie came. 
 
 His thoughts all great, and solemn, and serene, 
 
 Like the immensest features of an orb, 
 
 Whose eyes are blue seas, and ^vhose clear, broad broAt 
 
 Some cultured continent, came ever round 
 
 From truth to truth — day bringing as they came. 
 
 He Avas to me an all-explaining spirit. 
 
 Teaching divine things by analogy 
 
 With mortal and material. Thus of God, 
 
 He showed, as the three primal rays make or. 7
 
 392 FESTUS. 
 
 Sole beam of Light, so tlie tlivee Persons make 
 
 One God ; neither without the other is. 
 
 Hcvrei-or bright or beautiful itself 
 
 The theme he touched, he made it more so by 
 
 His own light, like a firefly on a flower. 
 
 And one of all I knew the most of, yet 
 
 The least can I say of him ; for full oft 
 
 Our thoughts drown speech, like to a foaming force, 
 
 Wliich thunders down the echo it creates. 
 
 Yet must I somewhat tell of him. He was 
 
 The spirit-evil of the universe, 
 
 Impersonate. Oh, strange and wild to know ! 
 
 Perdition and destruction dwelt in him, 
 
 Like to a pair of eagles in one nest. 
 
 Hollow and wasteful as a whirlwind was 
 
 His soul ; his heart as earthquake, and ingulfed 
 
 World upon world. In liim they disappeared, 
 
 As might a morsel in a lion's maw. 
 
 The world which met him rolled aside to let him 
 
 Pass on his piercing path. His eyeballs burned 
 
 Revolving lightnings, like a Avorld on fire ; 
 
 Their vciy night was fatal, as the shade 
 
 Of Death's dark valley. 'And his space-spread wings — 
 
 Wide as the wings of darkness, when she rose 
 
 Scowling, and backing upwards, as the sun, 
 
 Giant of light, first donned his burning crown, 
 
 Gladdening all Heaven with his inaugural smile — 
 
 Were stained with the blood of many a starry world: 
 
 Yea, 1 havi- scon him seize upon an orb,
 
 FESTUS. 393 
 
 And cast it, careless, into worldless space, 
 
 As I might cast a pebble in the sen. 
 
 His might upon this earth was wondrous, most. 
 
 He stood a match for mountains. Ocean's depths 
 
 He clove unto their rock-bed, as a sword, 
 
 Through blood and muscle, to the central bone, 
 
 With one swoop of his arm. His brow Avns pale — 
 
 Pale as the lifeblood of the undying worm 
 
 Which writhes around its frame of vital fire. 
 
 Eclipse-like fell his thought upon the mind, 
 
 Space-piercing shadow alighting on the face 
 
 Of some fair planet circling deep in Heaven ; 
 
 Causing it shudder as an angel when 
 
 He hears the thunder-curse of demon foe. 
 
 His voice blew like the desolating gust 
 
 Which strips the trees, and strews the earth with 
 
 death. 
 His words Averc ever like a wheel of fire. 
 Rolling and burning, — this way now, now that: 
 Now whirling forth a blinding beam, now soft 
 And deep as Heaven's own luminous blue — and now 
 Like to a conqueror's chariot wheel they came. 
 Sodden with blood and slow, revolving death : 
 And every tone fell on the ear and heart 
 Heavy, and harsh, and startling, like the first 
 Handful of mould cast on the coffined dead. 
 As though he claimed them his. 
 
 Lucifer, entering. Dost recognize 
 
 The portrait, lady'? 
 
 50
 
 394 
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 Helen. Festus ! who is this ? 
 
 What portrait? — 
 
 Festus. Wherefore comest thou l Did I not 
 
 Claim privacy one evening 1 
 
 Lucifer. ^^Hiy, indeed — 
 
 I simply called, as I was on my way 
 To Jupiter — and he's a mouthful, mind ; — 
 To keep the proverbs, too, in countenance. 
 Any commands for our planetary friends ? 
 I go. Make my excuses. [Goes. 
 
 Festus. A mistake. 
 
 Dearest ; but rectified. (Apart.) And he is gone ! 
 Hell hath its own again. Some sorrow chills 
 Ever the spii'it, like a cloudlet nursed 
 In the star-giant's bosom. 
 
 Helen. Tell me, love, 
 
 More of these angels. 
 
 Festus. There was one I loved 
 
 Of those immortals of a lofty air, 
 Dimly di^ine and sad, and side by side 
 Him whom I spake of first, she oft would stand 
 With her fair form — shadow illummate — 
 Like to the dark moon in the young one's arms. 
 She never murmured at the doom which made 
 The sorrow that contained her, as the air 
 Infolds the orb whereon we dwell, but spake 
 Of God's wUl alway as most good and wise. 
 She had but little pleasure ; but her all, 
 Such as it was, was in dcAising plans
 
 FESTUS. 395 
 
 Of bliss to come, or in the talcs of" Time, 
 
 .A.nd the sweet, early earth. She was, in truth. 
 
 Our earth's own angel. Ofttimes avouIcI she dweU 
 
 With long and luminous sweetness on her theme. 
 
 Unwearying, unpausing, as a world. 
 
 The sun would rise and set ; the soul-like moon. 
 
 In passive beauty and receptive light, — 
 
 Absorbing inspiration from the sun, 
 
 As doth from God, His prophet, ceaselessly, — 
 
 She, too, would rise and set ; and the far stars. 
 
 The third estate of Light, complete the round 
 
 Of the di\ine day ; — still our angel spake, 
 
 And still I listened to the eloquent tongue, 
 
 Whicli, e'en on earth, retained the tone of Heaven. 
 
 The shadow of a cloud upon a lake. 
 
 O'er which the wind hath all day held his breath, 
 
 Is not more calm and fair than her dear face — 
 
 So sweetly sad and so consolingly, 
 
 "NVlien she spake, even on the end of earth. 
 
 Save that her eye grew darker, and her brow 
 
 Brighter with thought, as with galactic light 
 
 Mid Heaven when clearest, — at such times, not I 
 
 Had known that earth Avere dearer unto her 
 
 Than other of the visitants divine. 
 
 Which hallow oft mine hours ; — save, too, that then. 
 
 As though to touch but on that topic had. 
 
 Torpedo-like, numbed thought, she would straigl't 
 
 cease 
 All converse suddenly, and kneel, and seem
 
 396 • FLSTCS. 
 
 In\varclly praying ■with much power, — rise, 
 And vanish into Heaven. My mind is full 
 Of stories she hath told me of our world. 
 No word an angel utters lose I, ever. 
 One I ^^^ll tell thee, now. 
 
 Helen. Do, let me hear; 
 
 lliy talk is the sweet extract of all speech. 
 And holds mine ear in blissful slavery. 
 
 Festus. It was on a lo\ely summer afternoon, 
 Close by the grassy marge of a deep tarn, 
 Nigh halfway up a mountain, that we stood, 
 I and the angel, when she told me this. 
 Above us rose the gray rocks, by our side 
 Forests of pines, and the bright, breaking Avavelets 
 Came crowding, dancing to the brink, like thoughts 
 Unto our lips. Before us shone the sun. 
 The angel waved her hand ere she began. 
 As bidding earth be still. The birds ceased singing. 
 And the trees breathing, and the lake smoothed down 
 Each shining wrinklct, and the Avind drew off. 
 Time leant him o'er his scythe, and, listening, wept. 
 The circling world reined in her lightning pace 
 A moment ; Ocean hushed his snow-maned steeds. 
 And a cloud hid the sun, as does the face 
 A meditative hand : then spake she thus : — 
 Scarce had the sweet song of the morning stars, 
 AVIiich rang through space at the first sign of life 
 Our earth gave, springing from the lap of God 
 On to her orbit, ended, when from Heaven
 
 t'pstua 
 
 Clc'^w.r ^'"''^' ^""'"" .ftcmoon .
 
 'I 
 
 4
 
 FESTUS. 397 
 
 Came down a white-winged host ; and in tlie East, 
 
 Where Eden's Pleasance was, first furled their wings, 
 
 Aligliting Hke to snowflakes. There tliey built, 
 
 Out of the riches of the soil around, 
 
 A house to God. There were the ruby rocks ; 
 
 And there, in blocks, the quarried diamonds lay ; 
 
 Opal and emerald mountain, amethyst. 
 
 Sapphire, and chrysoprase, and jacinth stood 
 
 With the still action of a star, all light. 
 
 Like sea-based icebergs, blinding. These, with tools 
 
 Tempered in Heaven, the band angelic wrought. 
 
 And raised, and fitted, having first laid down 
 
 The deep foundations of the holy dome 
 
 On bright and beaten gold ; and all the while 
 
 A song of glory hovered round the work, 
 
 Like rainbow round a fountain. Day and night 
 
 Went on tlie hallowed labor till 'twas done. 
 
 And yet but thrice the sun set, and but thrice 
 
 The moon arose ; so quick is work divine. 
 
 Tower, and roof, and pinnacle without 
 
 Were solid diamond. Within, the dome 
 
 Was eye-blue sapphire, sown with gold-bright stars 
 
 And clustering constellations ; the wide floor 
 
 All emerald, earthlike, veined Avith gold and silver. 
 
 Marble and mineral of every hue. 
 
 And marvellous quality ; the meanest thing, 
 
 Where all things were magnificent, was gold, — 
 
 The plainest. The high altar there was shaped 
 
 Out of one rubv, heartlikc. Columned round
 
 398 FESTUS. 
 
 "With alabaster pure was all. And now, 
 
 So high and bright it shone in the midday light. 
 
 It could be seen from Heaven. Upon their thrones 
 
 The sun-eyed angels hailed it, and there rose 
 
 A hurricane of blissfulness in Heaven, 
 
 AMiich echoed for a thousand years. One dark, 
 
 One solitary and foreseeing thought, 
 
 Passed, like a planet's transit o'er the sun, 
 
 Across the brow of God ; but soon He smiled 
 
 Towards earth, and that smile did consecrate 
 
 The temple to Himself. And they who built 
 
 Bowed themselves down and worshipped in its walls. 
 
 High on the front were writ these words — To God ! 
 
 The heavenly built this for the earthly ones, 
 
 That in His Avorship both might mix on earth, 
 
 As afterward they hope to do in Heaven. 
 
 Had man stood good in Eden, this had been ; 
 
 He fell, and Eden vanished. The bright place 
 
 Reared by the angels, of all precious things, 
 
 For the joint worship of the sons of Earth 
 
 And HeaA-en, fell with him, on the very day 
 
 He should have met God and His angels there — 
 
 The very day he disobeyed and joined 
 
 The host of Death, black-bannered. Eden fell ; 
 
 The groves and grounds, which God the Lord's ovm 
 
 feet 
 Had hallowed ; the all-hued and odorous bowers 
 Where angels wandered, wishing them in Heaven ; 
 The trees of life and knowledge — trees of death
 
 FESTUS. 399 
 
 And madness, as they proved to man — all fell; 
 
 And that bright fane fell first. No death-doomed eye 
 
 Gazed on its glory. Earthquakes gulped it down. 
 
 The Temple of the Angels, vast enough 
 
 To hold all nations worshipping at once. 
 
 Lay in its grave ; the cherubs' flaming swords 
 
 The sole, sad torches of its funeral. 
 
 Till at the flood, when tire world's giant heart 
 
 Burst like a shell, it scattered East and West, 
 
 And far and wide, among less noble ruins, 
 
 The fragments of that angel-builded fane. 
 
 Which was in Eden, and of which all stones 
 
 That now are precious, were ; and still shall be, 
 
 Gathered again unto a happier end. 
 
 In the pure City of the Son of God, 
 
 And temple yet to be rebuilt in Zion ; 
 
 Which, though once overthrown, and once again 
 
 Torn doAvn to its foundations, in the quick 
 
 Of earth, shall, soul-like, yet re-rise from ruin — 
 
 High, holy, happy, stainless as a star. 
 
 Imperishable as eternity. 
 
 — The angel ended ; and the winds, waves, clouds, 
 
 The sun, the woods, and merry birds went on 
 
 As theretofore, in brightness, strength, and music. 
 
 One scarce could think that earth at all had fallen, 
 
 To look upon licr beauty. If the brand 
 
 Of sin w(>r(^ on hvv brow, it was surely hid 
 
 In natural art from every eye but God's. 
 
 All things seemed innocence and happiness.
 
 400 F EST us. 
 
 I was all tlianks. And look ! the augcl said, 
 Take these, and give to one tliou lovest best: 
 Mine own hands saved from them the shining ruin 
 Whereof I late have told thee ; and she gave 
 What now are greenly glowing on thine arms. 
 Ere I could answer, she was up, star-high. 
 Winging her way through Heaven. 
 
 Helen. How shall I thank thee 
 
 Enough, or that kind angel who hath made 
 The gift to me dear, doubly? I shall be 
 Afraid almost to wear them, but would not 
 Part with them for the treasures of all worlds. 
 How show my thanks ? 
 
 Festcs. Love me as now, dear beauty ! 
 
 Present or absent always, and 'twill be 
 More than enough of recompense for me. 
 
 Helen. Hast met that angel late-while? 
 
 Festls. I have not. 
 
 Yet oft, methinks, I see her catch a glimpse 
 Of her sun-circling pinions, or bright feet, 
 ^^'hich fitter seem for rainbows than for earth, 
 Or Heaven's triumphal arch, more firm and pure 
 Than the world's whitest marble; — see her seated 
 
 oft 
 On some high, snowy cloud-cliff, harp in hand, 
 Singing the sun to sleep, as down he lays 
 His head of glory on the rocking deep: 
 And so sing thou to me. 
 
 Helen. There, rest thyself [_Sings.
 
 FESTUS. 401 
 
 Oh ! not the diamond, starrj' bright, 
 
 Can so delight my view 
 As doth the moonstone's changing light 
 
 DOC 
 
 And gleamy, glowing hue ; 
 Now blue as Heaven, and then anon 
 
 As golden as the sun. 
 It hath a charm in every change — 
 .In brightening, darkening, one. 
 
 And so with beauty, so with love 
 
 And everlasting mind, 
 It takes a tint from Heaven above, 
 
 And shines as it's inclined ; 
 Or from the sun, or towards the STii:, 
 
 With blind or brilliant eye, 
 And only lights as it reflects 
 
 The life-light of the sky. 
 
 He sleeps ! Tlic fate of many a gracious moral 
 This, to be stranded on a drowsy ear. 
 
 Scene — Home. 
 
 Festus, and Helen at her Piano. — Dusk. 
 
 Helen. I cannot live away from thee. How can 
 
 A flower live without its root 1 
 
 Festus. T, too. 
 
 Must love, or die. 
 
 m H H •
 
 402 FESTUS. 
 
 Helen. But I must have. Attend! 
 
 I am to saj' and do just as I please; 
 I may command thee, may I ? — that I will. 
 
 Festus. I love to be enslaved. Oh ! I would 
 rather 
 Obey thee, beauty ! than rule men by millions. 
 
 Helen. Near, as afar, I will have love the same — 
 AVith a bright sameness, like this diamond, 
 Which, wherever the light be, shines like bright. 
 And thou shalt say all sorts of pretty things 
 To me ; mind, to me only : write love-songs 
 About me, and I will sing them to myself; 
 Perhaps to thee, sometime, as it were now, 
 If I should happen to be very kind. 
 
 Festus. Sing now ! 
 
 Helen. No ! 
 
 Festus. Tyrant ! I will banish thee. 
 
 Helen. Nay, if to sing and play would please 
 ;nee, I 
 Would die to music. It was very wrong 
 To say I would deny thee any thing ; 
 But be not angry with me ; for, though God 
 Forgave me, I could ne'er forgive myself. 
 If I brous-ht sorrow to thee ; could I, love ? 
 
 Fes;us. As thou art empress of my bosom, no! 
 
 Helen. Nought fear I but an unkind word from 
 thee. 
 Dark death may frighten children. Hell the wretch 
 \^nio feels that he deserves it ; but for me, 
 I know I cannot do nor say aught worthy
 
 FESTUS. 403 
 
 Of the pure pain a frown of thine can cause, 
 Or a cold, careless look. No ! never frown. 
 If I do wrong, forgive me, or I die ; 
 And thou wilt then be wretcheder than I ; — 
 The unforgiving than the unforgiven. 
 
 Festus. I do absolve thee, beauty, of all faults, 
 Past, present, or to come. 
 
 Helen. Well, that will do. 
 
 What was I saying 1 I love this instrument ; 
 It speaks, it thinks — nay, I could kiss it : look ! 
 There are three things I love half killingly ; — 
 Thee lastly, and this next, and myself first. 
 
 Festus. Thou art a silly, tiresome thing, and yet 
 I never weary of thee ; but could gaze, 
 Faint with excess and not satiety. 
 Upon thy countenance, with the serious joy 
 With which we eye and eye the unbounded space 
 Which is the visible attribute of God, 
 Who makes all things within Himself; and thus 
 It is the Heaven we hope for, and can find 
 No point from which to take its altitude ; 
 For the Infinite is upwards, and above 
 The highest thing created — upwards aye: 
 So I could, thinking on thy fixce, believe 
 An infinite expression, heightening still 
 The longer that I thought, and leaving thee, 
 Coming to thee, or being with thee, — love ! 
 
 Helen. I am so happy when Avith thee. 
 
 Festus. And 1.
 
 404 F E S T u s . 
 
 They tell us nrtue lives in self-denial. 
 
 My virtue is indulgence. I was born 
 
 To gratify myself unboundedly, 
 
 So that I wronged none else. These arms were given 
 
 me 
 To clasp the beautiful, and cleave the wave ; 
 These limbs to leap and wander where I will ; 
 These ej^es to look on every thing without 
 Effort ; these ears to list my loved one's voice ; 
 These lips to be divinized by her kiss : 
 And every sense, pulse, passion, power, to be 
 Swollen into sunny ripeness. 
 
 Helen. Virtue is one 
 
 With nature, or 'tis nothing: it is love. 
 
 Festus. I come fresh from thee exevy time we 
 meet. 
 Steeped in the still sweet dew of thy soft beauty, 
 Like earth at day-dawn, lifting up her head 
 Out of her sleep, star-watched, to face the sun — 
 So I, to front the world, on leaving thee. 
 Oh ! there is inspiration in thy look, 
 Poesy, prophecy. Come hither, love ; 
 The evening air is sweet. 
 
 Helen. It comes on us 
 
 Fresher and clearer through these dewy Wne-leaves, 
 Fit for the forehead of the young wine-god. 
 
 Festus. A large, red egg of light the moon lies 
 like 
 ( In the dark moor-hill, and now, rising slow,
 
 FESTUS. 405 
 
 Beams on the clear tiood, smilingly intent, 
 Like a fair face, which loves to look on itself, 
 Saying, "There is no wonder that men love me, 
 For I am beautiful ! " — as I heard thee. 
 
 Helen. It was not right to overhear me that. 
 
 Festus. 'Twas very wrong to do what I could not 
 help ; 
 But vanity speaks out. 
 
 Helen. Well, I don't mind ; 
 
 I never knew that I was as I am 
 Till others told me. 
 
 Festus. Now were soon enough. 
 
 Helen. Ali, nothing comes to us too soon but 
 sorrow. 
 
 Festus. For all were happiness, if all might live 
 Long, or die soon, enough : for even us. 
 
 Helen. Dost not remember, when, the other eve. 
 Thy friend the student called, there was a talc 
 Upon thy tongue he interrupted? 
 
 Festus. Was there? — 
 
 Helen. A tale out of the [)oets, about love. 
 And happiness, and sorrow, and such tilings. 
 
 Festus. But I forget such things when thou art by. 
 Besides, I asked liim here again, to-night ; 
 Here, at this hour ; and he is punctual. 
 
 Helen. Li truth, then, I despair of hearing it. 
 He keeps his word relentlessly. With not 
 More i)ride an Lidian shows his foeman's scalp 
 Than lie his watcli for punctuality.
 
 406 K li S T u s . 
 
 Festus. But tales of love are far iiiorc readily 
 Made than remembered. 
 
 Hklen. Telltale, make one, tlien. 
 
 Festus. Love is the art of hearts and heart of 
 arts. 
 Conjunctive looks and interjectional sighs 
 Are its vocabulary's greater half. 
 Well, then, my story says, there was a pair 
 Of lovers, once — 
 
 Helen. Once ! nay, how singular ! 
 
 Festus. But where they lived, indeed, I quite for 
 
 get; — 
 Say any where — say here : tlreir names were — I 
 Forget those, too ; say any one's, say ours. 
 
 Helen. Most probable, most pertinent, so far! 
 
 Festus. The lady was, of course, most beautiful, 
 And made her lover do just as she pleased ; 
 And consequently he did very wrong. 
 They met, sang, walked, talked folly, just as all 
 Such couples do ; adored each other ; thought. 
 Spoke, wrote, dreamed of and for nought on earth 
 Except themselves ; and so on. 
 
 Helen. Pray proceed! — 
 
 Festus. That's all. 
 
 Helen. Oh, no ! 
 
 Festus. Well, thus the tale ends ; stay 
 
 Xo, I cannot remember nor invent. 
 
 Helen. Do think ! 
 
 Festus I can't.
 
 F E S T u s . 407 
 
 Helen. Oli, then, I don't like that: 
 
 'Tis not in earnest. 
 
 Festus. Well, in earnest, then. 
 She did but look upon him, and his blood 
 Blushed deeper even from his inmost heart ; 
 For at each glance of those sweet eyes a soul 
 Looked forth as from the azure gates of Heaven ; 
 She laid her finger on him, and he felt 
 As might a formless mass of marble feel 
 While feature after feature of a god 
 Were being wrought from out of it. She spake, 
 And his love-wildered and idolatrous soul 
 Clung to the airy music of licr words, 
 Like a bird on a bough, higli swaying in the wind. 
 He looked upon her beauty and forgot. 
 As in a sense of drowning, all things else ; 
 And right and wrong seemed one, seemed nothing; 
 
 she 
 AVas beauty, and that beauty every thing. 
 He looked upon her as the sun on earth : 
 Until, like him, he gazed himself away 
 From Heaven so doing ; till he even wept, — 
 Wept on her bosom as a storm-charged cloud 
 AVeeps itself out ujjon a hill, and cried — 
 I, too, could look on tliee until I wept, — 
 Blind me with kisses ! T^et me look no longer ; 
 Or change the action of thy loveliness. 
 Lest long same-secmingness should send mi? mad ! — 
 Blind me with kisses ; I would ruin siglit
 
 408 FESTUS. 
 
 To give its virtue to thy lips, whereon ^■ 
 
 I would die now, or ever live: and she, 
 
 Soft as a feather-footed cloud on Heaven, 
 
 AVhile her sad face grew bright like night with stars, 
 
 Would turn her brow to his, and both be happy; — 
 
 Numbered among the constellations they ! — 
 
 Then as tired wanderer, snow-blinded, sinks 
 
 And swoons upon the swelling drift, and dies, 
 
 So on lier dazzling bosom would he lay 
 
 His famished lips, and end tlieir travels there. 
 
 Oh, happy they ! not he would go to Heaven ; 
 
 Not, though he might tliat moment. 
 
 Helen. Nor I, noAV. 
 
 Festus. Helen, my love ! 
 
 Helen. Yes, I am here. 
 
 Festus. It has 
 
 Been such a day as that, thou knowest, when first 
 I said I loved thee ; that long, sunny day 
 We passed upon the waters — heeding nought. 
 Seeing nought, but each other. 
 
 Helen. I remember. 
 
 The only wise thing that I ever did — 
 The only good — was to love thee, and therefore 
 I would have no one else as wise as I. 
 Didst thou not say that student would be here? 
 
 Festus. I think I hear him every minute come. 
 
 Helen. It is not kind. We should be more alone. 
 Tliero was a time thou Avouldst have no one else. 
 
 FrsTis. Am T not witli tliee all day?
 
 F E S T u s . 409 
 
 Helen. Yes, I know ; 
 
 But often and often thou art thinlcing not 
 Of me. 
 
 Festus. My good child ! — 
 
 Helen. Well, I know thou lovest me ; 
 
 And so I cannot bear thee to think, speak. 
 Or be with any but me. 
 
 Festus. Then I will not. 
 
 Helen. Oh, thou wouldst promise me the clock 
 round. Now, 
 Promise me this — that I shall never die, 
 And I'll believe thee when I am dead — not till. 
 But let it pass. I am at peace with thee ; 
 And pardon thee, and give thee leave to live. 
 
 Festus. Magnanimous ! 
 
 Helen. When Earth, and Heaven, and all 
 Things seem so bright and lovely for our sakes, 
 It were a sin not to be happy. See ! 
 Tiie moon is up ; it is the dawn of niglit. 
 Stands by her side one bold, bright, steady star — 
 Star of licr heart, and heir to all her light. 
 Whereon she looks so proudly mild and calm, 
 As though she were the motlier of tliat ^tar, 
 And knew he was a chief sun in his sphere, 
 But by her side, in the great strife of lights 
 To shine to (iod, lie had filially failed. 
 And hid his arrows and his bow of beams. 
 Mother of stars ! the Heavens look up to thee. 
 Thej oliine the brighter but to hide thy waning; 
 
 52 II
 
 410 FESTOS. 
 
 They wait and wane for thee to enlarge thy beauty; 
 They give thee all their glory, night by night ; 
 Their number malces not less thy loneliness 
 Nor loveliness. 
 
 Festus. Heaven's beauty grows on us ; 
 
 And when the elder worlds have ta'en their seats, 
 Come the divine ones, gathering one by one. 
 And family by family, with still 
 And holy air, into the house of God — 
 The house of light He hath builded for Himself, 
 And worship Him m silence and in sadness. 
 Immortal and immovable. And tliere. 
 Night after night, they meet to worship God. 
 For us this witness of the worlds is given. 
 That we may add ourselves to their great glory, 
 And worship with them. They are there for lights 
 To light us on our Avay through Heaven to God ; 
 And we, too, have the power of liglit in us. 
 Ye stars, how bright ye shine to-night ! mayhap 
 Ye are the resurrection of the worlds, — 
 Glorified globes of light ! Shall ours be like ye 1 
 Nay, but it is ! this wild, dark earth of ours. 
 Whose face is furrowed like a losing gamester's. 
 Is shining round, and bright, and smooth in air 
 Millions of miles off. Not a single path 
 Of thought I tread, but that it leads to God. 
 And when her time is out, and earth again 
 Hath travailled with the divine dust of man. 
 Then the world's womb shall open, and lier r,.ins
 
 FESTDS. 411 
 
 Be born again, all glorified iuimorta s. 
 
 .Vnd she, their mother, purified by fire. 
 
 Shall sit her down in Heaven, a bride of God, 
 
 And handmaid of the ever-being One. 
 
 Our earth is learning all accomplishments 
 
 To fit her for her bridehood. 
 
 Helen. He is here. 
 
 Festus. Welcome. 
 
 Student. I thought the night was beautiful, 
 
 But find the in-door scene still lovelier. 
 
 Helen. Ah ! all is beautiful where beauty is. 
 
 Student. Night hath made many bards ; she is 
 so lovely. 
 For it is beauty maketh poesy, 
 As from the dancing eye come tears of light. 
 Night hath made many bards ; she is so lovely. 
 And they have praised her to her starry face 
 So long, that she hath blushed and left them, often. 
 When first and last we met, we talked on studies ; 
 Poetry, only, I confess is mine. 
 And is the only thing I think or read of: — 
 Feeding my soul upon the soft, and sweet, 
 And delicate imaginings of song; 
 For as nightingales do upon glowworms feed, 
 So poets live upon the living light 
 Of nature and of beauty ; they love light. 
 
 Festus. But poetry is not confined to books. 
 For the creative spirit which thou seekest 
 Is m thee, and about thee ; yea, it hath 
 God's evcrywhereness.
 
 412 FESTUS. 
 
 Stuijent Truly. It Was for this 
 
 I sought to know thy thoughts, and hear the course 
 Thou -vvouldst lay out for one who longs to win 
 A name among the nations. 
 
 Festus. First of all, 
 
 Care not about the name, but bind thyself, 
 Body and soul, to nature hiddenly. 
 Lo, the great march of stars from earth to earth. 
 Through Heaven. The earth speaks inwardly alone. 
 Let no man know thy business, save some friend, — 
 A man of mind, above the run of men ; 
 For it is with all men and with all things. 
 The bard must ha\e a kind, courageous heart, 
 And natural chivalry, to aid the weak. 
 He must believe the best of every thing ; 
 Love all below, and worship all above. 
 All animals are living hieroglyphs. 
 The dashing dog, and stealthy-stepping cat, 
 Hawk, bull, and all that breathe, mean something 
 
 more 
 To the true eye than their shajjes show ; for all 
 Were made in love, and made to be beloved. 
 Thus must he think as to earth's lower life. 
 Who seeks to win the world to thought and love, 
 As doth the bard, whose habit is all kindness 
 To every thing. 
 
 Helen'. I love to hear of such. 
 
 Could we but think Avith the intensity 
 We love with, one might do great things, I think.
 
 FESTUS. 413 
 
 Festus. Kindness is wisdom. There is none in life 
 But needs it, and may learn ; eye-reasoning man, 
 And spirit unassisted, vm obscured. 
 
 Student. Go on, I pray. I came to bo informed. 
 Thou knowest my ambition, and I joy 
 To feel thou feedest it with purest food. 
 
 Festus. I cannot tell thee all I feel ; and know 
 But little save myself, and am not ashamed 
 To say, that I have studied my own life. 
 And know it is like to a tear-blistered letter, 
 Which holdeth fruit and proof of deeper feeling 
 Than the poor pen can utter, or the eye 
 Discover ; and that often my heart's thoughts 
 Will rise and shake my breast, as madmen shake 
 The stanchions of their dungeons, and howl out. 
 
 Helen. But thou wast telling us of poesy 
 And the kind nature-hearted bards. 
 
 Festl's. I was. 
 
 I Icnew one once — he Avas a friend of mine ; 
 
 I knew him well — his mind, habits, and Avorks, 
 
 Taste, temper, temperament, and every thing ; 
 
 Yet with as kind a heart as beats, he was. 
 
 Earthlike, no sooner made than marred. Though 
 
 young, 
 
 lie wrote amid the ruins of his heart ; 
 
 They were his throne and tlieme ; — like some lone 
 
 king. 
 
 Who tells the story of the land he lost. 
 
 And how he lost it. 
 
 II*
 
 414 FESTUS. 
 
 Student. Tell us more of him. 
 
 Helen. Nay, but it saddens thee. 
 
 Festus. "Tis like enough 
 
 We slip away like sliadows into sliade ; 
 We end, and make no mark we had begun ; 
 We come to nothing, like a pure intent. 
 When we have hoped, sought, striven, and lost our 
 
 aim, 
 Then the truth fronts us, beaming out of darkness, 
 Like a white brow, through its overshadowing hair — 
 As though the day were overcast, my Helen ! 
 But I was speaking of my friend. He was 
 Quick, generous, simple, obstinate in end, 
 High-hearted from his youth ; his spirit rose 
 In many a glittering fold and gleamy crest, 
 Hydra-like to its liinderance ; mastering all. 
 Save one thing — love ; and that out-hearted him. 
 Nor did he think enough, till it was over, 
 How bright a thing he was breaking, or he would 
 Surely have shunned it, nor have let his life 
 Be puUed to pieces like a rose by a child ; 
 And his heart's passions made him oft do that 
 '^^'^aich made him writhe to think on what he had 
 
 done. 
 And thin his blood by weeping at a night. 
 If madness wrought the sin, the sin wrought mad 
 
 ness, 
 And made a round of ruin. It is sad 
 To see the light of beauty wane away,
 
 FESTUS. 415 
 
 Know eyes are dimming, bosom sluivclling, feet 
 Losing their spring, and limbs their lily roundness ; 
 But it is worse to feel our heart-spring gone, 
 To lose hope, care not for the coming thing, 
 And feel all things go to decay with us, 
 As 'twere our life's eleventh month ; and yet 
 All this he went through young. 
 
 Helen. Poor soul ! I should 
 
 Have loved him for his sorrows. 
 
 Festus. It is not love 
 
 Brings sorrow, but love's objects. 
 
 Student. Then he loved. 
 
 Festus. I said so. I have seen him, when he 
 hath had 
 A letter from his lady dear ; he blessed 
 The paper tliat her hand had travelled over, 
 And her eye looked on, and would think he saw 
 Gleams of that light she lavished from her eyes 
 Wandering amid the words of love there traced, 
 Like glowworms among beds of flowers. He seemed 
 To bear with being but because she loved him. 
 She was the sheath wherein his soul had rest, 
 yVs hath a sword from war : and he, at niglit. 
 Would solemnly and singularly curse 
 Each minute that he had not thought of her. 
 
 Helen. Now that was like a lover ! and she loved 
 Him, and him only. 
 
 Festts. Well, perhaps it was so. 
 
 But he could not restrain his heart, but loved
 
 416 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 In that voluptuous purity of taste 
 
 Which dwells on beauty coldly, and yet kindly, 
 
 As night dew, whensoe'er he met with beauty. 
 
 Helen. It was a pity, that inconstancy — 
 If she he loved were but as good and fair 
 As he was worthy of. 
 
 Student. It was his way. 
 
 Festus. There is a dark and bright to every thing; 
 To everj' thing but beauty such as thine, 
 And that is all briglit. If a fault in him, 
 'Twas one which made him do the sweetest wrongs 
 Man ever did. And yet a whisper went 
 That he did wrong : and if that whisper had 
 Echo in him or not, it mattered little ; 
 Or right or wrong, he were alike unhappy. 
 Ah me ! ah me ! that there should be so much 
 To call up love, so little to delight ! 
 The best enjoyment is half disappointment 
 To that we mean or would have, in tliis world. 
 And there were many strange and sudden lights 
 Beckoned him towards them ; they were wreckers' 
 
 lights : 
 But he shunned these, and righted when she rose, 
 Moon of his life, that ebbed and flowed with her. 
 A sea of sorrow struck him, but he held 
 On ; dashed aU sorrow from him as a bark 
 Spray from her bow bounding ; he lifted up 
 His head, and the deep ate his shadow merely. 
 
 Helen. A poet not in love is out at sea ; 
 He must have a lay-figure.
 
 FESTUS. 417 
 
 Festus. I iiioant not 
 
 To screen, but to describe, this friend of mine. 
 
 Helen. Describe the hidy, too ; of course she was 
 Above all praise, and all comparison. 
 
 Festus. AVhy, true. Her heart was all humanity, 
 Her soul all God's ; in spirit and in form, 
 Like flxir. Her cheek had the pale, pearly pink 
 Of seashells, the world's sweetest tint, as though 
 She lived, one half might deem, on roses sopped 
 In silver dew ; she spake as with the voice 
 Of spheral harmony, which greets the soul 
 When at tlie hour of death the saved one knows 
 His sister angels near ; her eye was as 
 The golden pane the setting sun doth just 
 Emblaze ; which shows, till Hea^'en comes down again, 
 All other lights but grades of gloom ; her dark, 
 Long, rolling locks were as a stream ths slave 
 Might search for gold, and, searching, find. Her 
 frown — 
 
 Helen. Nay, could she frown 1 
 
 Festus. Ay, but a radiant frown 
 
 In common with the stars, which men malign 
 AVho call malignant. Stars are always kind. 
 
 Helen. Enough. I have her picture perfect. 
 Cease. 
 
 Student. AVhal were his griefs ] 
 
 Festus. He who hath most of heart 
 
 Knows most of sorrow ; not a thing he saw 
 Nor did but was to him, at times, a woe ; 
 
 53
 
 418 FESTUS. 
 
 At times indifFerent, at times a joy. 
 Folly, and sin, and memory make a curse 
 "\^Tierewith the future fires may vie in vain. 
 The sorrows of the soul are graver still. 
 
 Student. Where and when did he study "? Did 
 he mix 
 Much with the world, or was he a recluse? 
 
 Festus. He had no times of study, and no place; 
 All places and all times to him were one. 
 His soul was like the wind-harp, A\hich he loved, 
 And sounded only when the spirit blew. 
 Sometimes in feasts and follies, for he went 
 Lifelike through all things ; and his thoughts then 
 
 rose 
 Like sparkles in the bright wine, brighter still. 
 Sometimes in dreams, and then the shining words 
 Would wake him in the dark before his face. 
 All things talked thoughts to him. The sea went mad. 
 And the wind whined as 'twere in pain, to show 
 Each one his meaning; and the awful siui 
 Tliundered his thoughts into him ; and at night 
 The stars would whisper theirs, the moon sigh hers. 
 The spirit speaks all tongues and understands ; 
 Both God's and angel's, man's and all dumb things, 
 Down to an insect's inarticulate hum 
 And an inaudible organ. And it was 
 Tlie spirit spake to liim of every thing ; 
 ,\nd with the moony eyes, like those we see, 
 Thousands on thousands, crowding air in di-eams,
 
 FESTUS. 419 
 
 Looked into him its mighty meanings, till 
 
 He felt the power fulfil him, as a cloud 
 
 In every fibre feels the forming wind. 
 
 He spake the world's one tongue ; in earth and 
 
 Heaven 
 There is but one — it is the word of truth. 
 To him the eye let out its hidden meaning, 
 .\nd young and old made their hearts over to him ; 
 And thoughts were told to him as unto none 
 Save one who heareth said and unsaid, all. 
 And his heart held these as a grate its gleeds, 
 Where others warm tliem. 
 
 Student. I would I had known him. 
 
 Festus. All things were inspiration unto him : 
 Wood, wold, hill, field, sea, city, solitude. 
 And crowds, and streets, and man where'er he was ; 
 And the blue eye of God which is above us ; 
 Brook-bounded pine spinnies, where spirits flit ; 
 And haunted pits the rustic hurries by, 
 Where cold, wet ghosts sit ringing jingling bcills ; 
 Old orchards' leaf-roofed aisles, and red-cheeked load ; 
 And the blood-coldrcd tears which yew-trees weep 
 O'er churchyard graves, like murderers remorseful. 
 The dark green rings ^vhere fairies sit and su[), 
 Crushing the violet dew in the acorn cup ; 
 Where by his new-made bride the bridegroom si|)s. 
 The white moon shimmering on their longing lips ; 
 The large, o'erloaded, wealthy-looking wains 
 Quietly swaggering home through leafy lanes,
 
 420 FESTfS. 
 
 Lea\'ing on all low branches, as they come. 
 Straws for the birds, ears of the harvest home. 
 Summer's warm soil, or winter's cruel sky. 
 Clear, cold, and icy-blue, like a sea-eagle's eye ; 
 All things to Him bare tho-ughts of minstrelsy. 
 He drew his light from that he was amidst, 
 As doth a lamp from air which hath itself 
 Matter of light, although it show not. His 
 "\\'as but the power to light what might be lit. 
 He met a muse in every lovely maid ; 
 And learned a song from every lip he loved. 
 But his heart ripened most 'neath Southern eyes, 
 "N^liicli sunned their sweets into him all day long : 
 For fortune called him Southwards, towards the sun 
 
 Helen. Did he love music I 
 
 Festus. The only music he 
 
 Or learned or listened to was from the lips 
 Of her he loved, and that he learned by heart. 
 Albeit she would try to teach him tunes. 
 And put his fingers on the keys ; but he 
 Could only see her eyes, and hear her voice. 
 And feel her touch. 
 
 Helen. ^^'hy, he was much like thee. 
 
 Festus. AVe had some points in common. 
 
 Student. Was he proud? 
 
 Festus. Lowliness is the base of every \irtue ; 
 And he who goes the lowest, builds the safest. 
 My God keeps all his pity for the proud. 
 
 Student. Was he world-wise?
 
 FESTUS. 491. 
 
 Festus. Tlie only wonder is 
 
 He knew so much, leading the life he did. 
 
 Student. Yet it may seem less strange when we 
 think back, 
 That we, in the dark chamber of the heart. 
 Sitting alone, see the world tabled to us ; 
 And the world wonders how recluses know 
 So much, and, most of all, how we know them. 
 It is they who paint themselves upon our hearts 
 In their own lights and darknesses, not we. 
 One stream of light is to us from above, 
 And that is that we see by — light of God. 
 
 Festus. We do not make our thoughts ; they 
 grow in us 
 I.ike grain in wood : the growth is of the skies, 
 Wliich are of nature ; nature is of God. 
 The world is full of glorious likenesses. 
 The poet's power is to sort these out. 
 And to make music from tlie common strings 
 With which the world is strung ; to make the dumb 
 Earth utter heavenly harmony, and draw 
 Tiife clear, and sweet, and harmless as spring water, 
 AVelling its way through flowers. Without faith. 
 Illimitable faith, strong as a state's 
 In its own might, in God, no bard can be. 
 All things are signs of other, and of nature. 
 It is at night we see Heaven mo^eth, and 
 A darkness thick with suns. The thoughts we think 
 Subsist the same in God as stars in Heaven.
 
 422 FESTLS. 
 
 And as these specks of light will prove great worlds 
 
 When we approach them sometime free from flesh, 
 
 So, too, our thoughts will become magnified 
 
 To mindlike things immortal. And as space 
 
 Is but a property of God, wherein 
 
 Is laid all matter, other attributes 
 
 May be the infinite homes of mind and soul. 
 
 And thoughts rise from our souls, as from the sea 
 
 The clouds sublimed in Heaven. The cloud is cold. 
 
 Although a-blaze with lightning — though it shine 
 
 At all points like a constellation ; so 
 
 We live not to ourselves — our work is life ; 
 
 In bright and ceaseless labor, as a star 
 
 Which shineth unto all worlds but itself 
 
 Helen. And were this friend and bard of whom 
 thou speak' st. 
 And she whom he did love, happy together] 
 
 Festus. True love is ever tragic, grievous, grave. 
 Bards and their beauties are like double stars, 
 One in their bright effect. 
 
 Helen. ^^^hose light is love. 
 
 Student. Or is it poesy thou meanest 1 
 
 Festus. Both : 
 
 For love is poesy — it doth create ; 
 From fading features, dim soul, doubtful heart, 
 And this world's wretched happiness, a life 
 Which is as near to Heaven as are the stars. 
 They parted ; and she named Heaven's judgment seat 
 As their next place of meeting: and "twas kept
 
 F E S T U S . 4?3 
 
 By her — at least, so far that no where else 
 Could it be made until the day of doom. 
 
 Helen. So soon men's passion passes ! yea, it 
 sinks 
 Like foam into the troubled wave which bore it. 
 Merciful God! let me entreat Thy mercy! 
 I have seen all the woes of men — pain, death, 
 llem.orse, and worldly ruin ; they are little, 
 Weighed with the woe of woman wlicn forsaken 
 By him she loved and trusted. Hear, too, thou! 
 Lady of Heaven, IMother of God and man. 
 Who made the world His brother, one with God — 
 Maid-mother ! mould of God, who wrought in thee 
 Bv model, as He doth in the world's womb, 
 So that the universe is great with God — 
 Thou in whom God did deify Himself, 
 Betaking Him into immortality. 
 As in Thy Son He took it into liim. 
 And from the temporal and eternal made 
 Of the soul-world one same and ever God ! 
 Oh, for the sake of thine own womanhood, 
 Pray away aught of evil from her soul, 
 And take her out of anguish unto thee, 
 .\lways, as thou didst this one ! 
 
 Festus. Who doth not 
 
 Believe that that he loveth cannot die 1 
 There is no mote of death in thine eye's beams 
 To hint of dust, or darkness, or decay ; 
 Eclipse upon eclipse, and death on death ;
 
 424 
 
 F E S T II S . 
 
 No ! immortality sits mirrored there 
 
 Like a fair face, long looking on itself; 
 
 Yet thou shalt lie in death's angelic garb 
 
 As • in a dream of dress, my beautiful ! 
 
 The worm shall trail across thine unsunned sweets, 
 
 And feast him on the heart men pined to death for ; 
 
 Yea, have a happier knoAvledge of thy beauties 
 
 Than best-loved lover's dream e'er duped him with. 
 
 Helen. It is unkind to think of me in this wise. 
 Surely, the stars must feel that they are bright — 
 In beauty, number, nature, infinite ; 
 And the strong sense we have of God in us 
 Makes me believe my soul can never cease. 
 The temples perish, but the God still lives.' 
 
 Festus. It is therefore that I love thee; for that 
 when 
 The fiery perfection of the world, 
 The sun, shall be a shadow and burnt out, 
 There is an impulse to eternity 
 Raised by this moment's love. 
 
 Student. I pray it may ! 
 
 Time is the crescent shape to bounded eye 
 Of what is ever perfect unto God. 
 The bosom heaves to Heaven, and to the stars; 
 Our very hearts throb upwards, our eyes look ; 
 Our aspirations always are divine : 
 Yet is it in the gloom of soul we see 
 Most of the God about us, as at night. 
 For then the soul, like the mother-maid of Christ,
 
 FESTUS. 425 
 
 Is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit ; 
 And in creative darkness doth conceive 
 Its humanized Di\inity of life. 
 
 Festus. Think then God shows his face to us no 
 loss 
 In spiritual darkness than in light. 
 
 Helen. But of thy friend] I would hear more 
 of him. 
 Perhaps much happiness in friendship made 
 Amends for his love's sorrows. 
 
 Festus. Ask me not. 
 
 Helen. But loved he never after? Came there 
 none 
 To roll the stone from his sepulcnral heart, 
 And sit in it an angel 1 
 
 Festus. Ah, my life ! 
 
 My more than life, my immortality ! 
 Both man and womankind belie their nature 
 When they arc not kind : and tliy Avords are kind, 
 And beautiful, and loving like thyself; 
 Thine eye and thy tongue's tone, and all that speak 
 Thy soul, are like it. There's a something in 
 The shape of harps, as though they had been made 
 By music: beauty's the effect of soul. 
 And he of whom thou askest loved again. 
 Could'st tliou have loved one who was unlike men ? 
 "Whose heart was wrinkled long before his brow ] 
 Who would have cursed himself if he had dared 
 Tempt God to ratify his curse in fire: 
 
 64 J J*
 
 4:2b F E S T U S . 
 
 And yet with whom to look on beauty was 
 A need, a thirst, a passion ? 
 
 Helen. Yes, I think 
 
 I could have loved him ; but, no — not unless 
 He was like thee; unless he had been thee. 
 Tell me, what was it rendered him so wretched 
 At heart 1 
 
 Festus. I will not tell thee. 
 
 Student. But tell me 
 
 How and on what he wrote, this friend of thine 1 
 
 Festus. Love, mirth, woe, pleasure was in turn 
 his theme. 
 And the great good which beauty does the soul ; 
 And the God-made necessity of things. 
 And like that noble knight in olden tale, 
 Who changed his armor's hue at each fresh charge 
 By virtue of his lady-love's strange ring, 
 So that none knew him save his pi'ivate page 
 And she who cried, God save him, every time 
 He brake spears with the grave till he quelled all — 
 So he applied him to all themes that came ; 
 Loving the most to breast the rapid deeps 
 Wliere others had been drowned, and heeding nought 
 Where danger might not fill the place of fame. 
 And 'mid the magic circle of those sounds, 
 His lyre rayed out, spell-bound himself he stood, 
 Like a stilled storm. It is no task for suns 
 To shine. He knew himself a bard ordained, 
 More than inspired, of God, inspirited. —
 
 VESTUS. 427 
 
 Makins; liimself like an electric rod, 
 
 'O 
 
 A lure for lightning feelings ; and his words 
 
 Felt like the things that fall in thunder, which 
 
 'I'he mind, when in a dark, hot, cloudful state, 
 
 Doth make metallic, meteoric, ball-like. 
 
 He spake to spirits with a spirit tongue, 
 
 Who came compelled by wizard word of truth, 
 
 And rayed them round him from the ends of Heaven. 
 
 For as be all bards, he was born of beauty, 
 
 And with a natural fitness to draw down 
 
 All tones and shades of beauty to his soul. 
 
 Even as the rainbow-tinted shell, which lies 
 
 Miles deep at bottom of the sea, hath all 
 
 Colors of skies, and flowers, and gems, and plumes, 
 
 And all by nature, which doth reproduce 
 
 Like loveliness in seeming opjwsites. 
 
 Our life is like the wizard's charmed ring : 
 
 Death's heads and loathsome things fill up the ground ; 
 
 But spirits wing about and wait on us. 
 
 While yet the hour of enchantment is. 
 
 And while we keep in we arc safe, and can 
 
 Force them to do our bidding. And he raised 
 
 The rebel in himself, and in his mind 
 
 Walked with him through the world. 
 
 Stutent. He wrote of this 1 
 
 Festus. He wrote a poem. 
 
 Student. What was said of it'? 
 
 Festus. Uh, much was said — much more than 
 understood ;
 
 428 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 One said, that he was mad ; another, wise ; 
 Another, wisely mad. The book is there. 
 Judge thou among them. 
 
 Student. Well, but who said what ? 
 
 Festus. Some said that he blasphemed ; and thesp 
 men lied 
 To all eternity, unless such men 
 Be saved, when God shall raze that lie from life 
 And from His own eternal memory: 
 But still the word is lied ; though it were writ 
 In honey dew upon a lilj' leaf, 
 With quill of nightingale, like love letters 
 From Oberon sent to the bright Titania, 
 Fairest of all the fays — for that he used 
 The name of God as spirits use it, barely, 
 Yet surely more sublime in nakedness, 
 Statue-like, than in a Avhole tongue of dress. 
 Thou knoAvest, God ! that to the full of worship 
 All things are worshipful ; and Thy great name, 
 In all its awful broA^ity, hath nought 
 Unholy breeding in it, but doth bless 
 Rather the tongue that utters it : for me, 
 I ask no higher office than to fling 
 My spirit at Thy feet, and cry Thy name, 
 God ! through eternity. The man who sees 
 Irreverence in that name must haAc been used 
 To take that name in vain, and the same man 
 Would see obscenity in pure white statues.
 
 FESTUS. 429 
 
 Call all things by their names. Hell, call thou hell ; 
 Archangel, call archangel ; and God, God. 
 
 Student. And what said he of such ? 
 
 Festus. He held his peace 
 
 A season, as a tree its sap till spring, 
 Preparing to unfold itself, and let 
 All rigor do its worst, which only served 
 To harden him, thougli nothing nesh at first. 
 And then he said at last, what, at the first, 
 He deemed would have been seen by other men, 
 By men, at least, above low-water mark. 
 Who take it, they lead others ; that it is they 
 Who set their shoulders to the stalled world's wheel 
 And give it a hitch forwards. 
 
 Helen. There were some 
 
 Encouraged him with good will, surely ^ 
 
 Festus. INIany. 
 
 The kind, the noble, and the able cheered him ; 
 The lovely, likewise : others knew he nought of 
 And yet he loved not praise, nor sighed for fome. 
 Glen's praise begets an awe of one's own self 
 Within us, till we fear our heart, lest it, 
 Magician-like, show more than we can bear. 
 Xor was he fomeless ; but obscurity 
 Hath many a sacred use. The clouds which hide 
 Tlic mental mountains rising nighest Heaven 
 Are full of finest lightning, and a breath 
 Can give those gathered shadows fearful life, 
 And launcli their lii-ht in thunder o'er the world.
 
 430 FESTUS. 
 
 Student. And thought he well of that he wrote] 
 
 Festus. Perchance. 
 
 Perchance we suffer, and perchance succeed. 
 Perchance he would his tongue had perished ere 
 It uttered half he said, from childhood up 
 To manhood, and so on ; for much I heard 
 From him required expiation, much 
 Soul sacrifice and penance for heart-deeds 
 Which passion had accomplished ; yea, perchance, 
 He wished, how vain ! that fruitfid heart and breast 
 Had withered like a witch's ere he had trained 
 The parasites of feeling that he did 
 About it ; and perchance, for all I know. 
 He would his brain had died ere it conceived 
 One half the thought-seeds that took life in it, 
 And in his soul's dark sanctuarj- dwelt. 
 Yet his blue eye's dark ball grew greater with 
 Delight, and darker, as he viewed the things 
 He made ; not monsters outside of the fane, 
 Grinning and howling, but seraphic forms — 
 Embodied thoughts of worshijJ, wisdom, love, 
 Joming their fire-tipped wings across the shrine 
 Where his heart's relics lay, and where were wrought 
 Immortal miracles upon men's minds. 
 
 Student. Take up the book, and if thou under- 
 standest, 
 Unfold it to me. 
 
 Festus. What I can, I wiU. 
 
 Well I remember me of thee, poor book!
 
 FESTUS. 431 
 
 But there is consolation e'en for tliee. 
 Fair hands have turned thee over, and bright eyes 
 Sprinkled their sparkles o'er thee with their prayers. 
 The poet's pen is the true divining rod 
 AVhich trembles towards the hiner founts of feeling; 
 Bringing to light and use, else hid from all, 
 The many sweet, clear sources which we have 
 Of good and beauty in our own deep bosom ; 
 And marks the variations of all mind, 
 "As does the needle an air-investing storm's. 
 
 Student. How does the book begin, go on, and 
 end? 
 
 Festus. It has a plan, but no plot. Life hath 
 none. 
 
 Helen. Tell us, love ; we Avill listen, and not 
 speak. 
 I wish I understood it, for I know 
 You would rather hear me than yourselves talk. 
 
 Student. Surely. 
 
 I'd give up half the organs in my head. 
 Besides all undiscovered faculties, 
 To list to such a lecturer ; and then 
 Have quite enough, perhaps, to comprehend. 
 
 Helen. 'Twere needless that, to one half-witted 
 now. 
 
 Festus. There is a porch, wherefrom is something 
 seen 
 Of the main dome beyond. Though shadows cross 
 Each other's path, yet let us go through it.
 
 432 FESTUS. 
 
 And lo I an opening scene in Heaven, wherein 
 
 The foredoom of all things, spirit and matter, 
 
 Is shown, and the permission of temptation ; 
 
 The angelic worship) of the Trinity, 
 
 By God's name uttered thrice ; the joys and powers 
 
 Of souls o'erblest, and the sweet offices 
 
 Of warden-angel told ; and the complete 
 
 t 
 
 A^'ell-fixed necessity and end of all things. 
 
 From Heaven we come to Earth, and so do souls. 
 
 For next succeeds a soft and sunset scene. 
 
 Wherein is shown the collapsed, empty state 
 
 In which all worldly pleasures leave us ; youth's, 
 
 Though natural, fitful, luaaAailing, struggle 
 
 Against a great temptation come unlocked for : 
 
 And that to sin is to curse God in deed. 
 
 The soul, long used to truth, still keeps its strength, 
 
 Though plunged upon a sudden 'mid the false ; 
 
 As hands, thrust into a dark room, retain 
 
 Their sunlent light a season. So with this. 
 
 The lines have under meanings, and the scene 
 
 Of self-forgetfulness and indecision 
 
 Breaks off, not ends. A starry, stirless night 
 
 Follows, which shadows out youth's barren longings 
 
 For goodness, greatness, marvels, mysteries.' 
 
 AVhencc comes this dream of immortality. 
 
 And the resurgent essence ^ Let us think! 
 
 ^V'hat mean we bj- the dead ? Tlie dead ha\e life, 
 
 The clianged ; and, if they come, it is to sliow 
 
 Their change is for the better. The bait takes.
 
 FESTUS. 433 
 
 Man and his foe shako hands upon their bargain. 
 The youth sets out for joj', and, 'neath the care 
 Of his good enemy, begins his course. 
 This they begin together, aiding each 
 The other, and abusing others. 
 
 Helen. I 
 
 AVas waiting for an eloquential pause 
 In this mysterious, allegorical, 
 Mythical, theological, odd story. 
 So now, then, I shall ask myself to sing ; 
 And granting I agree to my request, 
 I think you ought to thank me. 
 
 Student. That we will. 
 
 But not just now. 
 
 Helen. Oh ! yes, now ; yes, this moment. 
 
 I'm in the humor. 
 
 Student. We are not. 
 
 Festus. Yes, let her ! 
 
 Helen. AVhat shall I singl 
 
 Festus. Sing something merry, love. 
 
 Helen I Avon't : I'll sing the duUest thing I know ; 
 One of thine own songs. 
 
 Student. What a compliment ! 
 
 Festus. Sing what thou lik'st, then. 
 
 Helen. No ; what thou lik'st. 
 
 Student. Well, 
 
 Something about love, and it can't be wrong. 
 For love the sunny world supplies 
 With laughing lips and happy eyes. 
 
 55 KK
 
 434 
 
 rESTUS. 
 
 Festus. And 'twill be sooner over. 
 
 St DENT. And so better. 
 
 Helen. Like an island in a river 
 
 Art thou, my love, to me ; 
 And I journey by thee ever, 
 
 With a gentle ecstasy. 
 I arise to fall before thee ; 
 
 I come to kiss thy feet ; 
 To adorn thee and adore thee. 
 
 Mine only one ! my sweet ! 
 
 And thy love hath power upon me. 
 
 Like a dream upon a brain ; 
 For the loveliness which won me, 
 
 With the love, too, doth remain. 
 And my life it beautifieth, 
 
 Though love be but a shade. 
 Known of only ere it dieth. 
 
 By the darkness it hath made. 
 
 Was that addressed to me 1 
 
 Student. Well, now resume. 
 
 Festus. Trial alone of ill and folly gives 
 Clear proofs of the worlds vanities ; but little 
 Good comes of sennons, prophecies, or warnings. 
 Though from the steps of an old gray market-cross 
 The devil is holdinjj forth to the faithless. There 
 A social prayer is offered up to God.
 
 FESTUS. 435 
 
 Tlie next scene seems to promise fair ; for sure 
 If tliat there be one scene in life, vvherefrom 
 Evil is absent, it is pure, early love. 
 
 Helen. .VJas ! when beauty pleads the cause of 
 virtue, 
 The chief temptation to embrace it's wanting. 
 
 Festus. a man in love sees wonders. But not 
 love 
 Makes the soul happy : so the youth gets hopeless. 
 To this comes on a stern and stormy quarrel 
 'Twecn the two foe friends — Youtli demanding what 
 Cannot be ; and the other withholding safe 
 And easy grants. They part and meet, as though 
 Nothing had happened, in the next scene : none 
 Know how we reconcile ourselves to evil. 
 Follows a rapid birdseye view of earth, 
 A stirring up of the dust of all the nations ; 
 True travellers they through all the lands of life, 
 Moral, emotional, or love's sunny zone, 
 The palm-graced pilgrims of truth's holy land 
 And universal season of the sun. 
 Who, taking pleasure in all reason, find 
 The science of supremest ultimates. 
 And self-suggestive wisdom in themselves. 
 So through all schools, the cold and gloomy porch, 
 Massi\e, impassive — garden rose-cmbowcrcd, 
 And stately grove of lofty lore select, 
 Tlic trutli-sought soul progresses ; till wc find 
 Our home is where she leads, gmd we are guests
 
 436 FESTUS. 
 
 But of our guide ; the shrine she shows, lierself. 
 Then comes a village feast ; a kind of home 
 Unto the traveller — where, with the world, 
 "\^'e mix in private, talking divers things ; 
 A country merry-making, where all speak 
 According to their sorts and the occasion. 
 Deeper than ever lead-line went, behold 
 We search the rayless central sun Avithin. 
 We penetrate all mysteries, but are 
 Untitted long to dwell in the recess 
 Of our own nature, and Ave long for light. 
 True aspiration riseth from research. 
 Next, by the o'erthrown altar of a fane, 
 Foundation-shattered, like the ripened heart, 
 We find ourselves in Avorship. Let us hope 
 The spirit, form, and oflFering, grateful all. 
 Stone, pyramid, toAver, obelisk, fane, spire, 
 Temple, and circular city, to one truth, 
 Fountain and river, and tlie sun-searched depths 
 Of all-accepting ocean, testify. 
 In one of Earth's head cities, after this, 
 We toAver-like rise, and Avith an eminent eye 
 Glance round society, insatiate ; — 
 The high unknoAvn as yet unrealized. 
 In less time than the tAvinkling of a star, 
 Insphered ui air, the arch-fiend and the youth. 
 Like tAvilight and midnight, discourse and rise. 
 Thence to another planet, for the book. 
 Stream-like, doth steal the images of stars.
 
 FESTUS. 437 
 
 And trembles at its boldness, where we meet 
 
 The spmt of the first night of temptation, 
 
 And mix with many of those lofty musings 
 
 ^Vhich sow in us the seeds of higher kind 
 
 And brighter being. Heavenly poesy, 
 
 Which shines among the powers of the mind, 
 
 As that bright star she dwells in, 'mid the worlds 
 
 Which make the system of the sun, is there too. 
 
 But these high things are lost, and drowned, and 
 
 dimmed. 
 Like a blue eye in tears, that trickle from it 
 Like angels leaving Heaven on their errands 
 Of love, behind them, in the scene succeeding ; — 
 A scene of song, and dance, and mirth, and wine, 
 And damsels, in Avhose lily skin the blue 
 Veins branch themselves in hidden luxury. 
 Hues of the hea\cn they seem to have vanished from. 
 Mere joys ; but saddened and sublimed at close 
 By sweet remembrance of immortal ones 
 Once loved, aye hallowed. Still, in scenes like this, 
 Youth lingers longest, drawing out his time 
 As a goldbeater does his wire, until 
 'Twould reach rounil earth. 
 
 Student. And be of no use then. 
 
 Festus. Diame not the bard for showing this, but 
 mmd 
 He wrote ut youth as passionate genius. 
 Its flijjhts and follies — both its sensual ends 
 And coniiiion places. To behold an eagle
 
 4 S8 F E S T U S . 
 
 Batting the sunny ceiling of the world 
 
 yVith his dark wings, one well might deem his heart 
 
 On Heaven ; but, no ! it is fixed on flesh and blood, 
 
 And soon his talons tell it. Pass we on ! 
 
 A brief and solemn parley o'er a grave 
 
 Follows, in Avhich youth vows to trust in God, 
 
 Be the end what it may. A prescient view 
 
 Of what is true repentance to the soul, 
 
 Spirit-informed, expands ; and over all 
 
 The spiritual harmonies of Heaven 
 
 By the raised soul are heard, and God's great rule 
 
 To creatures justified. And next we find 
 
 Ourselves in Heaven. Even man's deadly life 
 
 Can be there, by God's leave. Once brought to God, 
 
 The soul's foredoom is set before it briglitly, 
 
 And Heaven's designs are seen to be brought to bear. 
 
 In that bright state shall God's will be our own. 
 
 And our will what we will, and faith be choice. 
 
 The rule which reconciles all contraries. 
 
 Sets free necessity and sanctifies. 
 
 Whereto let both prophetic past attest. 
 
 And self-fulfilling future of all joy. 
 
 A lightning revelation of the Heavens, 
 
 And Avhat is in them. Let it not be said 
 
 He sought his God in the self-slayer's way, 
 
 Whose highest aim was but to worship in 
 
 All humbleness ; for he was called thereto. 
 
 To show the holy God, in three scenes, first 
 
 And last in Threelihood, and midst in One:
 
 FESTDS. 439 
 
 Although less hard to shape the wide-wiiigcd wiud 
 O'er the bright heights of air. He will forgive . 
 For we, this moment, and all living souls — 
 All matter, are as much within His presence, 
 And known through, lik.^ a gla^s film in the sun. 
 As we can ever be. Another scene 
 Of natural luxury, and joy, and love. 
 
 Helen. Moonlight and music, and kisses, and 
 wine. 
 And beauty which must be for rhyme-sake divine; 
 Went it not so, I pray ? 
 
 Festus. Through sundry worlds 
 
 The mortal wends, returning, and relates 
 To lier he loves — and joyously they greet, 
 As boat by breeze and billow backed by tide — 
 His bright experience of celestial homes ; 
 Where spiritual natures, kind and high. 
 Light-born, which can divine immortal things. 
 Abide, imbosomed in Eternity. 
 Something he tells, too, of the friendly fiend, 
 Something of ancient ages, infant Earth, 
 And all maternal Nature, God-inspired ; — 
 Secret inclosing secret, like the balls 
 Of carved ivory, containing each 
 One than itself less, than itself one more, 
 And like life's double riddle so involved 
 The sole solution makes tlie mystery. 
 'I'o this succeeds a scene explaining much, 
 Of retrospective and prospective cast,
 
 440 FESTUS. 
 
 Between the bard, his beautj, and his friend, 
 
 Regarding soul, and heart, and intellect. 
 
 Our story ties us here to earth again. 
 
 And sea all aged — gray at once with years, 
 
 And green with youth. Now, evil is in love ; 
 
 And ever those who are unhappiest ha^e 
 
 Their hearts' desire the oftenest, but in dreams. 
 
 Dreams are mind-clouds, high and unshapen beauties. 
 
 Or but God-shaped, like mountains, which contain 
 
 !Much and rich matter ; often not for us, 
 
 But for another. Dreams are rudiments 
 
 Of the great state to come. We dream what is 
 
 About to happen to us. 
 
 Helen. What may be 
 
 The dream in this case] 
 
 Festus. It is one of death. 
 
 Helen. Of death ! is that all ? Well, I too have 
 had — 
 What every one hath once, at least, in life — 
 A ^ision of the region of the dead ; 
 It was the land of shadows : yea, the land 
 Itself was but a shadow, and the race 
 AA'hich seemed tliercin were voices, foims of forms, 
 And echoes of themselves. And there ^^'as nought 
 Of substance seemed, save one thing in the midst, 
 A great, red sepulchre — a granite grave; 
 And at the bottom lay a skeleton. 
 From whoso decaying jaws the shades were born : 
 Making its only sign of life, its dying
 
 FESTUS. 441 
 
 Continually. Some were bright, some dark. 
 
 Those that were bright ^v eat upwards heavenly ; 
 
 They which were dark grew darker, and remained. 
 
 A land of change, yet did the half things nothing 
 
 That I could see; but passed stilly on, 
 
 Taking no note of other, mate or child ; 
 
 lor all had lost their love when they put oif 
 
 The beauty of the body. And as I 
 
 Looked on, tlie grave before me backed away ; 
 
 And I began to dream it was a dream; 
 
 And I rushed after it : when the earth quaked, 
 
 Opened and shut, like the eye of one in fits ; 
 
 It shut to with a shout. The grave was gone; 
 
 And in the stead there stood a gleedlike throne, 
 
 Which all the shadows shook to see, and swooned ; 
 
 For fiends were standing, loaded with long chains, 
 
 The links whereof were fire, waiting the word 
 
 To bind and cast the shadows into hell ; 
 
 For Death the second sat upon that throne, 
 
 Which set on fire the air, not to be breathed. 
 
 And as he lifted up his arm to speak, 
 
 Fear preyed upon all souls, like fire on paper, 
 
 And mine among the rest, and I awoke. 
 
 Student. By Hades I 'twas most awful. 
 
 Festus. And when Icfe 
 
 Merges in creature-worship, let us mind ; 
 We know not what it is we love : perhaps 
 It is incarnate c-vil. In the time 
 It takes to turn a leaf, we are in Heaven ; 
 
 50
 
 442 
 
 F E S T r.' s . 
 
 
 Making our way among the wheeling worlds, 
 
 Millions of suns, half infinite each, and space 
 
 Forever shone into, forever dark, 
 
 As God is, to and by created mind, 
 
 Upheld by the companion spirit. There 
 
 The nature of the all in one, and whence 
 
 Evil ; the fixed impossibility 
 
 Of creatures' pei-fectness, until made one 
 
 "\A'ith God; and the necessity of ill, . j 
 
 As yet, are things all touched upon and proven. 
 
 The next scene shows us hell, in the mad mock 
 
 Of mortal revelry — the quellmg truth 
 
 That all life's sinful follies run to hell ; 
 
 That lies, debauches, murders never die. 
 
 But live in hell forever ; make, are hell. 
 
 And truth is there, too. Hell is its own moral. 
 
 Perdition certain to the unrepentant ; 
 
 Redemption on a like scale with creation ; 
 
 And all creation needing it, and ha\'ing. 
 
 Then comes a scene of passion, brought about 
 
 By the bad spirit's means for its ovm. ends. 
 
 Whom we know not when come, so dark we grow ; 
 
 Making ^t but a blind for further ill. 
 
 And tlien a rest in light, as though 'tween Earth 
 
 And Hea\en there M'ere a mediate spirit point, 
 
 A bright effect original of God 
 
 Enlightening all ways inwardh' and round ; 
 
 Whence is detected in the following scene. 
 
 Laid by the lonely seashore, as before. 
 
 ■4
 
 F E S T u s . 443 
 
 Where the great waves come in frothed, like a horse 
 
 Put to liis heart-burst speed, sobbing up hill, 
 
 How evil works his victim's death, to clear 
 
 His waj% and keep his name of murderer ; 
 
 As he, in other parts, makes good his titles, 
 
 Deceiver, liar, tempter, and accuser; 
 
 Hater of man, and, most of all, of God. 
 
 In the next scene, we picture back our life. 
 
 Contrasting the pure joys of earlier years 
 
 Witli the unsatedness of current sin ; 
 
 And the sad feel that love's own heart turns sick 
 
 Like a bad pearl ; but tluit the feeling still 
 
 Is adamantine, though the splendid thing 
 
 Whereon it writes its record is of all 
 
 Frailest ; and though earth shows to good and bad 
 
 The same blind kindness, beautiful to see, 
 
 Wherewith our lovely mother loveth us, 
 
 The world in vain unbosometh her beauty. 
 
 We have no lust to live ; for things may be 
 
 Corrupted into beauty : and tliat love, 
 
 Where all the passions blend, as hues in white, 
 
 Tires at the last, as day would, if all day 
 
 And no night. So despair of heart increases. 
 
 The last lure — power — is proffered, taken. All 
 
 Hangs on the last desire, whatever it be. 
 
 What follows is of earth, and setteth forth 
 
 God's mercy, and the mystery of sin ; 
 
 And a great gathering of the worlds round God, 
 
 Told by the youth to his truthful, trustful, love;
 
 444 F E S T c s . 
 
 Who, li.'jht and lowly as a little glowwonn, 
 
 Sheddeth her beauty round her like a rose, 
 
 Sweet-smelling dew, upon the ground it grows on. 
 
 The pure know e^il by repulsion, both 
 
 From surface and from centre; the impure 
 
 By likeness and attraction to themselves. 
 
 There is instinctive wisdom and acquired. 
 
 A scene of prescient solitude and soul 
 
 Commune with Heaven ; repentance, prayer, fiuth, 
 
 Which are all things inspired alone of God, 
 
 Who signifies salvation, follows this. 
 
 In the next scene, we feel the end draw nigh. 
 
 Nor power, nor knowledge, love nor pleasure make 
 
 The Heaven-affianced spirit false to God ; 
 
 Though doubt for long may triumph aini despair, 
 
 Leave the soul blindfold on the edge of hell. 
 
 A change is wrought on earth as great as that 
 
 In its first ages, when the elements, 
 
 Less gross and palpable than air, were changed 
 
 To mountainous and adamantine mass. 
 
 Now 'neath the feet of nations — figuring forth 
 
 The fateful mind which is to govern all, 
 
 Controlling the great evil ; for it is mind 
 
 Which shall rule and be ruled, and not tlie body, 
 
 In the last age of human sway on earth ; — 
 
 Ambition ruined by its own success ; 
 
 Aims lost, power useless : love, pure love, the last 
 
 Of mortal tilings that nestles in the heart. 
 
 There is a love which acts to death, and through death,
 
 FES T U S . 4-i5 I 
 
 And may come white, and briglit, and pure, like paper I 
 
 From refuse, or from clearest things at first ; j 
 
 It is beyond the accidents of life. j 
 
 For things we make no count of have in them j 
 
 The seeds of life, use, beauty, like the cores j 
 
 Of apples that we fling away ; — nought now 
 
 Is left but trust in God, who tries the heart 
 
 And saves it, at the last, from its own ruin — | 
 
 The parting spirit fluttering like a flag, I 
 
 Half from its earthy stafl". The death-change comes. 
 
 Death is another life. We bow our heads i 
 
 At going out, we think, and enter straight 
 
 Another golden chamber of the King's, j 
 
 Larger than this we leave, and lovelier. 1 
 
 And then in shadowy glimpses, disconnect, ' 
 
 The story, flower-like, closes thus its leaves. 
 
 The will of God is all in all. He makes, ! 
 
 Destroys, remakes, for His own pleasure, all. I 
 
 After inferior nature is subdued. 
 
 The evil is confined. All elements . 
 
 Conglobe themselves from chaos, purified. 
 
 The re-begotten world is born again. 
 
 ... ] 
 
 The body and the soul cease ; spirit lives : j 
 
 And gloriously falsified are all 
 
 Earth's caverned prophecies of bodyhood. 
 
 Spirits rise up, and rule, and link with Heaven ; — 
 
 The soul state is searched into ; dormant Death, 
 
 Evil, and all the dark gods of the heart, 
 
 Avd the idolatrous passions, ruined, chained, i
 
 ue 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 And worshipless, are seen ; and there, the Word 
 
 Heard and obeyed ; — next comes the truth divine, 
 
 Redintegrative ; — Evil's last and worst 
 
 Endeavor vanquished by Almighty good. 
 
 The last scene shows the final doom of earth, 
 
 Souls' judgment, and salvation of the youth. 
 
 As was fore-fixed on from and in the first: 
 
 The universe expurgated of evil, 
 
 And hell for aye abolished ; all create, 
 
 Kedeemed, their God all love, themselves all bliss. 
 
 Heaven is the birth of spirit and the world 
 
 Passed, embryonic only in its kind. 
 
 We may say that the sun is dead and gone 
 
 Forever ; and may swear he will rise no more ; 
 
 The skies may put on mourning for their god. 
 
 And earth heap ashes on her head: but who 
 
 Shall keep the sun back, when he thinks to rise 1 
 
 Where is the chain shall bind him ? A\'here the cell 
 
 Shall hold him ? Hell he would burn down to embers ; 
 
 And would lift up the world with a. lever of light 
 
 Out of his way: yet, know ye, 'twere thrice less 
 
 To do thrice this, than keep the soul from God. 
 
 O'er earth, and cloud, and sky, and star, and Heaven 
 
 It dwells with God uprisen as a prayer. 
 
 Now, the religion of the book is this. 
 
 Followed out from the book of God writ of old. 
 
 All creatures being faulty by their nature, 
 
 And by God made all liable to sin, 
 
 (ird onlv could atone — and unto none
 
 FESTUS. 447 
 
 Except Himself — for universal sin. 
 
 It is thus that God did sacrifice to God, 
 
 Himself unto Himself, in the great way 
 
 Of Triune mystery. His death, as man. 
 
 Was real as our own ; and as, except 
 
 In the destruction of all life, there could 
 
 Be no atonement for its sin, while life 
 
 Doth necessarily result from God, 
 
 As thought and outward action from ourselves ; 
 
 So the atonement must be to and by Him, 
 
 Which makes it justice equally with love; 
 
 For all His powers and attributes are equal, 
 
 And must make one in any act of His ; 
 
 And every act of God is infinite. 
 
 He acts through all in all : the truth we know 
 
 He doth Himself inbreathe ; the ill we do 
 
 He hath atoned for ; and the Scriptures show 
 
 That God doth suffer for the sins of those 
 
 Wliom He hath made, that are liable to sin. 
 
 In all of us He hath His agony ; 
 
 We are the cross, and death of God, and grave. 
 
 Him love then all the more, and worship Ilim 
 
 Who lived and died, and rose from deatli for us, 
 
 And is, and reigns forever, God in all. 
 
 Let each man tliink liimself an act of God, 
 
 His mind a tliouglit, liis life a breath of God ; 
 
 And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds, 
 
 To show the most of Heaven he hath in him. 
 
 Many who read tlie word of life much doubt
 
 4:1 S 
 
 !•■ E S T U S . 
 
 Whether sal ration be of grace, or faith, 
 
 Election, or repentance, or good Avorks, 
 
 Or God's high will: reconcile all of them. 
 
 Each of the persons of the Triune God 
 
 Hath had His dispensation, hath it now ; 
 
 The Father by His prophets, and the Son 
 
 In his 0A\-n days, by His own deeds : and now 
 
 The Spirit, by the ministry of Christ ; . 
 
 And thus by law, by gospel, and by grace, 
 
 The scheme of God's salvation is complete. 
 
 Salvation, then, is Godlike, threefold ; so 
 
 That, under one or other, all may come; 
 
 By will of God alone, by faith in Christ, 
 
 And by repentance, and good works, and grace. 
 
 So there is one salvation of the Father, 
 
 One of the Son, another of the Spirit ; 
 
 Each the salvation of the Three in One. 
 
 The mortal in this lay is saved of will. 
 
 In manner as this hymn imfolds, which hath 
 
 Just warranty for every word from God's. 
 
 O God ! Thou wondrous One in Three, 
 
 As mortals must Thee deem ; 
 Thou only canst be said to be, 
 
 We but at best to seem. 
 For Thou dost save, and Thou may'st slay. 
 
 Canst make a mortal soul 
 In Thee eternal ; in a day 
 
 Wilt bring to nought the Avhole.
 
 F K S T u s . 449 
 
 Thou hardeiiest, and Thou openest liearts, 
 
 As in Tliy A\'ord is shown ; 
 Tliou savest and dcstroycst parts 
 
 By Thy right will alone. 
 liet down Thy grace, then, Lord ! on all 
 
 Whom Tliou wilt save to live ; 
 Oh ! if they stumble, stop their fall I 
 
 Oil ! if they fall, forgive ! 
 
 They are forgiven from the first ; 
 
 They are predestined Thine ; 
 And though in sin they were the worst. 
 
 In Thee they are divine. 
 They are, and were, and will be. Lord ! 
 
 In one, in Heaven, in Thee, 
 Yea, with the Spirit and the Word, 
 
 One God in Trinity. 
 
 These principles and doctrines pending not 
 
 Upon the action of the poem here, 
 
 But over and above it, influencing 
 
 Nevertheless the story, as the course 
 
 Of siars inwoven with our system, earth, 
 
 Vary the view of this life's hemisphere, 
 
 And mingle it more palpably with Heaven, 
 
 And with its changeless, ceaseless, boundless God. 
 
 It is thus that by creating to and from 
 
 Eternity, and multipljing ever 
 
 His own one Being through the universe, 
 
 07 LL*
 
 450 J-'ESTIIS. 
 
 He (loth eternize happiness, and make 
 
 Good infinite by nuvking all in Him. 
 
 There is but one; "reat right and "ood ; and ill 
 
 And wrong are shades thereof, not substances. 
 
 Nothing can be antagonist to God. 
 
 The Spirit speaks of God in Heaven's own tongue. 
 
 No mystery to those who love, but learned 
 
 As is our mother tongue, from Him, the parent ; 
 
 By whom created, fashioned, flesh and spirit. 
 
 All forms and feelings of all kinds of beauty 
 
 Are burned into our heart-day, pattern-like. 
 
 Much, too, is writ, elsewhere and here, not yet 
 
 Made clear, nor can be till earth come of age ; 
 
 Like the unfinished rudiments of light 
 
 Which gather time by time into a star. 
 
 Thus have I shown tlie meaning of the book, 
 
 And the most truthful likeness of a mind, 
 
 Whicli hath as yet been limned; the mind of youtli 
 
 In strength and failings, in its overcomings. 
 
 And in its short comings ; the kingly ends. 
 
 The universalizing heart of youth ; 
 
 Its love of power, heed not how had, although 
 
 With surety of self-ruin at the end. 
 
 Every thing urged against it proves its truth 
 
 And faithfulness to nature. Some cried out 
 
 "Twas inconsistent ; so 'twas meant to be. 
 
 Such is the very stamp of youth and nature ; 
 
 And the continual losing sight of its aims, 
 
 And the des(,>rtiou of its most expressed 
 
 And dear(>st rules and objects, — this is youth.
 
 FKSTUS. 451 
 
 Studfn't. I look on life as keeping me from God, 
 Stars, ITeaven, and angels' bosoms. I lay ill ; 
 And the dark, hot blood throbbing through and 
 
 through me ; 
 They bled me, and I swooned ; and as I died, 
 Or seemed to die, a soft, sweet sadness fell 
 With a voluptuous weakness on my soul. 
 That made me feel all happy. But my heart 
 Would live, and rose, and wrestled with the soul, 
 Which stretched its wings and strained its strength 
 
 in vain, 
 Twining around it as a snake an eagle. 
 Mine eyes unclosed again, and I looked up, 
 And saw the sweet, blue twilight, and one star, 
 One only star in HeaA'en ; and then I Avished 
 That I had died and gone to it ; and straight 
 Was glad I lived again, to love once more. 
 And so our souls turn round upon themselves, 
 T>ike orbs upon their axles: what was night 
 Is day; what day, night. God will guide us on. 
 Body and soul, through life and death, to judgment. 
 Festus. Earth hath her deserts mixed with fruitful 
 
 plains ; 
 The work of God is barren in some parts ; 
 A rose is not all flower, but hath much 
 Which is of lower beauty, yet like needful ; 
 And he who in great makings doth like these, 
 Doth only that which is most natural, 
 liike life, too, it is boundlessly unequal,
 
 462 FESTUS. 
 
 Now soaring, and now grovelling . at one time 
 
 All harmony, and then again all harshness, 
 
 "\^''ith an ever-changing style of thought and speech. 
 
 The work is still consistent with itself; 
 
 As one part often bears upon another, 
 
 liifting it to the light, where most it needs. 
 
 The thoughts we have of men are bold as men; 
 
 Our thoughts of God are thin and fleet as ghosts ; 
 
 But it was not his meaning to draw men, 
 
 Such as he heard they were in the old world 
 
 And sometimes mixed with ; he blessed God he knew 
 
 But little of the world, that little good ; 
 
 While some sighed out that little was its all. 
 
 So for the persons and the scenes he drew, 
 
 Oft in a dim and dreamy imagery 
 
 Shapen, half shapen, misshapen, unshapen. 
 
 They arc the shadowy creatures which youth dreams 
 
 Live in _ the world embodied, but are not, 
 
 Sa-\'e in the mind's, which is the mightier one. 
 
 They are the names of things which we believe in, 
 
 Ideas not embodied, alas, not ! 
 
 And the sad fate which many of those meet 
 
 Whom the youth loves and quits, means nought so ill 
 
 As the betrayer's sin, salvationless 
 
 Almost : it is but desertion, not betrayal ; 
 
 And forced on him according to a promise 
 
 Made at the first unto him, and to be 
 
 Wrought out in brief time ; and the same fair souls 
 
 .Saved, stand for our desires made pure in Heaven.
 
 FESTUS. 453 
 
 Let us work out our natures ; we can do 
 
 No wrong in them, — they arc divine, eterne : 
 
 I follow my attraction, and obey 
 
 Nature, as earth does, circling round her source 
 
 Of life and light, and keeping true in Heaven, 
 
 Though not perfect in round, which nothing is. 
 
 "Twas the heart-book of love, Avell nigh all grief; 
 
 For the heart leaves its likeness best in that 
 
 O'erwhelming sorrow which burns up and buries, 
 
 Like to the eloquent impression left 
 
 In lava, of Pompeian maiden's bosom. 
 
 All passions, and all i)leasures, and all powers 
 
 Of man's heart, are brought in, and mind and frame. 
 
 He made this Avork the business of his life ; 
 
 It was his mission, and was laid on him. 
 
 He was a laborer on the ways of God, 
 
 And had his hire in peace, and power to work. 
 
 He wrote it not in the contempt of rule, 
 
 And not in liate ; but in the self-made rule 
 
 That there was none to him, but to himself 
 
 He was his sole rule, and iiad riglit to bo. 
 
 The faults are faults of nature, and prove art 
 
 Man's nature, that a thing of art, like it. 
 
 Should be so pure in kind. 
 
 Helen. I do believe 
 
 The world is a forged thing, and hath not got 
 The die of (iod upon it. It will not pass 
 In Heaven, I tell ye. 
 
 Stddknt. IIoav shouldst thou know aught 
 
 Of Heaven, unless bv contrast?
 
 454 F EST us. 
 
 Festus. Pray now, cease; 
 
 Ye two are jarring ever, though as with 
 The bickering beauty of two swords, whose strife. 
 Though deadly, maketh music I could listen, 
 Did not each stab, whichever way, pain me. 
 
 Helen. Oh, I could stand and rend myself with 
 rage 
 To think I am so weak, that all are so ; 
 Mere minims in the music made from us — 
 AVliile I would be a hand to sweep from end 
 To end, from infinite to infinite, 
 The world's great chord. The beautiful of old 
 Had but to say some god had been with them. 
 And their worst fault was hallowed to their best deed. 
 That was to live. Could we uproot the past. 
 Which grows and throws its chilling shade o'er us, 
 Lengthening every hour and darkening it ; 
 Or could we plant the future where we would, 
 And make it flourish, that, too, were to live. 
 But it is not more true that what is, is, 
 Than that what is not, is not. It is enough 
 To bear the ever present, as we do. 
 The city of the past is laid in ruins ; 
 Its echo-echoing walls at a whisper fall : 
 The coming is not yet built ; nor as yet 
 Its deep foundations laid ; but seems, at once. 
 Like the air-city, goodly and well watered. 
 Which tlie dry wind doth dream of on the sands 
 Vt'here he dies away with his wanderings : 
 While we enjoy the hope thereof, and perish ;
 
 F EST ITS. 455 
 
 Not seeing that the desert present is 
 Our end. 
 
 Festus. The brightest natures oft have darkest 
 End, as fire smoke. 
 
 Student. I will read the book, in the liojif 
 
 Of learning somewhat from it. 
 
 Festus. Thou mayst learn 
 
 A hearty thanksgiving for blessings here, 
 And proud prediction of a state to come, 
 Of love, and life, and power, unlimited ; 
 And uttered in a sound and homely tongue, 
 Fit to be used by all who think while speaking. 
 AVith here and there some old, hard, uncouth words, 
 AA^'hich have withal a quaint and meaning richness, 
 As stones make more the power of the soil. 
 The world hath said its say for and against ; 
 And after praise and blame comctli the truth. 
 Living men look on all who live askance. 
 Were he a cold, gray ghost, he would have honor ; 
 And though as man he must have mixed with men, 
 Yet the true bard doth make himself ghost-like ; 
 He lives apart from men ; he wakes and Avalks 
 By nights ; he puts himself into the world 
 Above him ; and he is what but few see. 
 He knows, too, to the old liid treasure, truth : 
 And the world wonders, shortly, how some one 
 Hath come so rich of soul ; it little dreams 
 Of the poor ghost that made him. Yet he corner 
 To none save of liis own blood, and lets pass
 
 456 FESTUS. 
 
 Many a generation till his like 
 
 Turns up ; moreoAer, this same genius 
 
 Conies, ghost-like, to those only who are lonely 
 
 In life and in desire ; neA'er to crowds : 
 
 And it can make its way through every thing, 
 
 And is never happy till it tells its secret ; 
 
 But pale and pressed down with the inward weight 
 
 Of unborn works, it sickens nigh to death. 
 
 Often ; but Avho like happy at a birth I 
 
 Student. Say what a poet ought to do and be. 
 
 Festus. Though it may scarce become me, knowing 
 little, 
 Yet what I have thought out upon that theme. 
 And deem true, I Avill tell thee. 
 
 Helen. Xow I know 
 
 You two will talk of nothing else all night ; 
 So I will to my music. Sweet ! I come. 
 Art thou not glad to see me 1 What a time 
 Since I have touched thine eloquent, white fingers. 
 Hast thou forgot mc 1 ^lind, now ! Knowest thou 
 
 not 
 My greetmg 1 Ah ! I love thee. Talk away ! 
 Xever mind me ; I shall not you. 
 
 Student. Agreed ! 
 
 Helen. By the sweet muse of music, I could 
 swear 
 I do believe it smiles upon me ; see it 
 lull of un uttered music, like a bird ; 
 Rich in iiuisible treasures, like a bud
 
 FES T us. 457 
 
 Of unborn sweets, and thick about the heart 
 With ripe and rosy beauty — full to trembling. 
 I love it like a sister. Hark ! — its tones ; 
 They melt the soul within one like a sword, 
 Albeit sheathed, by lightning. Talk to me, 
 Lovely one ! Answer me, thou beauty ! 
 
 Student. Hear her! 
 
 Festus. Experience and imagination are 
 IMotlier and sire of song — the harp and hand. 
 The bard's aim is to give us thoughts : his art 
 Lieth in giving them as bright as may be. 
 And even when their looks are earthy, still 
 If opened, like geoids, they may be found 
 Full of all sparkling, sparry loveliness. 
 They should be wrought, not cast ; like tempered 
 
 steel. 
 Burnt and cooled, burnt again, and cooled again. 
 A thought is like a ray of light — complex 
 In nature, simple only in effect. 
 Words are the motes of thought, and nothing more. 
 Words are like sea-shells on the shore ; they show 
 Where the mind ends, and not how far it has been. 
 Let every thought, too, soldier-like, be stripped, 
 And rouglily looked over. The dress of words, 
 Like to the Roman girl's enticing garb, 
 Should let the play of limb be seen through it. 
 And tlie round, rising form. A mist of words, 
 Like lialoes round the moon, though they enlarge 
 'i'he seeming size of tlioughts, make the light less 
 
 58 MM
 
 458 F EST us. 
 
 Doubly. It is the thought wiit dowu we want, 
 Not its effect — not likenesses of likenesses. 
 And such descrijitions are not, more than gloves 
 Instead of hands to shake, enough for us. 
 As in the good the fair ; simplicity 
 Is nature's first step, and the last of art. 
 
 Student. But is the power — is poesy inborn, 
 Or is it to be gained by art or toil 1 
 
 Festus. It is underived, except from God ; but 
 where 
 Strongest, asks most of human care and aid. 
 Great bards toil much and most ; but most at first, 
 Ere they can learn to concentrate tlie soul 
 For hours upon a thought to carry it. 
 
 Student. Why, I have sat for hours and never 
 moved, 
 Sa\-ing my hands, clock-like, in writing round 
 Day after day of thought, and lapse of life. 
 
 Festus. Many make books, few poems, which 
 may do 
 Well for their gains, but they do nought for truth, 
 Nor man, true bard's main aim. Perish the books. 
 But the creations live. Some steal a thought, 
 And clip it round the edge, and challenge him 
 A\Tiose 'twas to swear to it. To serve things thus, 
 Is as foul witches to cut up old moons 
 Into new stars. Some never rise above 
 A pretty fault, like faulty dahlias ; 
 And of whose best things it is kindly said,
 
 FESTUS. 459 
 
 The thought is fair ; but, to be perfect, wants 
 
 A little heiglitening, like a pretty face 
 
 With a low forehead. Do thou more than such, 
 
 Or else do nothing. And in poetry, 
 
 There is a poet-worship, one of other 
 
 Which is idolatry, and not the true 
 
 Love-service of the soul to God, which hath 
 
 Alone of His inbreathing, and is rendered 
 
 Unto Him, from the first, without man's mean, 
 
 By those whom He makes worthy of His worship ; 
 
 Who kneel at once to Him, and at no shrine. 
 
 Save in the world's Avide ear, do they confcjss them 
 
 Of faults which are all truths ; and thorougli which, 
 
 As the world says them over to itself, 
 
 lie heareth and absolvcth ; for tlie bard 
 
 Speaks but wliat all feel more or less within 
 
 The heart's heart, and the sin confessed is done 
 
 Away with, and forever. 
 
 Student. What of style? 
 
 Festus. There is no style is good but nature's 
 style. 
 And the great ancients' writings, beside ours. 
 Look like illuminated manuscripts 
 Before plain press print ; all liad different minds. 
 And followed only their own bents : for this 
 Nor copied that, nor that the other ; each 
 Is finislied in his writing, each is best 
 For his own mind, and that it was upon ; 
 And all have lived, are living, and shall live;
 
 460 
 
 F E S T C S . 
 
 But these have died, are dying, and shall die ; 
 
 Yea, copyists shall die, spark out and out. 
 
 Minds which combine and make alone can tell 
 
 The bearings and workings of all things 
 
 In and upon each other. All the parts 
 
 Of nature meet and fit : wit, wisdom, worth, 
 
 Goodness and greatness ; to sublimity 
 
 Beauty arises, like a planet world, 
 
 Laboring slowly, seemingly, up HeaAen ; 
 
 But with an infinite pace to some immortal eyes. 
 
 And he who means to be a great bard must 
 
 Measure himself against pure mind, and fling 
 
 His soul into a stream of thought, as will 
 
 A swimmer hurl himself into the water. 
 
 But never swimmer on the stream, nor bird 
 
 On wind, feels half so strong, or swift, or glad, 
 
 As bard borne high on his mind above himself* 
 
 As though he should begin a lay like this, 
 
 Where spiritual element is all ; 
 
 Thouglit chafing thought, as bough bough, till 
 
 burn, 
 Like the star-written prophecies of Heaven. 
 The shattered shadow of eternity 
 L^pon the troubled world, even as the sun 
 Shows brokenly on waxy waters, time ; 
 All time is but a second to the dead. 
 The smoke of the great burning of the world 
 Had trailed across the skies for many an age, 
 And was fast wearing into air away. 
 
 I 
 
 J
 
 FESTUS. 461 
 
 When a saint stood before the throne, and cried — 
 
 Blessed be Thou, Lord God of all the worlds 
 
 That have been, and that are, and are to be ! 
 
 For Thy destruction is like infinite 
 
 With Thy creation, just and wise in both : 
 
 Give me a world. And God said. Be it so : 
 
 And the world was : and then go on to show 
 
 How this new orb was made, and where it shone ; 
 
 Who ruled, abode, worshipped, and loved therein ; 
 
 Their natures, duties, hopes: let it be pure, 
 
 Wise, holy, beautiful ; if not to be 
 
 AVitliout it, made so by constraint of God — 
 
 Kindly forced good: we have had enough of sin 
 
 And folly here to wish for and love change. 
 
 Let him show God as going thither mildly. 
 
 Father-like, blessing all and cursing none ; 
 
 And that there never Avill be need for them 
 
 That He shall come in glory new to Himself, 
 
 With light to which the lightning shall be shadow, 
 
 And the sun sadness ; borne upon a car 
 
 With wheels of burning worlds, within whose rims 
 
 Whole hells burn, and bQjieath M'hose course the 
 
 stars 
 Dry up like dew-drops. But of this enough ; 
 I mean that he must weigh himself as he 
 Will be weighed after by posterity ; 
 After us all are critics, to a man. 
 AVrite to the mind and heart, and let the ear 
 Glean after what it can. The voice of great 
 
 MM '
 
 4(5-? 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Or uiaceful thoutjlits is sweeter far tlian all 
 Word-music ; and great thoughts, like great doeds, 
 
 need 
 No trumpet. Never be in haste in writing. 
 Let that thou utterest be of nature's flow, 
 Not art's ; a fountain's, not a pump's. But once 
 Begun, work thou all things into thy work ; 
 And set thyself about it, as the sea 
 About earth, lashing at it day and night. 
 And leave the stamp of thine own soul in it 
 As thorough as the fossil flower in clay. 
 The theme shall start and struggle in thy breast, 
 Like to a spirit in its tomb at rising. 
 Bending the stones, and crying. Resurrection ! 
 
 Student. What theme remains'? 
 
 Festus. Thyself, thy race, thy K-vf^, 
 
 The faithless and the full of faith in God ; 
 Thy race's destiny, thy sacred love. 
 Every believer is God's miracle. 
 Nothing will stand whose staple is not love ; 
 The love of God, or man, or lovely woman ; 
 The first is scarcely touched, the next scarce felt. 
 The third is desecrated ; lift it up ; 
 Redeem it, hallow it, blend the thrc'(> in one 
 Great holy work. It shall be read in Heaven 
 By all the saved of sinners of all time. 
 Preachers shall point to it, and tell their ■\\'ard3 
 It is a handful of eternal truth ; 
 Make ve a lieartful of it: men shall will 
 
 i 
 
 3
 
 FESTUS. 463 
 
 That it be buried with them in their hands : 
 
 The yciung, the gay, the innocent, the brave, 
 
 'i'he fair, with soul and body both all love, 
 
 Shall run to it with joy; and the old man, 
 
 Still hearty in decline, whose happy life 
 
 Ilatli blossomed downwards, like the purple bell* 
 
 flower, 
 Closing the book, shall utter lowlily — 
 Death, thou art infinite ; it is life is little. 
 Believe thou art inspired, and thou art. 
 Look at the bard and others ; never heed 
 The petty hints of" envy. If a fault 
 It be in bard to deem liimself inspired, 
 'Tis one -ivhich hatli had many followers 
 Before him. lie is wont to make, unite, 
 Believe ; the world to part, and doubt, and narrow. 
 That he believes, lie utters. What the world 
 Utters, it trusts not. But the time may come 
 When an, along with those who seek to raise 
 Men's minds, and have enough of pain, without 
 Suffering from en^■^', may be God-inspired 
 To utter truth, and feel like love for men. 
 Poets are henceforth the world's teachers. Still 
 The world is all in sects, which makes one loathe it. 
 
 Student. The men of mind are mountains, and 
 tlieir heads 
 Are sunned long ere the rest of earth. I would 
 Be one such. 
 
 Fe.stus. It is well. Burn to be great.
 
 464- F E S T u s . 
 
 Each momitain stands inspired as toucliing Heaven. 
 
 Pay not thy praise to lofty things alone. 
 
 The plains are everlasting as the hills. 
 
 The hard cannot have two pursuits : aught else 
 
 Comes on the mind with the like shock as though 
 
 Two Avorlds had gone to war, and met in air. 
 
 Hope never greed from poesy ; as well 
 
 Search for the fairy gold at the rainbow's foot. 
 
 And now that thou hast heard thus much from one 
 
 Not wont to seek, nor give, nor take advice. 
 
 Remember, whatsoe'er thou art as man. 
 
 Suffer the world, entreat it, and forgive. 
 
 They who forgive most shall be most forgiven. 
 
 Dear Helen, I will tell thee what I love 
 
 Next to thee — poesy. 
 
 Helen. Can any thing 
 
 Be even second to me in thy level 
 Doth it not distance all things'? 
 
 Festus. To say sooth, 
 
 I once loved many things ere I met with thee. 
 My one blue break of beauty in the clouds; 
 Bending thyself to me as Heaven to Earth. 
 
 Helen. My love is like the moon ; seems now to 
 grow, 
 And now to lessen : but it is only so 
 Because thou canst not see it all at once. 
 It knows nor day, nor morrow, like the sun ; 
 Unchangeable as space it still shall be
 
 F EST us. 465 
 
 When yon bright suns, which are themselves but 
 
 sands 
 In the great glass of Time, shall be run out. 
 
 Festus. Man is but half man without woman ; 
 and. 
 As do idolaters their heavenless gods, 
 We deify the things which we adore. 
 
 Helen. Our life is comely as a whole ; nay, more ; 
 Like rich, brown ringlets, with odd hairs all gold. 
 We women have four seasons, like the year. 
 Our spring is in our lightsome, girlish days. 
 When the heart laughs within us for sheer joy. 
 Ere yet we know what love is, or the ill 
 Of being loved by those whom we love not. 
 Summer is when we lo\e and are beloved, 
 And seems short ; from its very splendor seems 
 To pass the quickest : crowned \\'itli flowers it flies. 
 Autumn, w^hen some young thing with tiny hands, 
 And rosy cheeks, and flossy, tendrilled locks. 
 Is wantoning about us day and night. 
 And Avinter is when these we love have perished ; 
 For the heart ices then. And the next spring 
 Is in another world, if one there be. 
 Some miss one season, some another ; this 
 Shall have them early, and that late ; and yet 
 The year wear round with all, as best it may. 
 There is no rule for it ; but in the main 
 It is as I have said. 
 
 Festus. My life with thee 
 
 59
 
 466 lESTus. 
 
 !■; like a song, and (lie s^veet music thou, 
 Which doth accompany it. 
 
 Student. Say, did thy friend 
 
 Write aught beside the work thou tell'st of? 
 
 Festus. Nothing. 
 
 After that, like the burning peak, he fell 
 Into himself, and was missing ever after. 
 
 Student. If not a secret, pray who Avas he 1 
 
 Fkstus. 
 
 Scene — Garden and Bower hy the Sea. 
 Lucifer and Elissa. 
 
 Lucifer. Night comes, world-jewelled, as my bride 
 
 should be. 
 The stars rush forth in myriads as to wage 
 War with the lines of Darkness ; and the moon, 
 Pale ghost of Night, comes haunting the cold earth 
 After the sun's red sea-death — quietless. 
 Immortal Night ! I love thee. Thou and 1 
 Are of one seed — the eldest blood of God. 
 He makes ; -vac mar together all things — all 
 But our own selves. Love makes thee cold and 
 
 tremble. 
 And mc all fire. Do off that stariy robe ; 
 Catch me up to thee. Let us love, and die, 
 And weld our souls together. Night ! But here 
 Cometh mine earthlv. Mv Elissa ! welcome.
 
 F EST US. 4(>7 
 
 Elissa. f s"t not ;i lovely, nay, a heavenly eve ^ 
 
 Lucifer. Thy presence only makes it so to nie. 
 The moments thou art with me arc like stars 
 Peering through my dark life. 
 
 Eltssa. Nay, speak not so, 
 
 Or I shall weep, and thou wilt turn away 
 From woman's tears : yet are they woman's wealth. 
 
 Lucifer. Then keep thy treasures, lady ! I would 
 not have 
 The world, if prized at one sad tear of thine. 
 One tear of beautj' can outweigh a world 
 Even of sin and sorrow, heavy as this ; 
 But beauty cannot sin, and should not weep, 
 For she is mortal. Oh ! let deathless things 
 Alone weep. Why should aught that dies be sad ] 
 
 Elissa. The noble mind is oft too generous, 
 And, by protecting, weakens lesser ones ; 
 And tears must come of feeling, though they quench 
 As oft the light wliicli \nxc lit in the eye. 
 
 Lucifer. And thy love ever hangs about my heart, 
 Like the pure pearl wreath which curings thy brow. 
 I meant not to be mournful. Tell me, now, 
 How thou hast passed the hours since last we met I 
 
 Elissa. I have staid the livelong day within this 
 bower, — 
 It was here that thou didst jjromise me to come, — 
 Watching from wanton morn to repentant eve 
 The selfsame roses ope and close ; untircd, 
 Listening the same birds' first and latest songs —
 
 4(j8 F K s 1- u s . 
 
 And still thou earnest not. To the mind which waitn 
 Upon one hour, the others are but slaves. 
 The Aveek hath but one day — the day one hour — 
 That hour of the heart — that lord of time. 
 
 Lucifer. Sweet one ! I raced with light and passed 
 the laggard 
 To meet thee — or, I mean I could have done — 
 Yea, have outsped the very dart of Death — 
 So much I sought ; and were I living light 
 From God, with leave to range the world, and choose 
 Another brow than His whereon to beam — 
 To mark what even an angel could but covet — 
 A something lovelier than Heaven's loveliness — 
 To thee I straight would dart, unheeding all 
 The lives of* other Avorlds, even those who name 
 Themselves thy kind ; for oft my mind o'ersoars 
 The stars ; and, pondering upon what may be 
 Of their chief lording natures, man's seems worst — 
 The darkest, meanest, which, through all these worlds, 
 Drags what is deathless, may be, down to dust. 
 
 Elissa. Speak not so bitterly of humankind ; 
 I Ivnow that thou dost love it. Hast not heard 
 Of those great spirits, who, the greater grow. 
 The better we are able them to prize ^ 
 Great minds can never cease ; yet have they not 
 A separate estate of deathlessness : 
 The future is a remnant of their life : 
 Our time is part of theirs, not theirs of ours ; 
 Th'jy know the thoughts of ages long befoie.
 
 FESTUS. 469 
 
 It is not the weak mind feels the great mind's might ; 
 None but the great can test it. Does the oak 
 Or reed feel the strong storm most ? Oh ! unsay 
 ^^'hat thou hast said of man ; nor deem me Avrong. 
 Mind cannot mind despise — it is itself 
 Mind must love mind : the great and good are friends ; 
 And he is but half great who is not good. 
 And, Oh! humanity is the fairest flower 
 Blooming in earthly breasts ; so sweet and pure, 
 That it might freshen even the fadeless wreaths 
 Twined round the golden harps of those in Heaven. 
 
 Luc:iFER. For thy sake I will love even man, or 
 aught. 
 Spirit were I, and a mere mortal thou. 
 For thy sake I would even seek to die ; 
 That, dead or living, I might still be with thee. 
 But no ! ril deem thee deathless — mind and make, 
 And worthier of some spirit's love than mine ; 
 Yea, of the first born of God's sons, could he, 
 In that sweet shade thy beauty casts o'er all, 
 One moment lay and cool his burning soul ; 
 Or might the ark of his wide flood-like woe 
 But rest upon that mount of peace and bliss — 
 Thy heart imbosomed in all beauteousness. 
 Nay, lady ! shrink not. Thinkest thou I am lie "? 
 
 Elissa. Thou art too noble, far. I oft have wished, 
 Ere I knew thee, I had some spirit's love ; 
 But thou art more like what I sought than man. 
 And a forbidden quest, it seems ; for thou
 
 * 
 
 ■iTO F EST us. 
 
 Hast more of awe than love about thee, like 
 The mystery of dreams which we can feel, 
 But cannot touch. 
 
 Lucifer. ^ay, think not so ! It is wrong. 
 
 Come, let us sit in this thy favorite bower, 
 And I will hear thee sing. I love that voice, 
 Dipping more softly on the subject ear 
 Than that calm kiss the willow gives the wave — 
 A soft, rich tone, a rainbow of sweet sounds, 
 Just spanning the soothed sense. Come, nay me not. [ 
 
 Elissa. Do thou lead out some lay ; I'll follow 
 
 thine. 
 
 Lucifer. Well, I agree. It will spare me much ' 
 
 of shame „ 
 
 In coming after thee. My song is said |f 
 
 Of Lucifer, the star. See, there he shines ! -^ 
 
 j Sinffs. 
 I am Lucifer, the star ; 
 
 Oh ! think on me, 
 As I lighten from afar 
 
 The Heavens and thee ! 
 In town, or tower. 
 Or this fair bower, 
 
 Oh ! think on me ; 
 Though a wandermg star, 
 As the loveliest are, 
 
 I love but thee. ' 
 
 3 
 
 Lady ! when I brightest beam, ' 
 
 Love, look on me! ^
 
 FESTUS. 471 
 
 I am not what T may seem 
 
 To the world or thee ; 
 But fain would love 
 With thee above, 
 
 Where thou wilt be. 
 But if love be a dream, 
 As the world doth deem, 
 
 W^hat is't to mel 
 
 Elissa. Could we but deem the stars had hearts, 
 and loved. 
 They would seem happier, holier, even than now ; 
 And, ah ! why not '? they are so beautiful. 
 And love is part and union in itself 
 Of all that is in nature, brilliant, pure — 
 Of all in feeling, sacred and sublime. 
 Surely the stars arc images of love : 
 The sunbeam and the stai'beam both bring love. 
 The sky, the sea, the rainbow, and the stream 
 And dark blue hill, where all the loveliness 
 Of Earth and Heaven, in sweet, ecstatic strife. 
 Seem mingling hues which might immortal be, 
 [f length of life by height of beauty went. 
 All seem but made for love — love made for all : 
 We do become all heart with those we love : 
 It is nature's self — it is every where — it is here. 
 
 I.uciFKH. To me there is but one place in the 
 world, 
 And that where tliou art ; for, w}iere"(>r I be.
 
 472 FESTUS. 
 
 Thy lovi> doth seek its way into my heart, 
 As will a bird into her secret nest : 
 Then sit and sing; sweet wing of beanty, sing. 
 Elissa. Bright one ! who dwellest in the happy 
 skies, 
 Rejoicing in thy light as does the brave 
 In his keen, flashing sword, and his strong aim's 
 Swift swoop, canst thon, from among the sons of men, 
 Single out those who love thee as do I 
 Thee from thy fellow-glories'? If so, star, 
 Turn hither thy bright front ; I love thee, friend. 
 Thou hast no deeds of darkness. All thou dost 
 Is to us light and beauty: yea, thou art 
 A globe, all glory ; thou, who at the first 
 Didst answer to the angels which in Heaven 
 Sang the bright birth of earth, and even now, 
 As star by star is born, dost sing the same 
 With countless hosts in infinite delight. 
 Be unto me a moment ! "Write thy bright 
 Light on my heart before the sun shall rise 
 And vanquish sight. Thou art the prophecy 
 Of light which He fulfils. Speak, shining star ! 
 Drop from thy golden lips the truths of Heaven. 
 First of all stars, and favorite of the skies, 
 Apostle of the sun — thou upon whom 
 His mantle resteth — speak, prophetic beauty ! 
 Speak, shining star, out of the heights of Heaven; 
 Beautiful being, speak to God for man ! 
 Is it be<;ause of beauty thou wast choseu
 
 F E S T u s . 473 
 
 To be the sign of sin ? For, surely sin 
 
 Must be surpassing lovely when, for her, 
 
 Men foi-feit God's reward of deathless bliss 
 
 And life divine ; or, is it that such beauty. 
 
 Sometimes before the truth, and sometimes after, 
 
 As is a moral or a jirophecy, 
 
 Is ever warning? Why wert thou accorded 
 
 To the great Evil ? Is it because thou art, 
 
 Of all the sun's bright servants, nearest earth? 
 
 And shall we then forget that Christ hath said 
 
 He is thyself, the light-bringer of Heaven? 
 
 Star of the morning ! unto us thou art 
 
 The .pi'esage of a day of power. Like thee 
 
 Let us rejoice in life, then, and proclaim 
 
 A glory coming, greater than our own. 
 
 All ages are but stars to that which comes. 
 
 Sunlike. Oh ! speak, star ! Lift thou up thy voice 
 
 Out of yon radiant ranks, and I on earth. 
 
 As thou in Heaven, Avill bless the Lord God, ever. 
 
 Hear, Lucifer, thou star ! I answer thee. 
 
 Oh ! ask me not to look and love, 
 
 But bid me worship thee ; 
 For thou art earthly things above. 
 
 As far as angels be : 
 Then, whether in the eve or morn 
 Thou dost the maiden skies adorn, 
 
 Oh ! let me worship thee ! 
 
 60 KN*
 
 474 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 I am but as this drop of dew; 
 
 Oh ! let me worship thee ! 
 Thy light, thy strength, is ever new, 
 
 Even as the angels' be: 
 And as this dew-drop, till it dies. 
 Bosoms the golden stars and skies, 
 
 Oh ! let me worship thee ! 
 
 But, dearest, why that dark lookl 
 
 Lucifer. Let it not 
 
 Cloud thine even with its shadow : but the ground 
 Of all great thoughts is sadness ; and I mused 
 Upon past happiness. Well — be it past ! 
 Did Lucifer, as I do, gaze on thee. 
 The flame of woe would flicker in his breast. 
 And straight die out — the brightness of thy beauty 
 Quenching it as the sun doth earthly fire. 
 
 Elissa. Nay, look not on me so intensely sad. 
 Lucifer. Forgive me: it was an agony of bliss. 
 I love thee, and am full of happiness. 
 My bosom bounds beneath thy smile as doth 
 The sea's unto the moon, his mighty mistress ; 
 Lying and looking up to her, and saying — 
 Lovely ! lovely ! lovely ! lady of the Heavens I 
 Oh ! when the thoughts of other joyous days — 
 Perchance, if such may be, of happier times — 
 Are falling gently on the memory 
 Like autumn's leaves, distained with dusky gold,
 
 FF.STUS. 475 
 
 Yet softly as a snowflake ; and tlie smile 
 
 Of kindliness, like thine, is beaming on mc 
 
 Oh ! pardon, if I lose myself, nor know 
 Whether I be with Heaven or thee 
 
 Elissa. Use not 
 
 Such ardent phrase, nor mix the claim of aught 
 On earth with thoughts more than with hopes of 
 Heaven. 
 
 Lucifer. Hopes, lady ! I have none. 
 
 Elissa. Thou must have. All 
 
 Have hopes, however wretched they may be, 
 Or blest. It is hope which lifts the lark so high — 
 Hope of a lighter air and bluer sky; 
 And the poor hack which drops down on the flints — 
 Upon whose eye the dust is settling — 
 He hopes to die. No being is, Avhich hnth 
 Not love and hope. 
 
 Lucifer. Yes — one! The ancient 111, 
 
 Dwelling and damned through all which is : that 
 
 spirit 
 Whose heart is hate — who is the foe of God — 
 The foe of all. 
 
 Elissa. How knowest thou such doth live ? 
 Love is the happy privilege of mind — 
 Love is the reason of all living things. 
 A Trinity there seems of principles, 
 Which represent and rule created life — 
 The love of self, our fellows, and our God. 
 In all throughout one common feeling reigns:
 
 476 FESTUS. 
 
 Each doth mamtain and is mamtaincd by the other 
 
 All are compatible — all needful ; one 
 
 To life — to virtue one — and one to bliss ; 
 
 "Which, thus together, make the power, the end, 
 
 And the perfection of created being. 
 
 From these three principles doth every deed. 
 
 Desire, and will, and reasoning, good or bad, come ; 
 
 To these they all determine — sum and scheme ; 
 
 The three are one in centre and in round ; 
 
 Wrapping the world of life as do the skies 
 
 Our world. Hail ! air of love, by Avhich we live ! 
 
 How sweet, how fragrant ! Spirit, though unseen — 
 
 Void of gross sign — is scai'ce a simple essence, 
 
 Immortal, immaterial, though it be. 
 
 One only simple essence liveth — God, 
 
 Creator uncreate. The brutes beneath, 
 
 The angels high above us, with ourselves. 
 
 Are but compounded things of mind and form. 
 
 In all things animate is therefore coi'ed 
 
 An elemental sameness of existence ; 
 
 For God, being Love, in love created all. 
 
 As He contains the whole, and penetrates. 
 
 Seraphs love God, and angels love the good: 
 
 We love each other ; and these lower lives, 
 
 Wliich walk the earth in thousand diverse shapes, 
 
 According to their reason, love us too : 
 
 The most intelligent affect us most. 
 
 Nay, man's chief wisdom's love --the love of God. 
 
 The now religion — final, perfect, pure —
 
 FESTUS. 477 
 
 Was that of Christ and love. His great command — • 
 His all-snfficing precept — was't not love ? 
 Truly to love ourselves we must love God — 
 To love God we must all His creatures love — 
 To love His creatures, both ourselves and Him. 
 Thus love is all that's wise, fair, good, and happy. 
 
 Lucifer. How knowest thou God doth live 1 
 Why did He not. 
 With that ci'eating hand which sprinkled stars 
 On space's bosom, bidding her breathe and wake 
 From the long, death-like trance in which she lay, — 
 With that same hand which scattered o'er the sky. 
 As this small dust I strew upon the wind. 
 Yon countless orbs, aye fixing each on Him 
 Its flaming eye, which winks and blenches oft 
 Beneath His glance, — with the finger of that hand 
 Which spangled o'er infinity with suns, 
 And wrapped it round about Him as a robe, — 
 Why did He not write out His own great name 
 In spheres of fire, that Heaven might alway tell 
 To every creature, God ? If not, tlicn why 
 Should I believe when I behold around me 
 Nought scarce, save ill and woe"? 
 
 Elissa. God surely lives! 
 
 Without God all things are in tunnel darkness. 
 Let there be God, and all are sun — all God. 
 And to the just soul, in a future state, 
 Defect's dark mist, thick-spreading o'er this vale, 
 Sliall dim the eye no more, nor bound survey ;
 
 "ITS FESTUS. 
 
 And evil. noAv whjch boweth beins: down 
 As dew the grass, shall only fit all life 
 For fresher growth, and for intenser day, 
 Where God shall dry all tears as the sun dew. 
 
 Lucifer. Oh ! lady, I am wretched. 
 
 Elissa. Say not so. 
 
 With thee, I could not deem myself unhappy. 
 Hark to, the sea ! It sounds like the near hum 
 Of a great city. 
 
 Lucifer. Say, the city earth ; 
 
 For such these orbs are in the realms of space. 
 
 Elissa. I dreamed once that the night came down 
 to me ; 
 In figure. Oh ! too like thine own for truth, 
 And looked into me with his thousand eyes, 
 And that made mc unhappy ; but it passed. 
 And I half wished it back. Mind hath its earth 
 And Heaven. The many petty, common thoughts 
 On which we daily tread, as it were, make one, 
 And above which few look ; the other is 
 That high and welkin-like infinity — 
 The brighter, upper half of the mind's world. 
 Thick with great sun-like and constellate thoughts ; 
 And in the night of mind, which is our sleep. 
 These thoughts shine out in dreams. Dreams double 
 
 life; 
 They arc the heart's bright shadow on life's flood ; 
 And even the step from death to deathlessness — 
 From this earth's gross existence unto Heaven —
 
 FESTUS. 479 
 
 Can scarce be more than from the harsh, Iiot day 
 To sleep's soft scenes, the moonlight of the mmd. 
 The wave is never weary of the wind. 
 But in mountainous playfulness leaps to it 
 Always ; but mind gets weary of the world, 
 And glooms itself in sleep, like a sweet smile, 
 Line by line, settling into proper sadness ; 
 For sleep seems part of our immortality : 
 And why should any thing that dies be sadl 
 Last night I dreamed I walked within a hall — 
 The inside of the world. Long, shroud-like lights 
 Lit up its lift-like dome and pale, wide walls, 
 Horizon-like ; and every one was tliere : 
 It was the house of Death, and Death was there. 
 We could not see him, but he was a feeling : 
 We knew he was around us — heard us — eyed us ; 
 But where wast thou 1 I never met thee once. 
 And all was still as nothing ; or as God, 
 Deep judging, when the thought of making first 
 Quickened and stirred within Him ; and He made 
 All Heaven at one thought, as at a glance. 
 Noise was there none ; and yet there was a sound 
 Wliich seemed to be half like silence, half like sound. 
 All crept about, still as the cold, Avet worms. 
 Which slid among our feet, we could not 'scape from. 
 Round me were ruined fragments of dc-ad gods — 
 Those shadows of the mystery of One — 
 And the red worms, too, flourished over these, 
 For marble is a shadow weighed with mind ;
 
 480 FESTUS. 
 
 Each being, as men of old believed, distinct 
 
 In form, and place, and power. But Oh ! not all 
 
 The gathered gods of Eld could shine like ours. 
 
 No more than all yon stars could make a sun. 
 
 But, truly, then men lived in moral night, 
 
 'Neath a dim starlight of religious truth. 
 
 I felt my spirit's spring gush out more clear, 
 
 Gazing on these : they beautified my mind 
 
 As rocks and flowers reflected do a well. 
 
 Mind makes itself like that it li^es amidst, 
 
 And on ; and thus, among dreams, imaginings, 
 
 And scenes of awe, and purity, and power, 
 
 Grows sternly sweet and calm — all beautiful 
 
 With godlike coldness and unconsciousness 
 
 Of mortal passion, mental toU ; until. 
 
 Like to the marble model of a god. 
 
 It doth assume a firm and dazzling form. 
 
 Scarcely less incorruptible than that 
 
 It emblems : and so grew, methought, my mind. 
 
 Matter hath many qualities ; mind, one : 
 
 It is irresistible: pure power — pure god. 
 
 While wandering on I met what seemed myself: 
 
 Was it not strange that we should meet, and there \ 
 
 But all is strange in dreaming, as in death. 
 
 And waking, as in life : nought is not strange. 
 
 Methought that I was happy, because dead. 
 
 All hurried to and fro ; and many cried 
 
 To each other — Can I do thee any good 1 
 
 But no one heeded : nothing could avail :
 
 FESTUS. 481 
 
 The world was one great grave. I looked, and saw 
 Time on his two great wings — one, night — one, 
 
 day — 
 Fly, moth-like, right into the flickering sun ; 
 So that the sun went out, and they both perished. 
 And one gat up and spake — a holy man — 
 Exhorting them ; but each and all cried out — 
 Go to ! — it helps not — means not : we are dead. 
 Death spake no word, methought, but me he made 
 Speak for liim ; and I dreamed that I was Death ; 
 Then, that Death only lived : all things were mixed ; 
 Up and down shooting, like the brain's fierce dance 
 In a delirium, when we are apt to die. 
 Hell is my heir ; what kin to me is Heaven 1 
 Bring out your hearts before me. Give your limbs 
 To whom ye list or love. My son. Decay, 
 Will take them : give them him. I want your hearts, 
 That I may take them up to God. There came 
 These words amongst us, but we knew not whence; 
 It was as if the air spake. And there rose 
 Out of the earth a giant thing, all earth ; 
 His eye Avas earthy, and his arm was earthy; 
 He had no heart. He but said, I am Decay; 
 And, as he spake, he crumbled into earth. 
 And there was nothing of him. But we all 
 Lifted our faces up at the word, God, 
 And spied a dark star, high above in the midst 
 Of others, numberless as are the dead. 
 And all plucked out their hearts, and held them in 
 
 61 OO
 
 482 FESTUS. 
 
 Their right hands. Many tried to pick out specks 
 And stains, but could not : each gave up his heart. 
 And something — all things — nothing — it ■\vas Death, 
 Said, as before, from air — Let us to God! 
 And straight we rose, leaving behind the raw 
 Worms and dead gods, all of us — soared and soared 
 Kight upwards, till the star I told thee of 
 Looked like a moon — the moon became a sun : 
 The sun — there came a hand between the sun and us, 
 And its five fingers made five nights in air. 
 God tore the glory from the sun's broad brow, 
 And flung the flaming scalp off flat to hell. 
 I saw Him do it ; and it passed close by us. 
 And then I heard a long, cold, skeleton-screani, 
 Like a trumpet whining through a catacomb. 
 Which made the sides of that great grave shake in. 
 I saw the world and vision of the dead 
 Dim itself ofl" — and all was life. I woke, 
 And felt the high sun blazoning on my brow. 
 His own almighty mockery of woe, 
 And fierce and infinite laugh at things which cease. 
 Hell hath its light — and Heaven ; he burns with both. 
 And my dream broke, like life from the last limb — 
 Quivering ; so loath I felt to let it go, 
 Just as I thought I had caught sight of Heaven. 
 It came to nought, as dreams of Heaven on earth 
 Do always. 
 
 Lucifer. It is time we part again. 
 
 Elissa. Farewell, tlien, gentle stars ! To-night, 
 farewell !
 
 FESTUS. 483 
 
 For we all part at once. It is thus the bright 
 
 Visions and joys of youth break up — but they 
 
 Forever. When ye shine again I will 
 
 Be with ye ; for I love ye next to him. 
 
 To all, adieu ! AVhen shall I see thee next 1 
 
 Lucifer. Lady, I know not. 
 
 Elissa. Say ! 
 
 Lucifer. Never, perchance. 
 
 Elissa. There is but one immortal in the world 
 Who need say — never! 
 
 Lucifer. What if I were he 1 
 
 Elissa. But thou art not he ; and thou shalt not 
 say it. 
 Stars rise and set — rise, set, and rise again 
 In their sublime-like beauty, through all time. 
 Why should not we, too, ever meet, like them '? 
 
 Lucifer. I see no beauty — feel no love — all 
 things 
 Are unlovely. 
 
 Elissa. O Earth! be deaf; and Heaven! 
 
 Shut thy blue eye. He doth blaspheme the world. 
 Dost not love me 1 
 
 Lucifer. Love thee? Ay! Earth and Heaven 
 Together could not make a love like mine. 
 
 Elissa. When wilt thou come again 1 To-morrow ? 
 
 Lucifer. Well. 
 
 And then I cross yon sea ere I return ; 
 For I have matters in another land. 
 Fear not.
 
 484 FESTUS. 
 
 Elissa. When will our parting days be over ? 
 
 Lucifer. Oh! soon — soon! Think of me, love, 
 on the waters ! 
 Be happy ! and, for me, I love few thing more 
 Than at night to ride upon the broad-backed billow, 
 Seaing along and plunging on his precipitous path ; 
 AVhile the red moon is westering low away, 
 And the mad Avaves are fighting for the stars, 
 Like men for — what they know not. 
 
 Elissa. Scorner ! 
 
 Lucifer. Saint ! 
 
 Elissa. The world hath much that is great ; and 
 but one sea. 
 Which is her spirit; and to her it stands 
 As the mad monarch passion to the heart — 
 Fathomless, overwhelming, which receives 
 The rivers of all feeling ; in whose dcptlis 
 Lie wrecked the riches of all nature. God, 
 When He did make thee, moved upon thee then, 
 And left His impress there, the same even now 
 As when thy last wave leapt from chaos. — Hark ! 
 Nay, there is some one coining. 
 
 Festus, entering. It is L 
 
 I said we should be sure to meet thee here; 
 For I have brought one who would speak with tliee. 
 
 Lucifer. Thanks ! and Avhere is he \ 
 
 Festus. Yonder. He would not 
 
 Come up so far as this. 
 
 Lucifer. Who is it \
 
 FFSTUS. 485 
 
 Festus. I know not 
 
 AVho he may be, or what ; but I can guess. 
 
 Lucifer, llemain a moment, love, till I return. 
 
 Elissa. Nay — let me leave ! 
 
 Lucifer. Not yet : do not dislike him 
 
 He is a, friend, and — more another time. 
 
 Festus. I am sorry, lady, to have caused this 
 parting. 
 1 fear I am unwelcome. 
 
 Elissa. We were parting. 
 
 Festus. Then am I doubly sorry ; for I know 
 It is the saddest and the sacredest 
 Moment of all with those who love. 
 
 Elissa. He is coming ! 
 
 So I forgive thee. 
 
 Lucifer. I must leave thee, love: 
 
 I know not for how long ; it rests with thee 
 If it seem long at all. Eternity 
 Might pass, and I not know it in thy love. 
 
 Elissa. If to believe that I do love thee always 
 May make time fly the fleeter — 
 
 Lucifer. I'll believe it — 
 
 Trust me. I leave this lady in thy charge, 
 Festus. Be kind — wait on her — may he, love ? 
 
 Elissa. Thou kuowest. I receive him as thy 
 friend 
 Whenever he come. 
 
 Festus. I ask no higher title 
 
 Than friend of tlie lovely and the generous. 
 
 oo*
 
 486 
 
 F E s r i; s . 
 
 Elissa. Farewell ! 
 
 Festus. Lady ! I will not forget my trust, 
 
 [^jsar^.] The breeze which curls the lake's bright 
 
 lip, but lifts 
 A purer, deeper water to the light ; 
 The ruffling of the wild bird's Aving but wakes 
 A warmer beauty and a downier depth. 
 That startled shrink, that faintest blossom-blush 
 Of constancy alarmed! — Love! if thou hast 
 One weapon in that shining armory. 
 The quiver on thy shoulder, where thou keep'st 
 Each arrowy eye-beam feathered with a sigh ; — 
 If from that bow, shaped so like beauty's lip. 
 Strung with its string of pearls, thou Avilt twang 
 
 forth 
 But one dart, fair into the mark I mean, — 
 Do it, and I will worship thee forever: 
 Yea, I will give thee glory, and a name 
 Known, sunlike, in all nations. Heart, be still ' 
 
 Lucifer. This parting over — 
 
 Elissa. Yes, this one — and then? 
 
 Lucifer. Why, then another, may be. 
 
 Elissa. No — no more 
 
 I'll be unhappy if thou tell'st me so. 
 
 Lucifer. Well, then — no more. 
 
 Elissa. But, when wilt thou come back ? 
 
 Lucifer. Almost before thou wishest. He will 
 know. 
 
 Elissa. I shall be always asking him. Farewell !
 
 FESTUS. 487 
 
 Lucifer. 'Shine on, ye stars ! and light her to her 
 rest ; 
 Scarce are ye worthy for her handmaidens. 
 Why, Hell would laugh to learn I had been in love. 
 I have affairs in hell. Wilt go with me 1 
 
 Festus. Yes, in a month or two: — not just this 
 minute. 
 
 Lucifer. I shall be there and back again ere then. 
 
 Festus. Meanwhile I can amuse myself: so, go ! 
 But sometime I would fain behold thy home, 
 And pass the gates of fire. 
 
 Lucifer. And so thou shalt, 
 
 ^ly home is every where where spirit is. 
 All things are as I meant them. Fare thee well. 
 
 Festus. The strongest passion which I have, is 
 honor : 
 I would I had none : it is in my way. 
 
 Scene — Every rvhere. 
 Lucifer and Festus. 
 
 Festus. Why, Earth is in the very midst of 
 Heaven. 
 And space, though void of things, feels full of God, 
 Hath space no limit ? 
 
 Lucifer. None to thee. Yet, if 
 
 Infinite, it would equal God ; and that 
 To think of is most vain.
 
 488 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. And j^et if not 
 
 Infinite, how can God exist therein ? 
 
 Lucifer. I say not. 
 
 Festus. No. So soon when placed besides 
 
 T!ie infinite, the poor immortal fails. 
 
 Lucifer. Space is God's space: eternity is His 
 Eternity ; His, Heaven. He only holds 
 Perfections which are but the impossible 
 To other beings. 
 
 Festus. We are things of time. 
 
 Lucifer. With God time is not. Unto Him all is 
 Present eternity. Worlds, beings, years. 
 With all their natures, powers, and events. 
 The range whereof, when making, He ordains, 
 Unfold themselves like flowers. He foresees 
 Not, but sees all at once. Time must not be 
 Contrasted with eternity : it is not 
 A second of the everlasting year. 
 Perfections, although infinite with God, 
 Are all identical ; as much of Him — 
 And holy is His mercy, merciful 
 His Avisdom, wise His love, and kind His wrath — 
 As form, extension, parts, are requisites 
 Of matter. Spirit hath no parts. It is 
 One substance, whole and indivisible, 
 Whatever else. Souls see each other clear 
 At one glance, as two drops of rain in air 
 Might look into each other, had they life. 
 Death docs away disguise.
 
 FESTUS. 489 
 
 Festus. Even here, I feel 
 
 Among these mighty things, that, as I am, 
 I am akin to God ; — that I am part 
 Of the use universal, and can grasp 
 Some portion of that reason in the which 
 The whole is ruled and founded; — that I have 
 A spirit nobler in its cause and end. 
 Lovelier in order, greater in its powers, 
 Than all these bright immensities — how swift ! 
 And doth creation's tide forever flow, 
 Nor ebb with like destruction 1 World on world, 
 Are they forever heaping up, and still 
 '■'he mighty measure never fulH 
 
 Lucifer. To act 
 
 Is power's habit ; alway to create, 
 God's ; which, thus ever causing worlds, to Him 
 Nought cumbrous more than new down to a wing, 
 Aye multiplies at once my power and pain. 
 I have seen many frames of being pass. 
 This generation of the universe 
 Will soon be gathered to its grave. These worlds, 
 AVhich bear its sky-pall, soon will follow thine. 
 I, both. All things must die. 
 
 Festus. What are ye, orbs? 
 
 The words of God — the Scriptures of the skies ? 
 For words with Him cannot be passing, nor 
 Less real, vast, or glorious tlian yourselves. 
 The world is a great poem, and the worlds 
 
 £2
 
 490 FESTUS. 
 
 The words it is ■writ in, and we souls the thoughts. 
 Ye cannot die. 
 
 Lucifer. Think not on death. Here all 
 
 Is life, light, beauty. Harp not so on death. 
 
 Festus. I cannot help me, spirit ! Chide no mora 
 As who dare gaze the sun, doth after see 
 Betwixt him and else a dark sun in his eye ; 
 So I, once having braved my burning doom. 
 See nought beside — or tliat in every thing. 
 Hark, what is that I hear ? 
 
 Lucifer. An angel weeping — 
 
 Earth's guardian angel. She is ever weeping. 
 
 Festus. See where she flies, spirit-torn, round the 
 heavens. 
 Like a fore-feel of madness about the brain. 
 Angel of Earth. Stars, stars ! 
 Stop your bright cars ! 
 Stint your breath — 
 Eepent ere worse — 
 Think of the death 
 Of the universe. 
 Fear doom, and fear 
 The fate of your kin-sphere. 
 As a corse in the tomb. 
 Earth ! thou art laid in doom — 
 The worm is at thy heart. 
 I see all things part : — 
 The bright air thicken, 
 Thunder-stricken :
 
 Se^ wh^r- r.h'- fl.es spirit -torn, cmma thr heaven*.
 
 't1 
 
 "J 
 
 .■■J 
 
 ■J 
 
 * 
 
 I
 
 FESTUS. 491 
 
 Birds from the sky 
 
 Shower like leaves : 
 
 Streamlets stop 
 
 Like ice on eaves : 
 
 The sun go blind : 
 
 Swoon the wind 
 
 On the high hill top — 
 
 Swoon and die: 
 
 Earth rear off' her cities 
 
 As a horse his rider; 
 
 And still, with each death-strain. 
 
 Her heart-wound tear wider ; 
 
 The lion roar and die 
 
 With his eyeballs on the sky: 
 
 The eagle scream 
 
 And drop like a beam: 
 
 Men crowd and cry, 
 
 Out on this dcathful dream ! 
 
 A low, dull sound — 
 
 'Tis the march of many bones 
 
 Under ground ; 
 
 Up! and they fling. 
 
 Like a fly's wing, 
 
 Off them the gray gravestones ; 
 
 They sit in their biers — 
 
 Father and mother, 
 
 Man and wife. 
 
 Sister and brother, 
 
 As in life ;
 
 1 
 
 492 FESTUS. 
 
 Lady and lover — 
 
 Love all ovex\ 
 
 Their flesh re-appears — 
 
 Their hearts beat — 
 
 Their eyes have tears: 
 
 Woe ! woe ! 
 
 Do they speak? 
 
 Stir? No! 
 
 Tongues were too weak, 
 
 Save to repeat 
 
 Woe ! 
 
 But they smile 
 
 In a while ; 
 
 For to wipe from His word 
 
 The dust of years, 
 
 He comes ! he comes ! the Lord, 
 
 Man-God, re-appears ; 
 
 To bless, and to save 
 
 From death and the grave — 
 
 To redeem and deliver 
 
 Forever and ever ! 
 
 The dead rise — 
 
 Death dies. 
 
 Go, Time, and sink 
 
 Thy great thoughts in the sea '. 
 
 And quench thy red link! 
 
 Let him flutter to rest 
 
 On thy God-nursing breast, 
 
 Lternity ! 
 
 ■t 
 
 I 

 
 FESTUS. 493 
 
 Mother Eternity! 
 What is for me ] 
 
 Festus. Poor angel ! Ah ! it is the good who 
 suffer. 
 Look ! like a cloud, she hath wept herself away. 
 What of this world we %'iew, and all yon worlds 1 
 If God made not all things from nothing, how 
 Is He creator 1 Something must exist 
 If other\vise, eternal with Himself; 
 And all things had not origin in Him. 
 
 Lucifer. He made all things of Him. The visible 
 world 
 Is as the Christ of nature ; God the maker 
 In matter made self-manifest through time. 
 All things are formed of all things — all of God. 
 The world is made of wonders. Every day 
 Is born a new creation. Every orb 
 Hath its revealed word ; and every race 
 Of being hath its judgment, or shall have. 
 
 Festus. Are all these worlds, then, stocked with 
 souls like man's — 
 Free, fallible, and sinful ] 
 
 Lucifer. Ay, they are. 
 
 All creature-minds, like man's, are fallible. 
 The seraph, who in Heaven highest stands, 
 May fall to ruin deepest. God is mind — 
 Pure, perfect, sinless. Man imperfect is — 
 Momently sinning. Evil then results 
 From imperfection. The idea of good
 
 1 
 
 494 FESTUS. 
 
 Is owned in imperfection's lowest form. i^i 
 
 God would not, could not, make aught wholly ill, ^ 
 
 Nor aught not like to err. Man never was 
 
 Perfect nor pure, or he would be, so noAV. 
 
 Thy nature hath some excellences — these 
 
 Oft thwarted by low lusts and wicked avlIIs. 
 
 What then'? They are necessitate in kind, 
 
 As change in nature, or as shade to light. 
 
 No darkness hath the sun — no weakness God : 
 
 These only be the faulty qualities 
 
 Of secondary natures — planets, men. 
 
 God hath no attributes, unless To Be 
 
 Be one: 'twould mix Him with the things He hath 
 
 made. 
 God is all God, as life is that which lives. 
 I am a mighty spirit, and yet I 
 Am but to God what lightning is to light : 
 Lightning slays one thing — light makes all things live. 
 Bear, then, thy necessary ills with grace : 
 No positive estate or principle 
 Is Evil — debtor Avholly for its form 
 And measure to defect — defect to good. 
 Good's the sole, positive principle in the world ; 
 It is only thus, that what God makes, He loves — 
 And must : the others are but off-shoots. Ill 
 Is limited. One cannot form a scheme 
 For universal evil ; not even I. 
 
 Festus. Can imperfection from perfection come ? 
 Can God make aught defective i
 
 FESTUS. 495 
 
 Lucifer. How aught elsel 
 
 There are but three proportions in all things — 
 The greater — equal — less. God could not make 
 A God above Himself, nor equal with — 
 By nature and necessity the Highest ; 
 So, if He make, it must be lesser minds — 
 Little and less from angels down to men, 
 "Wlrose natures are imperfect, as His own 
 Must be all-perfect. Tlijese two states are not. 
 Except as whole unto its parts, opposed ; 
 And evil is itself no ill unless 
 Creation be. 
 
 Festus. Is God the cause of evil 1 
 
 Lucifer. So far as evil comes from imperfection, 
 And imperfection from tlie things He hath made. 
 And what Pie hath made from His will to make. 
 
 Festus. Oh ! let me rest, be it but a moment's 
 pause ! 
 This endless, light-like journey wearies me. 
 Remember, still my spirit toils in dust — 
 A dark, close cloud. 
 
 Lucifer. Alight, then, on this orb. 
 
 I am not wearied : I will watch by thee. 
 He sleeps — he dreams. How far men see in dreams ! 
 In dreams they can accomplish worlds of things : 
 The heart then suffers a fusion of all feeling 
 Back to its youthful hours of innocence, 
 And nakedness, and paradise ; ere yet 
 The world had wound a perishing garb around it ;
 
 496 FESTUS. 
 
 While yet its God came down and spake to it. 
 Such and so great are dreams. My might, my being 
 To him is but a dream's. And, could a state 
 To come fill up their dream-stretched minds, they 
 
 might 
 Be gods. And may it not be so^ Then man 
 Is worth my ruining. WTiat does he dream "i 
 With all the sway his spirit now exerts 
 O'er time, space, thought, it is but a shadowy sway, 
 Light as a mountain shadow on a lake. 
 Mine is the mountain's self. A touch would shake 
 To nought whate\'er his soul now feels or acts ; 
 But not a worldquake could touch aught of mine : 
 Thus much we differ. I will not envy man. 
 Power alone makes being bearable. 
 And yet this dream-power is mind-power — real : 
 All things are real : fiction cannot be. 
 A thought is real as the w-orld — a dream 
 True as all God doth know — with Avhom all is true ; 
 The deep, dense sleep of half-dead exhaustedness ! 
 AVould I could feel it. Ah ! he wakes at last. 
 
 Festus. Oh ! I have dreamed a dream so beautiful ! 
 Methought I lay, as it were, here ; and, lo ! 
 A spmt came and gave me wings of light, 
 Wliich thrice I waved delighted. Up we flew 
 Sheer through the shining air, far past the sun's 
 Broad blazing disk — past where the great great snake 
 Bmds in his bright coil half the host of Heaven, — 
 Past thee, Orion ! who, with arm uplift,
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 497 
 
 Like him the divine Evil of the world, 
 Threatening the throne of God, dost ever stand 
 Sublimely impious ; and thy mighty mace 
 Whirling on high, down from its glorious seat 
 Drops, crushed and shattered, many a shining world. 
 And so the brave and beautiful of old 
 Believed thou wast a giant, made of worlds : 
 And they were right, if thus they bodied out 
 The immortal mind ; for it hath starlike beauty, 
 And worldlike might ; and is as high above 
 The things it scorns, and will make war with God, 
 Though He gave it Earth and Heaven, and arms to 
 
 win 
 Them both ; and, spite of lust and pride, to earn them. 
 And now thy soul informs yon hundred stars. 
 As mine my limbs — well, 'tis a noble end. 
 AVhat now to thee be mortal maid or goddess 1 
 Look! she who tied thee once now loves and longs 
 To clasjj thee to her cold and beamy breast. 
 Pine moon ! thou art as far lielow him now 
 As once she was above tliee, tliou of the world-belt ! 
 And she who had thee, and wlio knew thee god, 
 IJied of her boast, and lies in her own dust. 
 And she who loved thee, the young, blushy Morning, 
 Who cauglit thee in her arms, and bore thee off 
 Far o'er the lashing seas to a lonely isle, 
 AVhere she might pleasure longer and in secret — 
 That love undid thee; and it is so now: 
 Whether the beauty seek, or flee, or liave, 
 
 63 rr*
 
 498 i-ESTus. 
 
 *Tis a like ill — this beauty doubly mortal. 
 
 What though the moon with madness slew thee there, 
 
 Let me believe it was within the arms 
 
 That loved thee even in the stroke of death, 
 
 -ind that there snapped the lightning link of life. 
 
 KiU, but not conquer, man nor mind may gods. 
 
 Thou image of the Almighty error, man ! 
 
 Banished and banned to Heaven, by a weak world. 
 
 Which makes the minds, it cannot master gods. 
 
 And thou, the first and greatest of half-gods, 
 
 Which they in olden time did star together 
 
 To an idolatrous immortality ; 
 
 Who nationalized the skies, and gave all stars 
 
 Unto the spirits of the good and brave, 
 
 Forestalling Heaven by ages — wondrous men ! 
 
 And if — beguiled by wine, and the low wiles 
 
 Thou wouldst not creep to meet, and a drunken sleep, 
 
 Like to high noon in the midst of all his might, 
 
 Close by the brink of immortality — 
 
 The deep dominions of thy sea-sire, thou 
 
 Didst lose thy light by kings who hate the great, 
 
 Thou only hadst to stand up to the sun. 
 
 And gain again thine eyes. So the great king, 
 
 The world, the tyrant we elect, in vain 
 
 Puts out the eyes of mind : it looks to God, 
 
 ^\.ud reaps its light again. Wherefore, revenge ! 
 
 Out with the sword ! the world will run before thee, 
 
 Orion ! belted giant of the skies, 
 
 Thou witli the treble strain of godhood in thee —
 
 FESTUS. 499 
 
 March ! there is nought to hinder thee in Hea^'cn : — 
 Past that great sickle saved for one day's work, 
 When lie who sowed shall reap Creation's field ; — 
 Past those high diademed orbs which show to man 
 His crown to come ; — up through the starry strings 
 Of that high harp close by the feet of God, 
 Which He, methought, took up and struck, till 
 
 Heaven, 
 In love's immortal madness, rang and reeled ; 
 The stars fell on their faces ; and, far off. 
 The wild world halted — shook his burning mane — 
 Then, like a fresh-blown trumpet blast, went on. 
 Or like a god gone mad. On, on he flew, 
 I and the spirit, far beyond all things 
 Of measure, motion, time and aught create ; 
 Where the stars stood on the edge of the first nothing, 
 And looked each other in the fixce and fled, — 
 Past even the last, long starless void, to God ; 
 Whom straight I h(>ard, methought, commanding thus : 
 Immortal ! I am God. Hie back to earth. 
 And say to all, that God doth say — Love God! 
 
 Lucifer. God visits men a-dreaming : I, awake. 
 
 Festus. And mj- dream changed to one of general 
 doom. 
 Wilt hear it? 
 
 Lucifer. Ay, say on ! It is but a dream. 
 
 Festus. God made all mind and motion cease ; 
 and, lo ! 
 The whole was deatli and peace. An endless time
 
 500 FESTUS. 
 
 Obtained, in which the power of all made failed. 
 God bade the worlds to judgment, and they came — 
 Fale, trembling, corpse-like. To the souls therehi 
 Then spake the Maker : Deathless spirits, rise ! 
 And straight they thronged around the throne. His 
 
 ami 
 The Almighty then uplift, and smote the Avoiids 
 Once, and they fell in fragments like to spray, 
 And vanished in their native void. He shook 
 The stars from Heaven like rain-drops from a bough ; 
 Tike tears they poured adown creation's face. 
 Spirit and space were all things. Matter, death, 
 And time, left even not a wake to tell 
 Where once theii* track o'er being. God's own light, 
 Undarkened and unhindered by a sun. 
 Glowed forth alone in glory. And through all 
 A clear and tremulous sense of God prevailed. 
 Like to the blush of love upon the cheek. 
 Or the full feeling lightening through the eye, 
 Or the quick music in the chords of harps. 
 God judged all creatures unto bliss or woe, 
 According to their deeds, and faith, and His 
 Own will : and straight the saved upraised a voice 
 Which seemed to emulate eternity 
 In its triumphant over-blessedness. 
 The lost leaped up and cursed God to His face — 
 A curse might make the sun turn cold to hear ; 
 .\nd thee, in all thy burning glory, tremble. 
 In front of all thine angels, like a chord.
 
 F EST us. 501 
 
 Rage writhed each brow into a changeless scowl. 
 Madly they mocked at God, and dared His eye, 
 Safe in their curse of- deathlessness. To hell 
 They hied like storms ; and, cursing all things, each 
 Soul wrapped him in his shroud of fire for aye, 
 With one long, loud howl, which seemed to deafen 
 
 Heaven — 
 And then I woke. 
 
 Lucifer. A wild, fantastic dream ; 
 
 A mere mirage ' of mind. Come, let us leave : 
 We have seen enough of this world. 
 
 Festus. Lift me up, then. 
 
 AVorld upon world, how they come rolling on ! 
 But none that I see are so fair as earth: 
 There is so much to love that is purely earth. 
 Now I could wander all day in the wood. 
 Where nature, like a sibyl, writes the fate 
 Of all that live on her red forest leaves ; 
 And have no other aim than wandering 
 Within that wood, and wind my arms around 
 Its gray, gaunt trunks, and think and feel to them ; 
 While the wind, sinking, moans over tlie earth 
 Like a giant over some dead captive dame, 
 AVhom death hath saved from madness and his love; — 
 Could tramp across the brown and springy moor. 
 And over the purple ling, and never tire ; — 
 Could look upon the ripple of a river. 
 Or on a tree's long shadow down a hill. 
 For a whole summer ? day, wishing the sun
 
 502 FESTUS. 
 
 Would diiiik my soul up to him as he draws 
 Dew from the earth. These thmgs are in my mind. 
 And suns and systems cannot drive them out, 
 Xor universal system of all suns. 
 Dost ravage all these worlds ? 
 
 Lucifer. Ay, all mine own 
 
 Where spirit is, there evil ; and the world 
 Is full of me as ocean is of brine. 
 
 Festus. God is all perfect ; man imperfect. Thoul 
 
 Lucifer. I am the imperfection of the whole — 
 The pitch profoundcst of the fallible. 
 Myself the all of evil which exists — 
 The ocean heaped into a single surge. 
 
 Festus. O God ! why wouldst Thou make the 
 universe 1 
 
 Lucifer. Child ! quench yon suns ; strip death of 
 its decay ; 
 Men of their follies — hell of all its woe ! 
 These if thou didst, thou couldst not banish me. 
 I am the shadow which Creation casts 
 From God's own light. — But here we are, at hell. 
 Hark to the thunderous roaring of its fires ! 
 Yet, ere we further pass — stop ! dost thou shrink 1 
 
 Festus. At nought — not I ! Come on, iiend ! 
 follow me !
 
 FESTUS. 50?5 
 
 Scene — Hell. 
 
 Lucifer and Festus entering. 
 
 Lucifer. Behold my Avoiid ! Man's science counts 
 it not 
 Upon the brightest sky. He never knows 
 How near it comes to him : but, swathed in clouds 
 As though in plumed and palled state, it steals 
 Hearse-like and thief-like round the universe, 
 Forever rolling and returning not — 
 Robbing all worlds of many an angel soul — 
 AVith its light hidden in its breast, which burns 
 With all concentrate and superfluent woe. 
 Nor sun nor moon illume it, and to those 
 Which dwell in it, not live, the starry skies 
 Have told no time since first they entei'ed there. 
 Worlds have been built, and to their central base 
 Ruined and razed to the last atom ; they 
 Of neither know, nor can — unconscious, save 
 To agony — nought knowing even of God 
 But His omnipotence to execute 
 Torture on those He hath in wrath endowed 
 With Heaven's own immortality, to make 
 Them feel what woe the Almighty can inflict, 
 And the all-feeble suffer, and not be 
 Annihilated as they would. Be sure 
 'i'hat this is hell. The blood whicli hath imbrued
 
 5l)4 FESTCS. 
 
 Earth's breast, since first men met in war, may hope 
 
 Yet to be fonned again and reascend, 
 
 Each drop its indindual vein ; the foam-bubble, 
 
 Sun-drawn out of the sea into the clouds, 
 
 To scale the cataract down which it fell, 
 
 Or seek its primal source in earth's hot heart ; 
 
 But for the lost to rise to or regain 
 
 Heaven, or to hope, it is impossible. 
 
 Festcs. Aie all these angels then, or men, or both '? 
 Or mortals of all worlds ] 
 
 Lucifer. Immortals all. 
 
 Festus. What numbers "? 
 
 Lucifer. All are spirits fallen through sin 
 
 At various pei^iods of eternity ; 
 And not by one offence, to one same doom, 
 And at one moment, did they down from Heaven 
 Like to the rapid droppings of a shower ; 
 No ! each distinct as thunderpeals, they fell, 
 Save those that fell with me. With me began 
 Sin even in Heaven ; with me but sin remains. 
 Once, I alone was Hell. Behold my fruits ! 
 
 Festus. What do yon fiends? Some 'mong them 
 look like mortals : 
 Their hearts shine through them like live coals through 
 
 ashes. 
 They look like madmen gone delirious. 
 Oh, horror' liCt me hence. 
 
 Lucifer. Nay, hear. 
 
 Festus. I hear
 
 FESTUS. 505 
 
 A strain incongruous as a merry dirge, 
 Or sacramental bacchanal might be. 
 
 Lucifer. Men are they not, but devils at the best ; 
 And I would have thee mark them. 
 
 Festus. I attend. 
 
 Fiends. Heap high the fires of hell ! let woe not 
 languish, 
 Heap up with everlasting flame, heap higher; 
 There let the man-fiend consummate in anguish 
 Howl through the fathomless profound of fire. 
 To. tempt and ruin those that once were solely 
 God's, and torment them when with us they dwell — 
 This is our end, and their existence wholly 
 Hid in the doom no demon dares to tell. 
 But is shadowed in the harrowing eternity of hell. 
 Deeper than the bowl the drunkard drained so gladly, 
 Deadlier than the lie which scorched the liar's tongue, 
 Keener than the blade the murderer plied so madly. 
 Eats aye into the essence the worm that all hatli stung. 
 And for that they succumbed to the toils Avherewith 
 
 we bound them, 
 Their bread is burning brimstone, — their drink is 
 
 bubbling fire ; 
 For they live upon the natui'e of the tortures that 
 
 surround them, 
 And their life is in the death they shall never see 
 
 expire ; 
 Lo? it flowetli from the fountains of the ever-seeth- 
 ing ire. 
 
 64 Q4
 
 506 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Nay, let me quit ! now know I what hell is. 
 What are they — drunkards, liars, murderers 1 
 
 Lucifer. Can wine destroy the soul I or hell's 
 fierce flames 
 Feed upon holy water, wherewith priest 
 Baptizeth smless babe ? Can liar make 
 God lie 1 or cheat his neighbor of his soul 1 
 No ! God's salvation waiteth not on man's 
 Weak will nor ministry ; nor man's perdition 
 Upon his brother's hatred or neglect. 
 Can murderer slay the soul 1 or suicide 
 Drug immortality] Their sin is great, 
 And is eternally condemned of God ; 
 But of their nature, the which Death destroys, 
 Their own as well as victim's recompense. 
 When Time hath overcome the ruin wrought 
 Upon their hearts who loved the dead, that they 
 Who suffered most have most forgiven ill,- — 
 Shall the dead slay the living ceaselessly? — 
 Shall God, who is all Love, reverse, reserve. 
 Here in hell, ages afterwards, those crimes'? 
 And because man hath sinned a moment, crown 
 All crime in instituting punishment. 
 Unending for an instantaneous wrong ? 
 Shall that be justice? It were more than vengeance 
 Yet such the Deity men fable, such 
 The hell whereto they doom themselves. 
 
 Festus. iS'o more. 
 
 The world is all-sufficient for itself;
 
 FESTUS. 507 
 
 And Hell and Heaven arc not the equivalents 
 
 Of (^nrtli's iniquities and righteousness. 
 
 Lucifer. Can those Avho are idolaters defraud 
 
 God of His worship ■? who adore the world, i 
 
 Gold, or, as savages, the stars and Heaven, 
 
 And elements of earth] Xone worship Him, 
 
 But with and in His spirit. Nought attains 
 
 His love but that proceedeth from it first. ' 
 
 His praise is everlasting in all worlds i 
 
 And starry ages of eternity. ^ 
 
 Can they who covet the world's worthiest goods, — : 
 
 Wealth, honor, power, knowledge, rank, or aught, — ! 
 
 Merit eternal torment for a sin 1 
 
 Wherewith is bound the world's prosperity i 
 
 i 
 And human glory 1 Nought eternal is 
 
 But tliat whicli is of God. All pain and woe j 
 
 Are therefore finite. Can the robber steal 
 
 From God or Heaven a thing, or from the soul ? i 
 
 Or the deflowerer desecrate and undo i 
 
 The espousals of the spirit with its Lord 1 ', 
 
 How weak is virtue, then, and vice, how vain ! I 
 
 How wretched human righteousness — and sin, 
 
 How despicable to the soul assui'ed, 
 
 Since neither hath a recompense. The one 
 
 By Him destroyed who can alone unmake 
 
 That he hath made ; the other perfected, 
 
 United, deified in God the Son 
 
 With His own nature. Infinite Universe ! 
 
 Thou hast no like, no second favorite 
 
 To mortal man of God's.
 
 508 
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 Festus. What mean the words 
 
 Of yonder fiendish chant, then 1 
 
 Lucifer. Words and shapes 
 
 Are equally as soon assumed by spirits. 
 Sin, with deep draughts of fiery venom fed. 
 Drains to the latest dreg of murderous flame 
 Its self-consuming fate, self-punitive 
 In cyclical necessity of self. 
 By pure destruction. If 'twas God's good Avill 
 Brous^ht all thin£;s into beinof, then His hate 
 Cannot do less than all annihilate. 
 What is unholy He detests to death. 
 Evil at last corrupts itself away. 
 Left to itself; but His high will o'errides, 
 O'errules, indeed, the child of His right hand. 
 When therefore all is ended, and at last 
 Time's sun, declining down the eternal skies, 
 Leaves his last shining shadow on the sea, 
 And in the boundless abyss entombs his beams ; 
 When final evening folds the universe 
 Heavily round, then hell shall drain the dread 
 Cup of perdition to the last drop. Death 
 Is of all things thou thinkest most like sleep: 
 The dead think otherwise. But wherefore thus ? 
 What mean my words to thee? 
 
 Festus. In sooth, I know not. 
 
 I am constrained to hear them. 
 
 Lucifer. As for these! — 
 
 It is a fire of soul in which thcv burn,
 
 FESTUS. 509 
 
 And by which they are purified from sin — 
 
 Rid of the grossness which had gathered round them, 
 
 And burnt again into their virgin brightness. 
 
 All things work round like worlds. The orb of hell 
 
 Hath yet its place in Heaven, as thine and all. 
 
 But, as a spiritual quality, 
 
 As spirit is the substance of all matter — 
 
 Hidden or open, heatlike doth inhere 
 
 In all existence — or for good or ill. 
 
 Look at yon spirit. 
 
 Festus. What was it brought thee hither 1 
 
 Spirit. I was an angel once, ages agone; 
 But doing good and glorifying not 
 God, who empowered me, He sent me here 
 To fire the proud spot from my heart. 
 
 Festus. And when 
 
 Wilt thou do this, and own thou hast wronged God ] 
 
 Spirit. I do repent me, and confess it now. 
 I will not ask God now to let me be 
 What once I was ; but might I only sit 
 A footstool for some other worthier far 
 Who owneth now my throne, I should be happy — 
 Far happier than I ■ivas in my proud prayers. 
 That God would give me worlds on worlds to govern, 
 And in receiving all their prayers and blessings. 
 
 God ! remember me ! O save me ! 
 Festus. See ' 
 
 1 do believe there is an angel coming 
 This way from Heaven. 
 
 QQ*
 
 510 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Spirit. He comes to me — to me ! 
 
 Angel. Hail, suiFerer ! 
 
 Spirit. Sinner. 
 
 Angel. God hath bade me bring thee 
 
 Away to Heaven ; thy throne is kept for thee ; 
 And all the hosts of Heaven are on the wing 
 To welcome thee again ! 
 
 Spirit. I dare not come : 
 
 I am not worthy Heaven. 
 
 Angel. But God will make thee. 
 
 Festus. Spirit — farewell ! and may w-e meet again 
 In better time and place. 
 
 Spirit. Glory to God ! 
 
 I go — farewell ! — and I will speak of thee, 
 But Oh, repent ! Be humble, and despair not. 
 
 \_Anffel and Spirit rise. 
 
 Lucifer. Oh ! think, when all are judged, what 
 hosts of souls 
 Will then be mine at last ! — what wings of fire ! 
 Deemest thou yet as mortal "? 
 
 Festds. This is not 
 
 As thou didst speak of hell, nor as I judged. 
 
 Lucifer. Hell is the wrath of God — His hate of 
 sin. 
 God hates man's nature ; be it said of his 
 A s of all beings ! 
 
 Festus. How hate that He hath made? 
 
 Lucifer. The infinite opposition of Perfection 
 To imperfection leaves nor choice, nor mean.
 
 F EST us. 511 
 
 Thus the demeanor of thy world grieved God, 
 
 Till its destruction pleased Him, and its name 
 
 Was struck out of the starry scroll ; thus all 
 
 Creation worketh infinite grief in Time. 
 
 When human nature is most perfect, then 
 
 Its fall is nearest, as of ripest fruit. 
 
 Man's pleasure in the world — to both of whichi 
 
 His nature is made tit — is not of God, 
 
 Save theirs on whom His spirit He bestows, 
 
 As in a twilight between Earth and Heaven, 
 
 A promissory Being unfulfilled — 
 
 But still how glorious to the stone-blind world ! 
 
 This is in time, but in eternity 
 
 He raises, remakes, adds to all He hath made 
 
 His OAvn immortalizing love and grace, 
 
 Which keeps them ever pure as is the sea. 
 
 And incorruptible in godly Avill. 
 
 The bliss of God and man originates, 
 
 Unites, and ends in self — in Deity: 
 
 To whom is neither motive — good — nor end 
 
 Greater or less, or other than Himself 
 
 Festus. But how can the Creator glory find 
 In hell, or creature, good — if God be Love, 
 Or man a being salvable 1 Oh, say ! 
 But who comes hither ^. 
 
 Lucifer. It is the Son of God! — 
 
 Omnipotent ! before whose steadfast feet 
 The thrones of Heaven, which hoped to have oVr« 
 thrown thine.
 
 ;)12 FESTCS. 
 
 But now all sticngthless, hopeless, Godless here, 
 Rose once and ebbed forever, even these 
 Deep in theu* fiery abyss of woe 
 Unbent, nnbcttered will again rush forth 
 In all the might of madness and despair. 
 To prove their hatred of Thee and Thy love. 
 Salvation is the scorn of angels here. 
 AVhat dost Thou here, not having sinned] 
 
 Sox OF God. For men 
 
 I bore with death — for fiends I bear with sin ; 
 And death and sin are each the pain I pay 
 For the love which brought me down from Heaven 
 
 to save 
 Both men and doAils ; and the Father makes 
 And orders every instant what is best. 
 
 Festus. This is God's truth : Hell feels a moment 
 cool. 
 
 Son of God. Hell is His justice — Heaven is 
 love — 
 Earth, His long-sufiering : all the world is but 
 A quality rf God ; therefore come I 
 To temper these — to give to j ustice, mercy ; 
 And to long-suffering, longer. Hea^'en is mine 
 By birthright. Lo ! I am the heir of God : 
 He hath given all things to me. I have made 
 The earth mine own, and all yon countless worlds, 
 And all the souls therein ; yea, soul by soul. 
 And world by world, have I redeemed them all — 
 One by one through eternity, or given
 
 FESTUS. 513 
 
 The means of their salvation : why not, then, 
 llein 
 
 Festus. Every spirit is to be redeemed. 
 
 Son of God. Mortal ! it has : the best and worst 
 need one 
 .\nd same salvation. There is nothing final 
 In all this world but God ; therefore these souls 
 Whom I see here, and pity for their woes — 
 But for their evil more — these need not be 
 Inhelled forever ; for although once, twice, thrice. 
 On earth or here they may have put God from them — 
 Disowned His prophets — mocked His angels — slain 
 His Son ir. His mortality — and stormed 
 His curses back to Him ; yet God is such. 
 That He can pity still ; and I can sutler 
 For them, and save them. Father ! I fear not, 
 But by Thy might I can save hell from hell. 
 Fiends ! hear ye me ! Why wUl ye burn forever 1 
 Look ! I am here all water : come and drink, 
 And bathe in me ! baptize your burning souls 
 In the pure well of life — the spring of God. 
 I come to save all souls who will be saved. 
 Come, ye immortal fallen ! rise again ! 
 There is a resurrection for the dead, 
 And for the second dead. And though ye died, 
 And fell, and fell again, and agam died. 
 There is a life to come, a rise for all — 
 .\ life to come forever, and a rise 
 Perpetual as the spring is in the year. 
 
 65
 
 •514 r EST us. 
 
 A Fiend. Thou Son of God! what wilt thou here 
 with us 1 I 
 
 Have we not hell enough without Thy presence? 
 Remorse, and always strife, and hate of all, 
 I see around me : is it not enough ? 
 Why wilt Thou double it with Thy mild eyes? 
 
 Son of God. Spirit! I come to save thee. 
 
 Fiend. How can that hel 
 
 Son of God. Repent ! God will forgive thee then ; 
 and I 
 Will save thee ; and the Holy One shall hallow. 
 Repent thou, for thy judgment is at hand ; 
 But if thou slurrest over these means and times, 
 Which have been given thee for repentance here, 
 Tremble ! This hell is nothing to thy next. 
 Believest thou I can save thee? 
 
 Fiend. Son of God! 
 
 I do believe it. Let me worship. 
 
 Son of God. Come ! 
 
 Come to me ! Lo ! I will but touch thy bi-ow, 
 And make thee bright as morning is in Heaven. 
 
 Spirit. Angel of light I am again ! Look here ! 
 This — this is to be saved ! 
 
 Lucifer. I like it not. 
 
 Son of God. Hear ! ye immortals dead ! this I 
 can do. 
 Repent ! and be all angels. 
 
 Spirit. Oh, believe ! 
 
 He is God. Worship Him ! He comes to save us.
 
 FESTUS. 515 
 
 Lucifer. Stand thou beside me: I will speak to 
 them ; 
 Or they will sure believe Him. Hell ! O Hell ! 
 Powers of perdition ! thrones of darkness ! — hear ! 
 Wrath, ruin, torment! — hear me! It is I ! 
 Thanks, fiends ! I know ye hate me well, and may 
 I tempted, ruined, damned ye every one. 
 Were ye not proud, now, to be conquered by me 1 
 But wherefore so supine ] Am I your lord 1 
 Me do ye doubt ^ or dare ye Him believe ? 
 What is an angel dressed in shiny white '? 
 Can I not make ye angels 1 Ay ! and more : 
 I cannot make ye less — nor ye yourselves — 
 Nor God — nor Son of God. But hark to me ! 
 Be still, ye thundcrblasts and liills of fire ! 
 Hell doth out-din itself — Hcll-hearted slaves ! 
 What are ye that I thus should toil for ye. 
 Who hardly earn the fire that burns ye up 1 
 Power I have proffered, but ye have refused : 
 Nothmg is for ye but your fiery fate. 
 Kingdoms I have prepared, and ye have spurned. 
 Slaves ! slaves ! ye are too much at ease ! Ye leave 
 Me single in the work of woe. I, sole, 
 Go forth to sow destruction : I, alone, 
 Reap ruin. Had j'o been as I, ere now 
 The universe had been all hell ; and, for 
 A pit, each fiend had had a world to rule. 
 Rise ! Yet we'll play all Hell against all Heaven 
 Up ! up ! and then at once we will battle God ;
 
 516 FESTUS. 
 
 And hurling each his orb against the throne, 
 Strange if we will not scatter it like sand. 
 To reign is nothing half like to dethrone ! 
 Dethrone! and each is greater then than God. 
 And will ye, then, give up your hopes of Heaven, 
 And entrance as young conquerors fresh from spoil, 
 A7id choice of thrones won by your death-red hands, 
 For pitiful repentance, like him yonder ? 
 Forbid it ! all the prowess, pride, and pain 
 Of hell that we have borne Avith ! do ye not ? 
 Meanwhile man's world is straight to be destroyed. 
 Be slad ! be elad ! Earth's sons mav soon be here. 
 And here, as eaniest of the truth I tell, 
 Behold this earthling standing by my side ! 
 Speak to them, Festus. 
 
 Festus. Nay, I dread them. 
 
 Lucifer. " Speak ! 
 
 Great spirits ! he scarce is worthy to address ye. 
 In that I cannot say he yet is damned. 
 
 Festus. But I am here ; what recks it how or 
 why? 
 Ye care not, and I know not. It is fate: 
 The will of God and him who sets me here; 
 And which I question not. It must be good, 
 Whether decreed that I be saved or lost. 
 But I haA'e poor pretensions for this place; 
 And none, I liope, have worse that are to come. 
 For I have never mocked the Word of God, 
 Xor torn it into fuel for niv scorn :
 
 FESTUS. 517 
 
 Nor doubted, save tremblingly, His being : — 
 
 His love to man — His riglit to be adored, — 
 
 Never have hated, never wronged my race, — 
 
 Deluded, nor rejoiced in their delusion ; 
 
 Never have beckoned oft" the good from good — 
 
 Never have mocked nor scattered hopes — nor e'er 
 
 Have wasted hearts, nor desolated hearths ; 
 
 And if I have once, twice — as who hath not 1 — 
 
 Toyed with temptation, yet even he will say 
 
 Who standeth there, that I liave never given 
 
 Up to his burning dalliance my soul. 
 
 And yet he is my friend, the Evil One. 
 
 And why is wondrous ; judge ye wherefore, too. 
 
 I have no malice, envy, nor revenge ; 
 
 None of those petty passions Avhich bad hearts 
 
 Scourge red into themselves — for passions are 
 
 Sufi^erings — and which to nourish is his want; 
 
 Wherein doth lie his power : these I have not. 
 
 And, save enjoying earth, I have done never 
 
 Aught that he could take part in. But he came 
 
 From God, he said, to give ; and I believed : — 
 
 Great spirits lie not — doubt not. 
 
 liUCiFER. He says truth. 
 
 But it is not for him nor jou to know 
 Thi" reason of my doings ; it is the tiling 
 Unfeared and unforethought winch tempts, betrays. 
 It is I who liait tlie world to do its will. 
 As to this mortal, God hath sanctioned all 
 That I have done, or may do to the end ;
 
 618 FESTUS. 
 
 Which I have nought to do with. Son of find! 
 Go on redeeming ! — I wUl go on damning. 
 God ! go on making ! — I will go on marring. 
 Go on believmg, man ! — I go on tempting. 
 Saint ! angel ! cherub ! seraph ! and archangel ! 
 Go ye on blessing ! — I will go on cursing ! 
 I now retrack my course to earth ; therein 
 To work out ^^•hat rcmaineth of the fate 
 Of this man, and await his world's destruction. 
 What next may hap I care not. 
 
 Festus. Let us hence! 
 
 Lucifer. AVhere is He ^ 
 
 Festus. There — see ! many do believa 
 
 Orb of perdition ! thou, too, shalt die out, 
 And thy red-sheeted flames shall fall for aye. 
 Thy palpitating piles of ruin, hot 
 With ever-active agony, and quick 
 With soul immortal, down whose midnight heights 
 The wrath of God in cataracts of fire 
 Precipitates itself unceasingly, 
 Shall rush into destruction as a steed 
 Hushes into the battle, there to die. 
 Thy quivering hills of black and bloody hue. 
 Death-breathing, shall collapse like lifeless lungs, 
 And end in air and ashes. Thou shalt be 
 Dashed from creation, spark-like, from a hand 
 Scarless : pass like a rolled syllable 
 Of midnight thunder from the coming day. 
 The river of all life, which flows tli rough Heaven,
 
 FESTUS. 519 
 
 Shall yet reach thee and overflood thy flames. 
 Thou shalt no more vex God nor man ; nor all 
 The seekmgs of the soul shall hunt thee out. 
 Thy day is sometime over. Be it soon ! 
 And thou the lost world which the world hath lost I 
 
 Scene — A Drawing Room. 
 Festds and Elissa. 
 
 Festus. Who says he loves and is not wretched, 
 lies ; 
 Or that love is madness, came mad from his mother. 
 It is the most reasonable thing in nature. 
 What can we do but love 1 It is our cup. 
 Love is the cross and passion of the heart — 
 Its end — its errand. In the name of God, 
 What made us love, Elissa 1 
 
 Elissa. I know not. 
 
 I am not happy. I have wept all day. 
 
 Festus. 'Twas thine own fault. What wouldst 
 thou have of me ? 
 I tell thee we must — no, I cannot tell thee. 
 Nor can I bear those tears. Thou know'st I love thee, 
 Worship thee ; Oh ! it's a world more than worship, 
 The cold obedience Avhich we give to God. 
 Elissa ! turn to me ! 
 
 Elissa. I cannot. Go ' —
 
 520 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Thou hadst no need, no business to have 
 loved me. 
 One loved thee weU. 
 
 Elissa. I could not help his Icving 
 
 Me, nor ray lo%'ing thee. It was our fate. 
 
 Festus. Then Faith hath feed the passion for our 
 death. 
 And we are sold. 
 
 Elissa. Well ! Let us die together. 
 
 Together we will quit our bodies here. 
 
 Festus. Together will we go to God and judgment. 
 
 Elissa. Festus ! I will, I can love none but thee. 
 
 Festus. Thou must not. 
 
 Elissa. But I must. I cannot help it. 
 
 Look at me — heart and arms, I am thine own. 
 Thou knowest I am and have been. "Wilt not love me 1 
 Festus ! mine own and onlj' ! wilt thou not 1 
 Have I done nothing, suffered and abandoned 
 Nothing, for thee 1 Oh ! I was happy once, 
 Ere I knew thee. Why wast thou kind to mel 
 Cruelly kind — or this had never been. 
 But now thou mayst be cruel if thou wilt. 
 Hate me ! still I am thine : disown me, thine ! 
 Desert me ! no — thou canst not. I am thine ; 
 I am — look at me, Festus ! look at me ; 
 I am half blind with weeping ; and mine eyes 
 Have not a tear left in them. But I know 
 How it will end. Thou wilt leave me as I am — 
 Loveless and Icnely.
 
 FF.STUS. 521 
 
 Festus. Nay, not so ; my love 
 
 Shall aye be with thee, and my soul with both. 
 But we must part ! Think that I come again. 
 
 Elissa. Not be again with thee — nor thou with 
 me ! 
 It is too much. Let me go mad, or die. 
 
 Festus. live, mine Elissa ! and thou shalt live 
 with me, 
 And I will love thee ever as I now love. 
 Wilt thou? 
 
 Elissa. Oh ! make me happy ! say I may 
 Believe thee. 
 
 Festus. May 1 Thou must. 
 
 Elissa. Say it again. 
 
 I cannot know too often of my bliss. 
 But dost thou love me'? tell me — wilt thou love me? 
 
 Festus. Since I have known thee, I have done 
 nought else. 
 All hours not spent with thee are blanks between stars. 
 I love thee ! love thee ! love thee ! madly love thee ! 
 Oh ! thou hast drank my heart dry of all love ! 
 It will bo empty to aught after thee. 
 Come, dry thine eyes. Blessings on those sweet eyes! 
 By Heaven ! they might a moment win the glance 
 Of any seraph gazing not on God. 
 
 Elissa. No wonder they drew thine. There is a 
 tear ! 
 
 Festus. Ay ; strange and startling is the first hot 
 tear 
 
 66 BR*
 
 522 FESTUS. 
 
 That we have shod for years ; and which liath lain 
 Like to a water-fauy in the eye's 
 Blue depths — spell-bound in the socket of the soul. 
 Death brought it not — pain brought it not — nor 
 
 shame ; 
 Nor penitence — nor pity — nor despair : 
 Nothing but love could. For a fearful time 
 We can keep down the floodgates of the heart, 
 But we must draw them sometime ; or it will burst 
 Like sand this brave embankment of the breast, 
 And drain itself to dry death. When pride thaws. 
 Look for floods. 
 
 Elissa. Now, thou wilt be very kind 
 
 When next we meet ] Our time will soon be gone. 
 
 Festus. I cannot think of time : — there is no 
 time ! 
 Time ! time ! I hate thee — with the hate of hell 
 For aught that's good — but thou art infamous. 
 I will give thee half my immortality 
 To keep back for one hour. Leave me, to-night ; 
 And wither me, to-morrow, like a weed. 
 
 Elissa. "S^Tiere is he now? 
 
 Festus. In hell, — I hope. 
 
 Elissa. What mean'st thou? 
 
 He wronged thee never. Say, when comcth he? 
 
 Festus. To-night. 
 
 Elissa. He comes to sever us, like fate 
 
 liut shall he part us 1 
 
 Festus. Never! Let him part 
 
 The sun in two first.
 
 F EST us. 523 
 
 Elissa. It was ever thus : 
 
 I am made to make unhappy all around me. 
 
 Festl's. I will not hear of thy bemg Avrong, — it 
 is I. 
 I am the false usurper. And since one 
 Out of the three must be a sacrifice, 
 Let it be me. It shall be. 
 
 Elissa. Thou didst swear, 
 
 Even now, to love me ever. 
 
 Festus. Be it so. 
 
 I have sworn — and now and then I keep my oath — 
 I will not give thee up, so save me, God ! 
 
 Elissa. Oh ! we have been too happy, have we 
 not ^ 
 But, now I think of it, we might have known 
 It could not last. AVoe follows bliss as close 
 As death docs life — as naturally, may be. 
 We might have thought — 
 
 Festus. I never thought about it. 
 
 My love — Elissa ! ah, how cold thy hand is ! 
 Here — warm it on my heart. Nay, let it be. 
 The hand that is on the heart is on the soul. 
 And it is thus some moments take the wheel. 
 And steer us through eternity. Believe me, 
 Could I but crowd life, love too, in one throb, 
 I would beat it out, this moment, in thy hand, 
 And would die blessing. 
 
 Eliss.\. Give me my hand back ! 
 
 Festus. My sweet one! if this heart liatli warmed 
 thy hand,
 
 594 FESTUS. 
 
 It hath not beaten in vain — it but returns 
 
 A pleasure, and a passion, and a power : 
 
 For oft at touch of thine this bosom burns. 
 
 Speak to me ! keep my name upon thy lips. 
 
 Steeped in their rosy star-dew, there where now 
 
 Dwells the sweet soul of silence unexpressed, 
 
 Possible music ; hither turn those eyes, 
 
 Within whose glowing depths one streaming star, 
 
 Ascendant of the soul, holds radiant rule 
 
 And full-orbed dominance, that mine may share 
 
 Their dear translated light ; Oh ! let that cheek, 
 
 Just tinged as with the echo of a blush. 
 
 Pale as the sumptuous bosom of a rose. 
 
 Which else might vie Avith snow, that crescent brow 
 
 Beaming with soul-light, Oh ! incline to mine ! — 
 
 Nay, do not weep. We never trust }our tears. 
 
 Tears, like the spirits in a magic glass, 
 
 Wait on the witchery of fair woman's will. 
 
 Elissa. Wrong me not thus. The end of love is 
 woe ; 
 And of woe, death ; and of death, death alone. 
 And there is no redemption for the heart. 
 
 Festus. Love hath no end except itself We only 
 Felt we loved and were happy. 
 
 Elissa. Ah ! It was so. 
 
 Our sole misfortune is, we have been happy : 
 We never shall be happy here again. 
 
 Festus. Nay, say not so. Let us be happy now. 
 Happy 1 To fling aside thy Avavy locks.
 
 i-ESTus. 525 
 
 And feed mine eyes on thy white brow — to look 
 Deep in thine eyes till I feel mine have drank 
 Full of that soft, wet fire which floats in thine — 
 Eyes which I ne'er Avould leave — yet, when most near, 
 Then most astray I — Oh ! to lay my cheek 
 Upon thy sweet and swelling bosom thus ; 
 Where midst upon the beauty of thy breast 
 Sits Love, like One between the cherubim — 
 To crojJ the red, budding kisses from thy lips — 
 To name thee, make thee, but one moment, mine — 
 Delights me more than all that earth can lend 
 The good or bad — or Heaven can give the saved. 
 One long, wild kiss of sunny sweets, till each 
 Lack breath, the lips half bleed, and, come — thou 
 
 knoAvest ! 
 I ask but one such — let it last forever ! 
 
 Elissa. Now, Festus ! this is wrong. 
 
 Festus. What"? — what is Avrong ? 
 
 Shall my blood never bound beneath beauty's touch. 
 Heart throb, nor eye thaw with hers — when her tears 
 Drop, quick and bright, upon the glowing brow 
 Plunged in her bosom — because, forsooth, it is Avrong ? 
 Let it be wrong ! it is wrong, it is wretchedness. 
 That I would lose both sense and soul to suffer. 
 
 Elissa. How dare we love each other as we do I 
 
 Festus. Give me some wine ! more — more, love ! 
 
 Elissa. Druik and drain 
 
 The bowl ! the vintage of a hundred years 
 Would never slake the memory of shame ; 
 Nor quench the thirst of folly.
 
 526 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Fill again ! 
 
 My beauty ! sing to me, and make me glad. 
 Thy sweet words drop upon the ear as soft 
 As rose-leaves on a well : and I could listen, 
 As though the immortal melody of IIea-\cn 
 Were wrought into one word — that A^ord a whisper, 
 That whisper all I want from all I love. 
 
 Elissa. I am not happy, and I cannot sing. 
 Thou lookest happy. I wish I were so. 
 
 Fes^us. They tell us that the body of the sun 
 Is dark, and hard, and hollow ; and that light 
 Is but a floating fluid veiling him. 
 Ah ! how oft, and how much, the heart is like him ! 
 Despite the electric light it lives and hides in. 
 
 Servant, entering. A singer who Avas told to come 
 is here. 
 
 Festus. Wilt hear him ? 
 
 Elissa. Yes, loA'e — gladly. 
 
 Festus. Show liim in. 
 
 Wliat have you there 1 
 
 Singer. Oh ! I think, every thing. 
 
 Festus. Well, any thing will be enough this once, 
 The last new songl 
 
 Singer. Certainly ; here it is. \Sings. 
 
 Oh ! let not a lovely form 
 With feeling fill thine eye ; 
 
 Oh ! let not the bosom warm 
 At low-lorn lady's sigh.
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 527 
 
 For how false is the fairest breast ! 
 
 How little worth, if true ! 
 And who would wished possessed, 
 
 What all must scorn, or rue ] 
 Then pass by beauty with looks above ; 
 Oh ! seek never — share never — woman's love ! 
 
 Oh ! let not a planet-like eye 
 
 Imbeam its tale on thine ; 
 In truth 'tis a lie — though a lie 
 
 Scarce less than truth divine. 
 And the light of its look on the young 
 
 Is Avildfire with the soul ; 
 Ye follow and follow it long, 
 
 But find nor good nor goal. 
 Then pass by beauty with looks above ; n 
 
 Oh! seek never — share never — woman's love! 
 
 Elissa. Methinks I must have heard that voice j 
 
 before. 
 Festus. And I. 
 
 Elissa. Where ? ' 
 
 Festus. I forget. I 
 
 Elissa. And so do I. ' 
 
 Singer. Oh ! let not a wildering tongue 
 
 Weave bright webs o'er thine ear ; 
 Nor thy spirit be said nor sung 
 To the air of smile or tear.
 
 528 FESTUS. 
 
 And say it hath melody far 
 
 More than the spheres of Heaven, 
 
 Though to man and tlie mornmg star 
 They sang, Ye be forgiven I 
 
 Yet pass by beauty witli looks above ; 
 
 Oh! seek never — share never — woman's love! 
 
 Oh ! let not a soft bosom pour 
 
 Itself in thine ! It is vain. 
 Love cheateth the heart, Oh ! be sure. 
 
 Worse even than wine, the brain. 
 Then snatch up thy lip from the brim, 
 
 !N or drain its dreamlike death ; 
 For Love loves to lie down and dim 
 
 The bright soul with his breath. 
 Then pass by beauty with looks above ; 
 Oh! seek never — share never — woman's love! 
 
 Festus. Come hither, man ! I wish to look at thee 
 A moment. No ! it can't be. Yet I have seen 
 Some one much like thee. 
 
 Elissa. It was a brother, may be? 
 
 Singer. I have none, lady. Have ye done with 
 me 1 
 
 Festus. Yes — go! and we will take your song 
 of you. 
 
 Servant. Here, follow me. [They go. 
 
 Festus. Weeping again, my love I 
 
 lliou art, by turns, the proudest and the humblest
 
 FESTus. 529 
 
 Creature I ever met with. The least thing 
 
 Dints thy soft heart. Come, cheer thee, sweet one — 
 
 do! 
 Oh ! if to say, I love, laid all the sins 
 Of all the worlds upon me, I would say it 
 Till I were out of breath ; and will, till I die. 
 
 Elissa. If Love be blind, it must be by his tears ; 
 For love and sorrow alway come together — 
 Love with his sister, sorrow, by the hand. 
 
 Festus. Nay, I will conquer thee again to smile, 
 Or lose my right to love thee. Let me kneel ! 
 Come ! I will have no other gods but thee ; 
 To none but thee will I bow down and worship; 
 Thy bosom is mine altar — and thine eyes 
 Are the (hvinity that preys upon me. 
 Oh ! cruel as the week-day gods of old, 
 Thou wilt have human victims ; not content 
 With tears and kisses — fire and water — thou 
 Wilt have the subtler element of life ; 
 Thou needs must live on immortality ! 
 Here — take me then ! I offer up myself 
 A sacrifice to thee. 
 
 Eliss.\. Thou foolish boy ! 
 
 Where will thy passionate folly end 1 I love thee. 
 
 Festus. AVell, then, let me conjure thee ! let me 
 swear 
 By some sweet oath that shall to both be holy, — 
 By arms which hold, by knees which worship thee ! 
 By that dark eye, the dark diWne of beauty, 
 
 67 8 8
 
 630 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Yet trembling o'er its lid all tears and light — 
 Glory and eye of eyes which yet have shone! 
 By this lone heart which longeth for a mate ! 
 By love's sweet will, and sweeter way! by all 
 I love — by thyself, myself ! let me, let me, 
 Let me — but draw the lightning from thine eye : — 
 Kisses are my conductors ; do not frown, 
 Xor look so temptingly angry. I was but trifling. 
 The cold calm kiss which cometh as a gift, 
 Not a necessity, is not for me, 
 
 Whose bliss, whose woe, whose life, whose all, is 
 love. 
 
 Elissa. We both wrong whom we love, love 
 whom we wrong. 
 
 Festus. But I am as a dog that fondles o'er 
 And licks the wound he dies of Would •! could 
 Suffer or feel enough of love to kill! 
 
 Elissa. Thou lovest one whom thou oughtst not 
 to love. 
 
 Festus. And what of that? Love hath its own 
 belief — 
 Own worship — own morality — own laws : 
 And it were better that all love were sin 
 Than that love were not. It must have bv-laws — 
 Exceptions to the rules of Earth and Heaven — 
 For it means not the good it doth, nor ill. 
 
 Elissa. It is wrong — it is unjust — unkind. 
 
 Festus. It is. 
 
 But I am half mad and half dead with it.
 
 FESTUS. 531 
 
 1 have loved thee till I can love nought beside. 
 My heart is drenched with love as with a cloud. 
 I have too much of life, that I scarce can live. 
 I hate all things but thte — shun men, like snakes — 
 Women, like pits. To me thou art all woman — 
 All life — all Ioax', and more than all my kind. 
 I love thee more than I shall love and look for 
 Death, if he takes thee from mc. But who dreams 
 Of death and thee together ? 
 
 Elissa. I do oft: 
 
 And as oft wish dreams would, for once, come true. 
 The best of all things are dreams realized. 
 
 Festus. Dreams such as gods may dream thy soul 
 possess 
 Forever in the Hadean Eden — Death : 
 But bless thy lover witli reality ! 
 Then thou slialt live forever, and with me. 
 I have gone round the compass of all life, 
 And can find nought worthy of thee. I but feel, 
 That were I — as I ought to be — a god, 
 I would just sacrifice the sun to thee, 
 In bright and burning honor of thy love. 
 Miracles are not miracles with gods. 
 
 Elissa. Dearer thou canst not be to me, unless 
 I die in telling how dear. 
 
 Festus. My Elissa! 
 
 I — I am bewildered : open but thine arms ! 
 And make me happy and all wise of thee. 
 My soul is stung with thy beauty to the quick.
 
 532 
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 Oh ! but th(iu art too good, or else too bad : 
 Be colder, or be warmer ! 
 
 Elissa. Leave me ! 
 
 Festus. • Well : 
 
 It is most cruel — first to liglit the heart 
 AVith love completely — boundlessly ; and then, 
 Moonlike, slowly to edge aside, and leave 
 One only little line of all so bright, 
 Once — teach and untcach — nay, to use more arts 
 Than would outdo the devil of his throne, 
 To make us ignorant of all we know : — 
 To take the heart to pieces carefully — 
 For it is love alone can build the heart — 
 To root the tree up 'neath whose shade we have 
 
 lived. 
 And give us back a sliver. Let it die ! 
 
 Elissa. Hark! he is coming. 
 
 Festus. No ! He cannot come ; 
 
 For I have driven an oath into his heart. 
 And I have hung a curse about his neck. 
 Might sink the prince of air into the centre. 
 
 Elissa. All I have done, I have done to save 
 ourselves. 
 
 Festus. Then let us perish ! But unless we sin 
 We cannot perish. Have ! Have ! cries a voice, 
 As of a crowd, within mo. I would do aught 
 To throw this dark desire \^hi(li wrestles with me. 
 It answers not to hold it at arms" length : 
 It must be hurled, dashed, trampled down. — I can't
 
 FESTUS. o;33 
 
 I>ady ! how long am I to love thee thus 1 
 Never did angel lo^ e its Heaven — nor king 
 Crown, as T thee. 
 
 Elissa. I feared how it would end. 
 
 Can nothing less than sinning sate the soul 1 
 Can nothing but perdition serve to nest 
 Our hearts, after so sweet a flight of love? 
 
 Festus. The might and truth of hearts is never 
 shown 
 Rut in loving those whom we ought not to love — 
 Or cannot have. The Avrong, the suffering, is 
 Its own reward. 
 
 Elissa. Let me not wrong thee, Festus. 
 
 Let me not think I have thought too well of thee. 
 Be as thou wast ! What will become of us 1 
 
 Festus. Be mine ! be me ! be aught but so far 
 from me ! 
 Give me thyself! It is not enough for me 
 That I have gazed and doted on thee till 
 Mine eye is dazzled and my brain is dizzied : 
 Thou must exhaust all senses ; not euough 
 That in long dreams my soul hath spread itself 
 Like water over every living line 
 Of this sweet make, dreaming thou wast all lips ; 
 Nor that it now sinks in the face of thee, 
 Like a sea sunset, hot and tired witli the long. 
 Long day of love : — it is not enough. I must 
 Have more — have all ! For I have sworn to fill 
 Mine arms witli ^f^-i^ ^us — thus — thus! 
 
 88*
 
 534 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Elissa. Festus I 
 
 Lucifer, entering. Friend! 
 
 Did ye not know mel It was I who sang. 
 
 Elissa. It was he ! 
 
 Festus. Thou — 
 
 Lucifer. Hush ! thou art not to utter Avhat 
 I am. Bethink thee ; it was our covenant. 
 I said that I would see thee once again. 
 
 Elissa. Thou didst : and I must thank thee. 
 
 Lucifer. Hear me now ! 
 
 Thou knowest well what once I was to thee: 
 One who for love of one I loved — for thee — 
 Would have done or borne the sins of all the world: 
 Who did thy bidding at thy lightest look ; 
 And had it been to have snatched an angel's crown 
 Off her bright brow as she sat singing, throned, 
 I would have cut these heartstrings that tie down. 
 And let my soul have sailed to Heaven, and done 
 
 it — 
 Spite of the thunder and the sacrilege. 
 And laid it at thy feet. I loved thee, lady ! 
 I am one whose love was greater than the world's, 
 And might have vied with God's : a boundless ring, 
 All pressing on one point — that point thy heart. 
 And now — but shall 1 call on my revenge? — 
 It is at hand in armies. Thou art a woman ; 
 And that is saying the best and worst of thee. 
 I know that vengeance is ""^ nart of God ; 
 And can make myself alm.^^ _ '"n- the moment.
 
 FESTLS. 535 
 
 For what 1 for notliing. Thou art utter nothing. 
 Thus it was always Avith me when with thee : 
 And I forget my purpose and my wrongs 
 In looking and in loving. But I hate thee. 
 To say that thou didst love me ! Curse the air 
 That bore the sound to me ! Forgive me, God ! 
 If I blaspheme, it is not at Thee, but her. 
 I'd not believe her were she saved in Heaven ! 
 There is no blasphemy in love but doubt; 
 No sin, but to deceive. 
 
 Festus. Then is she sinless. 
 
 She loved thee first — then me. What wouldst thou 
 
 more ? 
 Thy heart's embrace, though close, was, snake-like, 
 
 cold ; 
 And mine was warm, and, what is more, was welcome. 
 Lucifer. Patience ! I spake not, cared not, thought 
 
 not, of thee. 
 Now I forgive thy having loved another; 
 Afid I forgive — but never mind it now ; 
 I have forgiven so much, there is nothing left 
 To make more words about : but, for the future, 
 I will as soon attempt to entice a star 
 To perch upon my finger, or the wind 
 To follow me like a dog, as think to keep 
 A woman's heart again. Answer mc not' 
 Let me say what I have to say and go. 
 Thou art all will and passion ; that is thine 
 Excuse and condemnation.
 
 536 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Ei.issA. While that will 
 
 Was love to thee, I saw no harm, nor thou. 
 And if my heart hath gained, it was not I 
 Who put it on — nor could it help going wrong. 
 
 Ltthtfer. Oh ! I have heard, what rather tnau 
 have heard, 
 I would have stopped mine ears with thunder: words 
 That have gone singing through my soul, like arrows 
 Through the air. 
 
 Elissa. I never will defend myself. 
 
 For I despise defence like accusation — 
 And now look down on them and thee together. 
 
 Lucifer. Now let us part, or I shall die of 
 wrath. 
 Be my estrangement perfect as my love ! 
 
 Elissa. Part, then ! 
 
 Lucifer. Thank God it is for eternity ! 
 
 Elissa. I do. Away ! 
 
 Lucifer. Festus ! I wait for thee. 
 
 1 have fulfilled the word between us passed, 
 So far as is permitted me. Look back : 
 There is little unaccomplished. 
 
 Festus. One thing yet. 
 
 Lucifer. And that mayhap anon. AVouldst rather 
 power 
 To sow in millions or in units reap? 
 
 Festus. Spirit, beyond compute, beyond compare, 
 Both I nr^st liave. 
 
 Lucifer. So then this mutual love
 
 FESTUS. 537 
 
 Must be put by, wliicb is to neither gain, 
 Honor, nor need. 
 
 Festus. Well, I Avill think of it. 
 
 Lucifer. It is thought and said ; and I will lead 
 thee where 
 Thou shalt perceive earth spirit-wise, and know 
 All nature tributary. 
 
 Festus. Tliat were well. 
 
 But come, thou art not the first deceived in love ; 
 Yet love is not so much love as a dream, 
 Which liath, it seems, like guerdon with the thing — 
 The staring madness when we wake and find 
 That what we have loved, must love, is not that 
 We meant to love. Perhaps I profited 
 Too much by thy good lessons. 
 
 Lucifer. Lady ! ere 
 
 I hence, grant yet one favor. Take this rose, 
 Fresh from its parent stem ; make much of it ; 
 And as it fades, let all remembrance fade 
 Of him who gave. 
 
 Elissa. I cast it down at once. 
 
 The eagle needs no omens who himself 
 Is to all ominous ; and not with me 
 Sludl memory, like a whirlpool 'neath a fall, 
 Whose watery resurrection scares the bold. 
 Revolve the mangled moments of the past 
 In wearisome dissolution ; no ! at once — 
 
 Lucifer. The furies hint it, and the fates adnse; 
 liiko that ! well, let it perish. 
 
 68
 
 538 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. Go ! I follow. 
 
 Lucifer, going. Now therefore would I wager, 
 and I might 
 The gi'eat archangers trump to a dog-whistle, 
 That whatsoever happens, worse ensues. 
 
 Festus. Forgive me, love, for ha^ong brought this 
 on thee ! 
 
 Elissa. The love which giveth all, forgiveth aught. 
 And thou art more to me than Earth or Heaven. 
 They have but given life : thou gavest me love. 
 The lord of life — thou, my life ! love, and lord ' 
 Take me again ! my kindest — dearest — best ! 
 Him Avho hath gone I never loved like thee. 
 There was a desolation in his eye 
 I could not brook to look on ; for it seemed 
 As though it ate the light out of mine own. 
 I think that thou dost love me. 
 
 Festus. And I think, 
 
 For perfect love there should be but one god — 
 One worshipper. 
 
 Elissa. We know the gods of old 
 
 Worshipped each other — equal deities. 
 For the sweet poets surely spake the truth 
 About the gods ; they dare irot speak but truth. 
 
 Festus. Who but thyself would speak of poetry, 
 AMiile thou art by^ who art the very breathing 
 Beauty Avhich bards may seek ideally. 
 And dost thou, then, believe the gods of old — 
 Those toys and playthings of an infant world ?
 
 FESTUS. 539 
 
 Elissa. If I do not believe, I do not scorn them; 
 Nay, I could mourn for them and pray for them. 
 I can scorn nothing which a nation's heart 
 Hath held, for ages, holy : for the heart 
 Is alike holy in its strength and weakness : 
 It ought not to be jested with, nor scorned. 
 All things, to me, are sacred that have been. 
 And though earth, like a river, streaked with blood. 
 Which tells a long and silent tale of death, 
 May blush her history and hide her eyes, 
 The past is sacred — it is God's, not ours. 
 Let her and us do better if we can. 
 
 Festus. There are whole veins of diamonds in 
 thine eyes. 
 Might furnish crowns for all the queens of earth. 
 Oh ! I could sooner set a price on the sun. 
 My lovo, than on thy lightest look. Look on me ! 
 Speak ! if it only be to say thou wilt not. 
 Look ! I would rather look on thee one minute, 
 Than paradise for a wliole day — such days 
 As are in Heaven. I love thee more and more. 
 
 Elissa. To love, and say we love — to suck the 
 sting 
 Out of the heart, and put its poison on 
 The tongue. 
 
 Festus. Yet it is luxury to feel 
 
 Inflamed — to glow within ourselves, like fire-opals. 
 Now, stay thy pretty little tuneful tongue. 
 Nor silver o'er thy syllables ! They will not
 
 540 FESTUS. 
 
 Pass. No, not one more word ! I must away ; 
 I have staid too long, already, for my word. 
 
 Elissa. I cannot part with thee : nay, sit again ! 
 Parted from thee I feel like one half riven, 
 And my soul acheth to spring to — as thus ! 
 
 Festus. There ! let mc leave, love ! let me loose 
 these amis. 
 Another time, and, ah ! well — never mind ! 
 We shall be happier — I know we shall. 
 Thou hast been mine — thou art mine — and thou 
 
 shalt be ! 
 My parting gift thou wilt not, sweet, refuse. 
 Nor would I proffer aught which emblemed less 
 Than life celestial and the light divine. 
 Expect me ere it wither ; ere the scent. 
 Sweet effluence of its perfectness of leaf, 
 Hath fled its starry censer, look for me. 
 Let the death-destined perish. We shall live. 
 
 Elissa. My life is one long loving thought of 
 thee. 
 If any ask me what I do, I could say 
 I love, and that is all. 
 
 Festus. It is enough. 
 
 One kiss ! another ! one more — there ! farewell ! 
 
 Elissa. And he is gone ! and . the world seems 
 gone with him. 
 Shine on, ye Heavens ! why can ye not impart 
 Light to my heart 1 Have ye no feeling in ye 1 
 Why are ye bright when I am so unhappy 1
 
 FESTUS. 641 
 
 But Oh ! I would not change my woes for thrice 
 
 The bliss of others, since they are for thee, love. 
 
 Our very wretchedness grows dear to us 
 
 When suffering for one we love. Sweet stars ! 
 
 I cannot look upon your loveliness 
 
 Without sadness, for ye are too beautiful ; 
 
 And beauty makes unhappy: so men say. 
 
 Ye stars ! it is true — we read our flxte in ye. 
 
 Bright through all ages, are ye not happy there 1 
 
 With years, many as your light-rays, are ye not 
 
 Immortal ^ Space-pervading, Oh ! ye must be, 
 
 Spirit-like, infinite. All-being God ! 
 
 Who art in all things, and in whom all are ! — 
 
 And it is thus we worship Thee the most ; 
 
 When heart to heart with one we lo^'e we are gods ; — 
 
 Let us believe that if Thou gavest earth 
 
 For our bodies, tlicn the stars were for our souls ; 
 
 For perfect beauty and unbounded love ! 
 
 Let us believe they look upon us here 
 
 As their inheritors, and save themselves 
 
 For us, as Ave for Thee, and Thou for all ! 
 
 Scene — The Sun. 
 
 Festus. Soul of the world, divine Necessity, 
 Servant of God, and master of all things ! 
 Here, in the Heaven of Light's eternal noon, 
 First see I all things clear : from end to end
 
 i)42 FESTUS. 
 
 The dhine cycle of the soul of man ; 
 
 How spu-it, soul, mind, life, flesh, feeling, mix, 
 
 And how withal they each reciprocate. 
 
 As ocean, earth, air, fire, and wind ; how flow 
 
 The streams of feeling, and the cataracts 
 
 Of passion ; mine and mountain, this of pride, 
 
 And that of covetousness. Man I know; 
 
 The human universe, and the divine 
 
 And central fate ; know all must be fulfilled 
 
 Of nature that there is ; of sin and strife, 
 
 Peace, righteousness, change, self-delusion, self- 
 
 Destruction, ere the earth can take new life, 
 
 Or man become the minister of God. 
 
 The world and man are just reciprocal, 
 
 Yet contrary. Spirit invadeth sense. 
 
 And carries captive Nature. Be this true. 
 
 All good is Heaven, and all ill is Hell. 
 
 All things are means for greater good. Thou, Sun ' 
 
 Art just a giant slave, a god in bonds. 
 
 The summit-flower of all created life 
 
 Is its unition with Divinity, 
 
 In essence, yet existence separate. 
 
 High o'er my own existence, here then I 
 
 Look down upon the nature and the earth. 
 
 Yet mine, whose separate and combined ends 
 
 Have still to be evolved. How A^ide men miss, 
 
 While in the lower world of soul and sense. 
 
 In aiming even at life-ruling truth — 
 
 Formless as air, simple and one as Death. 
 
 -^i
 
 FESTtlS. 54:3 
 
 If Heaven and all its stars depend on Earth 
 
 Then may eternity on time ; — not else. 
 
 But since now Earth is as a cruni of Heaven, 
 
 And time an atom of eternity, 
 
 Neither depends upon the other, both 
 
 One essence being emanant from God, 
 
 "Whose flowings forth are aye and infinite, 
 
 And radiant as the rivers of the skies. 
 
 One only truth hath consequence — God's truth 
 
 Inspuited in man. INIere human trutli 
 
 Or falsehood matters not. The world may act. 
 
 Believe, or bless, or curse, as best it lists. 
 
 Yet men expend life, solemnizing points 
 
 Uncertain as the site of Paradise 
 
 And area of Hades. Not the less, 
 
 There is no disappointment we endure 
 
 One half so great as that we are to ourselves. 
 
 We make our hearts the centres of all hopes, 
 
 All powers, all rewards, remem,bering not 
 
 That centres are imaginary points. 
 
 Imaginary circles only too 
 
 Are perfect; therefore, draw life as we may. 
 
 Hound as a world or as an atom round, 
 
 lud pure as virgin visionary's dream, 
 
 Or perfect faith's regenerative wave — 
 
 It fails to match tlic true invisible 
 
 Whereof we labor. It is come to this. 
 
 One state of life with me hath passed away. 
 
 yVught henceforth that may matter be of doubt
 
 644 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 To me is matter of indifference. 1 
 
 Love only that is certain. Me no more 
 
 The spirits of the bright invisible 
 
 Shall throng round as the winds some mountain top ; 
 
 Nor watery lightfulness of ghostly eyes, 
 
 Belonging heavenly forms informed with light, 
 
 Impose their spell of record under pain. 
 
 The inspiration quits me — it is gone — 
 
 Like a retreating army from the land 
 
 Which it hath wasted — the long gleaming mass, 
 
 Snakelike, at last hath wound itself away. 
 
 And left me weak and wretched. None again 
 
 Of all the starry tribes of shining mien — 
 
 Swifter than undulations of the light, 
 
 A million in a moment, multiform 
 
 As atomies of air — shall visit me ; 
 
 Their word of leave is taken back — henceforth, 
 
 Restricted to perfection, earth they quit. 
 
 True, albeit, I loved them more than life ; 
 
 1 felt myself made sacred by their touch : — 
 
 But they are gone, and there is nought on earth 
 
 Left acceptable. Fiery shadows, hence ! 
 
 I have outbraved ye once. It matters not. 
 
 I have left all for one ; Truth's countless rays 
 
 For Truth itself; the mean for the supreme, 
 
 The dubitable for the throned power. 
 
 Yet thus I cannot rest. The mightiest sphere 
 
 Is not for man. The elements of miud 
 
 And matter are proportioned in all worlds ;
 
 FESTUS. 645 
 
 The father thuy and mother of all things. 
 
 And earth hath favor over crowds of stars. 
 
 I must rcseek earth. Still what boots it now, 
 
 To plunge in pleasure or to passi.on bow, 
 
 The A-ery lion-honey of tlie heart 
 
 Which dwelleth in corruption \ Yet, perchance, 
 
 'Twere wisdom to extract it while we may. 
 
 The oak, as lily, feels the lightest breeze. 
 
 The ineradicable seed is sown 
 
 Of loA'e in life, and, tide-like, 'twill have way 
 
 O'er the impalaced prisoner of the breast. 
 
 The tliirst for pow"er and knowledge still exists. 
 
 And meets with dizzy mixture in the brain. 
 
 If suffering could expiate offence. 
 
 They who have most enjoyed have most atoned. 
 
 It may be, humanly; — but it cannot. 
 
 Earth-like, the heart must undergo all change 
 
 Ere the superior life be formed therein. 
 
 The chastity of heart wliich loves but God. 
 
 Life's sensuous warmtli, the spirit's holy chill. 
 
 Time's week-day work, have yet to be gone through. 
 
 The hortus siccus of a paradise 
 
 Is all earth now can boast. To God belongs 
 
 The autumn of all nature. But, alas ! 
 
 Not yet can we o'ercome our nature here. 
 
 Would we. If therefore passion strike the heart, 
 
 Let it have length of line and plenteous play. 
 
 The safety of superior principles 
 
 Lies in exhaustion of the lower ones, 
 
 69 XT*
 
 546 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 However vast or \iolent. Men and angels 
 
 Obey the order of existence. Fate ! 
 
 Who seeks thee every where will find thee there. 
 
 Scene — Garden and Bower by the Sea. 
 
 Elissa, alone. Come, Festus, let me think on thee, 
 my love ! 
 And fold the thought of thee unto my soul, 
 Until it fills it and is one with it. 
 Ah ! these poor arms are far from Avhere they should 
 
 be; 
 And this heart farther still. Mine only love! 
 Why art thou thus so long away from me? 
 I have whispered it unto the southern wind, 
 And charged it with my love : why should it not 
 Carry that love to thee as air bears light 1 
 And thou hast said I was all light to thee. 
 The stars grow bright together, and for aye. 
 Lover-like, watch each other ; and though apart, 
 Like us, they fill each other's eyes with love 
 And beauty : and mine only fill with tears. 
 Oh ! life is less than nothing without love ! 
 And what is love without the embrace of love? 
 T would give worlds for one more, ere I die. 
 Festus ! come to me. I do think I am dying. 
 Let me bequeath my life to thee, that so, 
 In doubling thine, I may live alway with thee.
 
 TESTUS. 547 
 
 I know that I am dying. It is my heart 
 
 Which makes me live that kills me. But I want 
 
 To see him ere I do die. Oh ! he will come ! 
 
 He must know how I love him. It is long — 
 
 Long since I saw him : I am ill with waiting. 
 
 And I will fancy him coming to me now — 
 
 Now he is thinking of me, loving me — 
 
 He sees me — flies to me, half out of breath — 
 
 His hand is on my arm — he looks on me — 
 
 And puts my long locks backwards — God ! Thy 
 
 ban 
 Lies upon waking dreams. To weep and sleep — 
 Dream — wake, and find one's only one hope false, — 
 Is what we can bear, for we do endure it, 
 And bear with Heaven still. Just one year ago, 
 I watched that large bright star where it is now : — 
 Time hath not touched its everlasting lightning. 
 Nor dimmed the glorious glances of its eye — 
 Nor passion clouded it — nor any star 
 Eclipsed — it is the leader still of Heaven. 
 And I who loved it then can love it now; 
 But am not wliat I was, in one degree. 
 Calm star ! who was it named thee Lucifer, 
 From him who drew the third of Heaven down with 
 
 him ■? 
 Oh ! it was but the tradition of thy beauty ! 
 For if the sun hath one part, and the moon one. 
 Thou hast the third part of the host of Heaven — 
 Which is its power — which power is its beauty!
 
 548 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. It was no tradition, lady, but of truth ! 
 
 Elissa. I thought we parted last to meet no more. 
 
 Lucifer. It was so, lady ; but it is not so. 
 
 Elissa. Am I to leave, or thou, then ? 
 
 Lucifer. Neither, yet. 
 
 I mean that thou shouldst fear me, and obey. 
 
 Elissa. And who art thou that I should fear and 
 serve ? 
 
 Lucifer. I am the morning and the evening star, 
 The star thou lovest, and thy lover too ; 
 I am that star ! as once before I told thee, 
 Though thou wouldst not believe me, but I am 
 A spirit, and a star — a power — an ill 
 "Which doth outbalance being. Look at me ! 
 Am I not more than mortal in my form ] 
 Millions of years have circled round my brow, 
 Like Avorlds upon their centres ; — still I live ; 
 And age but presses with a halo's weight. 
 This single arm hath dashed the light of Heaven ; 
 This one hand dragged the angels from their thrones, 
 Am I not worthy to have loved thee, ladyl 
 Thou mortal model of all heavenliness ! 
 And yet I have abandoned all these spoils. 
 Cowered my powers, and becalmed my course. 
 And stooped from the high destruction of the skies 
 For thee, and for the youth who loveth thee — 
 And is lost Avith thee : ye are both, both — lost ! 
 Thou hast but served the purpose of the Fiend. 
 And thou art but the vessel of the sin
 
 FESTDS. 549 
 
 Whose poison hath made drunk a soul to death ; 
 And he hath drunk ; and thou art useless now. 
 And it is for this I come — to bid thee die ! 
 
 Elissa. I said that I Avas dying. God is good. 
 The Heavens grow darker as they grow the purer ; 
 And both, as we do near them ; so, near death, 
 The soul grows darker and divinei', hourly. 
 Could I love less I should be happier ! 
 But it is always to that mad extreme, 
 That death alone appears the fitting finish 
 To bliss like that my spirit presses for. 
 
 Lucifer. Thy death shall be as gentle as thy life. 
 I will not hurt thee, for I loved thee once. 
 And thy sweet love, upon my burning breast, 
 Fell like a snowflake on a fevered lip. 
 Thy soul shall pass out of thee like a dream. 
 One moment more, and tliou shalt wake in Heaven ! 
 
 Elissa. I (>vcr thought thee to be more than 
 mortal. 
 And if thou art thus mighty, grant me this 1 — 
 Since now \\q love no more — as friend to friend — 
 Bring him I love, one moment, ere I die. 
 
 Lucifer. Tliou judgest well ; I am all but 
 almighty. 
 And I have stretched my strength unto its limits 
 To satisfy the heart of liim wlio loves thee: 
 In proof whcri'of, did I not give up thee. 
 Because lie loved tlicc ? I have given him all things 
 Body or spirit could desire or have.
 
 550 
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 And even, at this moment, now he reigns 
 King of the sun, and monarch of the seven 
 Orbs that surround him — leaving earth alone — 
 The earth is in good keeping as it is. 
 I know that he is hasting hither now ; 
 But may not see thee living. 
 
 Elissa. It is not thou 
 
 Who takest life : it is God, whose I shall be ! — 
 And his, with God, whom here my heart deifies. 
 I glory in his power as in his love. 
 But I will, will see him, while I am alive. 
 I hear him — he is come — it is he ! it is he ! 
 
 Lucifer. Die ! thou shalt never look on him 
 again. 
 
 Elissa. My love ! haste, Festus ! I am dying — 
 
 Lucifer. Dead ! 
 
 A word could kdl her. She hath gone to Heaven. 
 
 Festus. Fiend ! what is this ? Elissa ! — she is 
 not dead. 
 
 Lucifer. She is. I bade her die, as I had reason. 
 
 Festus. Now do I hate thee and renounce for- 
 ever ! — 
 
 "Who seeks the other first ^ 
 
 Abhor thee --go ! 
 
 liUCIFER. 
 
 1 am gone. 
 
 Festus. Away, Fiend ! Leave me ! My Elissa '
 
 FESTUS. 551 
 
 Scene — A Lihrary and Balconi/ — A Summer Night. 
 
 Festus, alone. The last high upward slant of sun 
 on the trees, 
 Like a dead soldiers sword upon his pall, 
 Seems to console earth for the glory gone. 
 Oh ! I could weep to see the daj- die thus ; 
 The death bed of a day, how beautiful ! 
 Linger, ye clouds, one moment longer there ; 
 Fan it to slumber with your golden wings ! 
 Like pious prayers ye seem to soothe its end. 
 It will wake no more till the all-revealing day ; 
 When, like a drop of Mutcr, greatened bright 
 Into a shadow, it shall show itself 
 With all its little tyrannous things and deeds, 
 Unhomed and clear. The day hath gone to God, — 
 Straight, like an infant's spirit, or a mocked 
 And mourning messenger of grace to man. 
 Would it had taken me, too, on its wing ! 
 My end is nigh. Would I might die outright! 
 And slip the coil without waiting it unwind. 
 So o'er the sunset clouds of red mortality 
 The emerald hues of deathlessness diffuse 
 Their glory, heightening to the starry blue 
 Of all imbosoming eternity. 
 Who that hath lain lonely on a high hill. 
 In the imperious silence of full noon, 
 With nothing but the clear dark sky about him, —
 
 552 FESTUS. 
 
 Like God's hand laid vipon the head of earth, — 
 
 But hath expected that some natural spirit 
 
 Should start out of the universal air — 
 
 And, gathering his cloudy robe around him, 
 
 As one in act to teach mysterious things, 
 
 Explain that he must die ? — that having got 
 
 As high as earth can lift him up — as far 
 
 Above that thing, the world, as flesh can mount — 
 
 Over the tyrant wind, and the clouded lightning, 
 
 And the round rainbow — and tliat having gauied 
 
 A loftier and a more mysterious beauty 
 
 Of feeling — something like a starry darkness 
 
 Seizing the soul — say he must die — and vanish ? 
 
 Who hath not, at such moments, felt, as now 
 
 I feel, that, to be happy, we must die ] 
 
 And here I i-est — above the Avorld and its Avays ; 
 
 The wind, opinion — and the rainboAV, beauty — 
 
 And the thunder, superstition — I am free 
 
 Of all ; — save death, what want I to be happy ? 
 
 And shall I leave no trace, then, of my lifel 
 
 The soul begetteth shadows of itself 
 
 Which do outlive their author ; and are more 
 
 Substantial than all nature, and the red 
 
 Realities of flesh and blood, as echo 
 
 Is longer, louder, farther than the voice 
 
 Of man can thunder, or his ear report. 
 
 And oft the world hath deified its echoes. 
 
 A year! — and who shall find them? Can it be 
 
 The mind's works have been deathless — not the mind?
 
 FESTUS. 553 
 
 Or will the world's immortals die with me 1 — 
 The sages, and the heroes, and the bards, — 
 Whose verse, set to the thunder of the seas. 
 Seems as immortal as their ceaseless music ! 
 
 God ! I fain would deem Thou livest not : 
 
 And that this world hath sprung up from chance 
 
 seed, 
 Unknown to Thee ; and is not reckoned on. 
 Hell solves all doubts. — Come to me, Lucifer ! 
 
 Lucifer. Lo ! I am here : and ever prompt when 
 called for. 
 How speed thy general pleasures 1 
 
 Festus. Bravely ! Joys 
 
 Are bubble-like — what makes them, bursts them, too. 
 And like the milky way, there ! dim with stars. 
 The soul which numbers most will shine the less. 
 
 Lucifer. No matter — mind it not ! 
 
 Festus. Yet, joys of earth ! 
 
 That ye should ruin spirits is too hard. 
 Who can avoid ye 1 who can say ye nay 1 
 Or take his eyes from off ye 1 who so chaste ^. 
 
 Lucifer. They have well nigh unimmortalized 
 myself. 
 
 Festus. Yet have they nought to sate the pining 
 spirit 
 Whicli doth enamor immortality. 
 No ! they are all base, impure, ruinous — 
 The harlots of the heart. Forgive me, God ! 
 
 1 am getting too forlorn to live — too waste. 
 
 70 on
 
 554 FESTUS. 
 
 Aught that I can or do love shoots by me 
 
 Like a train upon an iron road. iVnd yet 
 
 I need ncit now reproach mine arm or aim ; 
 
 For I ha^'c winged each pleasure as it flew, 
 
 How swift or high soever in its flight. 
 
 We cannot live alone. The heart must have 
 
 A prop without, or it will fall and break. 
 
 But nature's common joys are common cheats. 
 
 As he who sails southwards beholds, each night, 
 
 New constellations rise, all clear, and fail' ; 
 
 So, o'er the waters of the world, as we 
 
 Reach the mid zone of life, or go beyond, 
 
 Beauty and bounty still beset our course ; 
 
 New beauties wait upon us every where ; 
 
 New lights enlighten and new worlds attract. 
 
 But I have seen and I have done with all. 
 
 Friendship hath passed me like a ship at sea; 
 
 And I ha-ve seen no more of it. I had 
 
 A friend with whom, in boyhood, I Avas wont 
 
 To learn, think, laugh, weep, strive, and love, to- 
 
 gether ; 
 For we Avere alway rivals in all things — 
 Together up high springy hills, to trace 
 A runnel to its birthplace — to pursue 
 A river — to search, haunt old ruined towers, 
 And muse in them — to scale the cloud-clad hills 
 While thunders murmured in our very ear ; 
 To leap the lau" of the live cataract. 
 And pray its foaming pardon for the insult ;
 
 FESTUS. 555 
 
 To dare the broken tree-bridge across the stream ; 
 To crouch behmd the broad white waterfall, 
 Tongue of the glen, like to a hidden thought — 
 Dazzled, and deafened, yet the more delighted ; 
 To reach the rock which makes the fall and pool; 
 There to feci safe, or not to care if not; 
 To fling the free foot over my native hills, 
 Which seemed to breathe tlie bracing breeze we 
 
 loved 
 The more it lifted up our loosened locks, 
 That nought might be between us and the skies; 
 Or, hand in hand, leap, laughing, with closed eyes. 
 In Trent's death-loving deeps ; yet was she kind 
 Ever to us ; and bare us buoyant up. 
 And followed our young strokes, and cheered us 
 
 on — 
 Even as an elder sister bending above 
 A child, to teach it how to order its feet — 
 As quick we dashed, in reckless rivalry. 
 To reach, perchance, some long green floating flag — 
 Just when the sun's hot lip first touched the stream, 
 Reddening to be so kissed ; and we rejoiced. 
 As breasting it on we went over depth and death, 
 Strong in the naked strife of elements. 
 Toying with danger in as little fear 
 As with a maiden's ringlets. And oft, at night, 
 Bewildered and bewitched by favorite stars. 
 We would breathe ourselves amid unfooted snows, 
 for there is poetry whore aught is pure;
 
 556 FESTUS. 
 
 Or over the still dark heath leap along, like harts, 
 
 Through the broad moonlight ; for we felt Avhere'er 
 
 We leaped the golden gorse, or lowly ling, 
 
 We could not be from home. — That friend is gone. 
 
 There's the v/hole universe before our souls. 
 
 AVhere shall we meet next] Shall we meet again 1 
 
 Oh ! might it be in some far happy world. 
 
 That I may light upon this lonely soul. 
 
 Hard by some broad blue stream, where high the 
 
 hills. 
 Wood-bearded, sweep to its brink — musing, as wont, 
 With lovelike sadness, upon sacred things ; 
 For much in youth we loved and mused on them. 
 To say what ought to be to human wills, 
 And measure morals sternly ; to explore 
 The bearings of men's duties and desires ; 
 To note the nature and the laws of mind; 
 To balance good with evil, and compare 
 The nature and necessity of each ; 
 To long to see the ends and end of things ; 
 Or, if no end there be, the endless, then, 
 As suns look into space ; these were our joys — 
 Our hopes — our meditations — our attempts. 
 And if I have enjoyed more love than others. 
 It is but superior suffering, and is more 
 Than balanced by the loss of one we love. 
 And love, itself, hath passed. One fond, fair girl 
 Remains ; one only, and she loves me still. 
 But it is not love I feci — it is pure kindness.
 
 FESTUS. 557 
 
 How shall I find another like my lastl 
 The golden and the gorgeous loveliness — 
 A sunset beauty ! Ah ! I saw it set. 
 My heart, alas ! set with it. I have drained 
 Life of all love, as doth an iron rod 
 The Heavens of lightning ; I have done with it, 
 And all its waking woes, and dreamed-of joys. 
 No more shall beauty star the air I live in ; 
 And no more will I Avake at dead of night, 
 And hearken to the roaring of tlie wind. 
 As though it came to carry one away — 
 Claiming for sin. Ah ! I am lost forever. 
 To earn the world's delights by equal sins 
 Seems the great aim of life — the aim succeeds 
 Here it is madness, and perdition there. 
 And, but for thee, I had renounced these joys — 
 These cursed joys my soul now writhes among. 
 Like to a half-crushed reptile on a rose : — 
 Ay, but for thee, I might have now been happy! 
 Lucifer. Why charge, why wrong me thus 1 
 When first I knew thee, 
 I deemed it thine ambition to be damned. 
 Thine every thought, almost, had gone from good, 
 As far as finite is from infinite; 
 And then thou wast as near to me as now. 
 Thou hadst declined in worship, and in wish 
 To please thy God ; nor wouldst thou e'er repent. 
 What more need I to justify attempt ^
 
 558 FESTUS. 
 
 Have I shrunk back from granting aught I prom- 
 ised I 
 Thy love of knowledge — is that satisfied ? 
 
 Festus. It is. Yet knowledge is a doubtful 
 boon — 
 "Root of all good and fruit of all that's bad. 
 I have caused face to face Avith elements, 
 Yea, learned the luminous language of the skies, 
 And the angelic kindred of high Heaven ; 
 The bright articulations of all spheres, — 
 Impetuous hearted orbs, and mountain-maned, 
 Aye cu'cling onwards breathless through the air — 
 And wisest stars ^Ahich speak themselves in signs 
 Too sacred to be explicable here ; 
 And noAv what better am 11 — nearer God 1 
 A\Tien the void finds a voice mine answer know. 
 
 Lucifer. What better or what worse thou canst 
 not tell. 
 For, good and ev\l ! Wherein difier they 1 
 JJo they not both accrue from the same cause, — 
 As ripeness and decay? Light, light alone 
 Of hues, how contrary soever, is 
 The common cause. 
 
 Festus. Distracter of God's truth! 
 
 Shall not His word suffice the li-sang world? 
 
 Lucifer. Thou canst not have lacked joys? 
 
 If si us. AVe seek them oft 
 
 Among our own delusions, pains, and follies.
 
 FESTus. 559 
 
 Lucifer. Hath not care perished from thy heart, 
 as did 
 The viper flung from the apostle's hand? 
 
 Festus. Ay ; and, like that, all care will cease in 
 fire. 
 Dark wretched thoughts, like ice-isles in a stream, 
 Choke up my mind, and clash ; — and to no end. 
 In spite of all we suffer and enjoy, 
 There comes this question, over and over again, 
 Driven into the brain as a pile is driven — 
 What shall become of us hereafter 1 what 
 Is it we shall do? how feel, how be"? 
 And there are times when burning memory flows 
 In on the mind, that saving it would slay. 
 As did the lava floods Avhich choked of yore 
 The Cyclopean cities — brimming up, 
 Brass-like, their mighty moulds. And shall the past, 
 Thus ruinously perfect, aye remain ; 
 Or present, past, and coming, all be one, 
 In natural mystery 1 Like snow which lies 
 Down-wreathed round the lips of some black pit, 
 Thoughts which obscure the truth accumulate, 
 And those which solve it in it lose themselves ; 
 And there is no true knowledge till descent, 
 Nor tlien till after. What shall make the truth 
 Visible 1 Through the smoky glass of sense 
 Tlie blessed sun would never know himself. 
 All truth is one. All error is alike. 
 The shadow of a mountain hath no more
 
 560 FESTUS. 
 
 Substance than hath a dead and moss-mailed pine's; 
 
 But only more gigantic impotence. 
 
 Were act mind's mate, man had a firm hold now 
 
 On the immortal future ; but we turn 
 
 From either skyey end, star-garlanded, 
 
 Teeming with light, and from the spirit truths, 
 
 TNTiich crown all worlds to gauds and lures of life 
 
 All-formed, and beauty's eyes inspired with tears. 
 
 Or fired with mirth conclusive, and so lose 
 
 Count of those heavenly spheres we meant at first 
 
 To reckon to the last atomic light. 
 
 But how shall these the joys and cares of earth 
 
 And life's vain schemes appear to the great soul, 
 
 Which hath no friend, no equal, save the world; 
 
 When all these constellated systems known 
 
 To the keen ken of science, space's depths. 
 
 And the whole mighty Heavens that bind us in, 
 
 Hang like a pale speck, doubtful to the eye 
 
 In unimagined distance 1 Is it thus 
 
 Ordered of God, lest man's weak powers should fail 
 
 And the round wall of madness pound us in? 
 
 Yea, then the cares, toils, duties, needs of life 
 
 Are blessings in the highest to the world. 
 
 Eternity ! thou boldest in thy hand 
 
 The casket of all secrets ; death the key. 
 
 And now what seem I even to myself? 
 
 The impulse of life ceaseth, and we live 
 
 On the rebound of being, less and less, 
 
 Till the minute momentum wholly ends.
 
 FESTUS. 561 
 
 As some A^ain wind, which, having wasted life 
 
 In rounding mountains, and their shadowy Avoods 
 
 Made lyre-like vocal, dies at last at sea, 
 
 The sun sole witness, where deep brooding spreads 
 
 The uttermost circumference of a calm ; 
 
 So the soul, struggling through life's death-clouds, 
 
 ends 
 In the serene Eternal. Maj- it be ! 
 
 Lucifer. No life is waste in the great Worker's 
 hand. 
 The gem, too poor to polish in itself, 
 Is ground to brighten others. Courage, friend ! 
 Hast thou not had thine every quest '? 
 
 Festus. Save one. 
 
 Lucifer. I proffer now the power whicli thou 
 dost long for. 
 Say but the word, and thou shalt j^ress a throne 
 But less than mine — tlie scarcely less than God's; — 
 A throne, at which earth's puny potentates 
 May sue for slavedoms — and be satisfied. 
 
 Festus. I have had enough of the infinities ; 
 I am moderate now. I will have the throne of earth. 
 
 Lucifer. Thou shalt. Yet, mind! — Avith that the 
 Avorld must end. 
 
 Festus. I can surA-ive. 
 
 Lucifer. Nay, die Avith it must thou. 
 
 Festus. Why should I die? I am egg-full of life; 
 And life's as serious a thing as death. 
 The woj-ld is in its first young quarter yet;
 
 562 FESTUS. 
 
 I dare not, cannot, credit it shall die. 
 I will not have it, then. 
 
 Lucifer. It matters not ; 
 
 I know thou never wilt have ease at heart 
 Until thou hast thy soul's whole, fuU desire; 
 Whenever that may happen, all is done. 
 Once again, therefore, search the scroll of life ; 
 Mark what is done, what undone. Lo ! in love. 
 Already twice hath judgment passed upon thee. 
 Say, hath not evil wrought its own revenge. 
 And death the only guerdon thou hast gained ? 
 Let then mere self-life cease. The heart's career 
 Is ended. With the world thy part is now. 
 The depths of feeling, passion, pleasure, woe, 
 The mysteries and dread delights of spirit. 
 All thou hast sounded. Xow behooves to live 
 The world life of the future — last the same 
 One instant or forever. Bury love. 
 The steed-like world stands ready. Mount for life. 
 Festus. Well, then — be it now ! I live but foi 
 
 myself — 
 The whole world but for me. Friends, loves, and 
 
 all 
 I sought, abandon me. It is time to die. 
 I am yet young ; yet have I been deserted, 
 And wronged, by those whom most I have loved and 
 
 served. 
 Sun, moon, and stars ! may they all faU on me 
 When next I trust another — man or woman.
 
 FESTUS. 563 
 
 Earth rivals Hell too often, at the best. 
 All hearts are stronger for the being hollow ; 
 And that was why mine was no match for theii's. 
 The pith is out of it now. — Lord of the world ! 
 It will not directly perish ? 
 
 Lucifer. Not, perhaps. — 
 
 Thou wilt have all fame, while thou livest, now. 
 
 Festus. I care not ; fame is folly ; for it is, sure, 
 Far more to be well known of God than man. 
 With all my sins I feel that I am God's. 
 
 Lucifer. Farewell, then, for a time! 
 
 Festus. I am alone. — 
 
 Alone ? He clings around me like the clouds 
 Upon a hill. AVhen will the clouds roll off? 
 When will the sun \isit me ] O ! Thou great God ! 
 In whose right hand the elements are atoms — 
 In whose eve, light and darkness but a wink — 
 AVho, in Thine anger, like a blast of cold, 
 Dost make tlie mountains shake like chattering 
 
 teeth — 
 Have mercy ! Pity me ! For it is Thou 
 Who hast fixed me to this test. Wilt Thou not 
 
 save ? 
 Forgive mo. Father ! but I long to die ; — 
 I long to live to Thee, a pure, free mind. 
 Take again, God! and thou, fair Earth, tlie form 
 And spii'it which, at first, ye lent to me. 
 S-rh MS they were, I have used tlicin. Lot them 
 part.
 
 564: FESTCS. 
 
 I weary of this world ; and like tlie dove, 
 
 Urged o'er life's barren flood, sweep, tired, back 
 
 To Thee who sent'st me forth. Bear with vae, God ! 
 
 I am not worthy of Thy wrath, nor love ! — 
 
 Oh ! that the things which have been were not now 
 
 In memory's resurrection ! But the past 
 
 Bears in her arms the present and the future: 
 
 And what can perish while perdition is? 
 
 From the hot, angry, crowding courts of doubt 
 
 Within the breast, it is sweet to escape, and soothe 
 
 The soul in looking upon natural beauty. 
 
 Oh ! earth, like man her son, is half di\'ine. 
 
 There is not a leaf within this quiet spot 
 
 But which I seem to know ; should miss, if gone. 
 
 I could run over its features, hour by hour. 
 
 The quaintly figured beds — the various flowers — 
 
 The mazy paths all cunningly converged — 
 
 The black yew hedge, like a beleaguering host, 
 
 Round some fair garden province — here and there, 
 
 The cloud-like laurel clumps sleep, soft and fast, 
 
 Pillowed by their own shadows — and beyond, 
 
 The ripe and ruddy fruitage — the sharp firs' 
 
 Fringe, like an eyelash, on the faint-blue west — 
 
 The white owl, wheeling from the gray old church, — 
 
 Its age-peeled pinnacles, and tufted top — 
 
 The oaks, which spread their broad arms in the 
 
 blast. 
 And bid storms come, and welcome ; there they 
 
 stand.
 
 F EST us. 565 
 
 To whom a summei* passes like a smile : — 
 
 And the proud peacock towers himself there, and 
 
 screams, 
 Ruffling the imperial purples of his neck. 
 O'er all, the giant poplars, which maintain 
 Equality with clouds half way up Heaven ; 
 Which wliispcr with the winds none else can see, 
 And bow to angels as they wing by them ; — 
 The lonely, bowery, woodland view before — 
 And, making all more beautiful, thou, sweet moon. 
 LcacUng slow pomp, as triumphing o'er Heaven ! 
 High riding in thy loveless, deathless brightness, 
 And in thy cold, unconquerable beauty. 
 As though there were nothing worthy in the world 
 Even to lie below thee, face to God. 
 And Night, in her own name, and God's, again 
 Ilath dipped the earth in dew ; — and there she lies, 
 Even like a heart all trembling witli delight. 
 Till passion murder power to speak — so mute. 
 Young maiden moon ! just looming into light — 
 I would tliat aspect never might be changed ; 
 Nor that fine form, so spirit-like, be spoiled 
 "With fuller light. Oh ! keep that brilliant shape ; 
 Keep the delicious honor of thy youth, 
 Sweet sister of the sun, more beauteous thou 
 Tlian he sublime. Shine on, nor dread decay; 
 It may take meaner things: but thy bright look, 
 Smiling away an immortality, 
 Assures it us — nay, it seems, half, to give.
 
 566 FESTUS. 
 
 Earth may decease. God will not part with thee, 
 Fair ark of light, and every blessedness ! 
 Yes, earth, this earth, may foul the face of life. 
 Like some swart mole on beauty's breast — or dead, 
 Stiff, mangled reptile some clear well — while thon 
 Shalt shine, aye brilliant, on creation's corse. 
 Like to a diamond on a dead man's hand ; 
 Whence God shall pluck thee to His breast, or bid 
 Beam mid His lightning locks. What are earth's 
 
 joys 
 To watching thee, tending thy bright flock over 
 The fields of Heaven ? Thy light misleadeth not. 
 Though eyes which image Heaven oft lure to Hell: — 
 Thy smile betrayeth not — though sweet as that 
 Which Avins and damns. Mother, and maid of light! 
 That, like a God, redeems the world to Heaven — 
 Making us one with thee, and with the sun. 
 And with the stars in glory — lovely moon ! 
 I am immortal as thyself; and we 
 Shall look upon each other yet, in Heaven, 
 Often — but never, nevermore on earth. 
 Am I to die so soon 1 This death ! — the thought 
 Comes on my heart as through a burning glass. 
 I cannot bend mine eyes to earth, but thence 
 It riseth, spectre-like, to mock — nor towards 
 The west, where sunset is, whose long bright pomp 
 Makes men in love Avith change — but there it 
 
 lowers 
 Eve's last, still lingering, darkening cloud ; and on
 
 FESTUS. 567 
 
 The escutcheon of the mom, it is there — it is 
 
 there ! 
 But fears will come upon the bravest mind, 
 Like the white moon upon the crimson west. 
 I have attractions for all miseries ; 
 And every course of thought within my heart 
 Leaves a new layer of woe. But it must end. 
 It will all be one, hereafter. Let it be ; 
 My bosom, like the grave, holds all quenched pas- 
 sions. 
 It is not that I have not found what I sought — 
 But, that the world — tush ! I shall see it die. 
 I hate, and shall outlive, the hypocrite. 
 Stealthily, slowly, like the polar sun, 
 "Who peeps by fits above the air- walled world, — 
 The heavenly fief he knows and feels his own, — 
 My heart o'erlooks the paradise of life 
 Which it hath lost, in cold, reluctant joy. 
 I live and see all beauteous things about me, 
 But feel no nature prompting from within 
 To meet and pi'ofit by them. I am like 
 That fabled forest of the Apennine 
 Which leafless lives ; whereto the spring's bright 
 
 showers, 
 Summer's heat breathless, autumn's fruitful juice, 
 Nothing avail — nor winter's killing cold. 
 Yet have I done, said, thought, in time now past, 
 AVhat, rather than remember, I would die, 
 Or do again. It is the thinking on't,
 
 568 FES T us. 
 
 And the repentance, maddens. I have thought 
 
 Upon such things so long and grievously, 
 
 My lips have grown like to a cliff-chafed sea,, 
 
 Pale with a tidal passion ; and my soul, 
 
 Once high and bright, and self-sustained as Heaven, 
 
 Unsettled now for life or death, feels like 
 
 The gray gull balanced on her bow-like wings. 
 
 Between two black waves, seeking where to dive. 
 
 Long we live thinking nothing of our fate, 
 
 For in the morn of life we mark it not — 
 
 It falls behind : but as our day goes down, 
 
 We catch it lengthening with a giant's stride, 
 
 And ushering us unto the feet of night. 
 
 Dark thoughts, like spots upon the sun, revolve 
 
 In troops for days together round my soul. 
 
 Disfiguring and* dimming. Death ! O Death ! 
 
 The past, the present, and the future, like 
 
 The dog three-headed, by the gates of woe 
 
 Sitting, seem ready to devour me each. 
 
 ft 
 
 I dare not look on them. I dare not think. 
 The very best deeds I have ever done 
 Seem worthy reprobation ; have to be 
 Repented of But have I done aught good? 
 Oh that my soul w'ere calmer ! Grant me, God ' 
 Thy peace ; that added, I can smile and die. 
 Thy Spirit only is reality : 
 All things beside are folly, falsehood, shame.
 
 FESTUS. 569 
 
 Scene — Colonnade and Lawn. 
 Festus and Clara. 
 
 Clara. At thy desire I come, though hard to mc 
 We have lived separate lives, unlike, unsought 
 Each by the other. Wherefore meet we now ? 
 Time was it was not thus. But others came 
 Whose tyrant beauty and more soaring souls 
 Thee dazzled, me eclipsed. Already years 
 Have passed since first Ave were what now we are, 
 Strangers. 
 
 Festus. Nay, by the sun ! I swear it — never so ; 
 However distant. Oftentimes it is 
 The irresistible weakness of ourselves 
 Which overcometh more than others' strength. 
 Oft hath this heart, allured by glittering rites, 
 And sacred titles, and celestial names, 
 Offered at others' altars, and decreed 
 Wildly, profanely, negligence of thine ; — 
 True, I have worshipped idols, and forsworn 
 The loving faith I owed to thee alone ; — 
 Canst thou forgive I reconsecrate the heart, 
 Rededicate the temple \ Do not all 
 Beliefs, how far soever from God's truth, 
 Circle around the same, in mode prescribed, 
 As round Heaven's secret and all-central sun 
 The constellated skies \ And shall then love 
 
 72 VV*
 
 57C FESTUS. 
 
 Lack like justification, or in vain 
 
 Plead the necessity of liberty I — 
 
 For truly I was destined to this end, 
 
 And in myself believed the most at first. 
 
 Faith first and last, immortal love and hope, 
 
 Which in the breast dies of reality, 
 
 Be each the gracious tenant of this heart. 
 
 The love which Avith the spiritual starts, 
 
 Weakening and darkening, strained through gloom 
 
 and gleam, 
 Sets oft enough in sense, but ever ends 
 In its original heavenly purity. 
 And mortal knowledge, which is error, dies ; 
 ind spii'itual truth alone outlasts 
 AU nature; love insensibly with Heaven 
 Here blending, thither wending, thence derived. 
 Who knows himself in spirit, all things knows, 
 Above, beneath, around, within himself; 
 The orb of life owned space, from pole to pole 
 The horizon of existence. Yea, so far 
 As nature means, the atom and the all 
 Commune and know each other, as the slant 
 Invisible axis of the earth, too fine 
 For fairy to find footing tiptoe, bears 
 All superincumbent continents and seas. 
 Mountains and air-realms. Said I not my soul 
 Had taken up its freedom, and assumed 
 The birthright of creation 1 
 
 Clara. Truly so.
 
 FESTUS. 571 
 
 Festus. And, holding in itself the omnitude 
 Of being, God-endowed, it doth become 
 Woild-repi"esentative ? 
 
 Clara. Well, be it thus. 
 
 Festos. Thus versant with an absolute life, the 
 spirit 
 Makes towards its end and great reward, in peace, 
 O'erpassing all earth's lesser joys. 
 
 Clara. Say on ! 
 
 I would not have thy soul abase itself 
 By one thought about me. 
 
 Festus. Nay, speak not so. 
 
 But love's career is over in my heart. 
 A vaster sphere expands before me. Power 
 And knowledge I can give thee for thy love. 
 But scarce repay in kind. 
 
 Clara. I hear thy words. 
 
 The fragrance of the flower of life is fled ; — 
 Still let it linger where thou laidst it — here ! 
 
 Festus. It is I who suffer. Suffer therefore me 
 While I am with thee. The sole love, I feel 
 That might have blessed me — but why now 1 what 
 
 eye 
 Can see the circuit of an orb at once? 
 The orb of life, alas ! is on the wane. 
 And much must yet be said, much yet be done. 
 I cannot tell thee all I know, nor dare ; 
 For wisdom seals the lips which wonder opes. 
 The dread initiation into light
 
 572 FESTUS. 
 
 Saddens the soul it hallows and expands. 
 But thou, because thou knowest much of truth — 
 Clara. What is it thou wUt tell mel 
 Festos. I have seen 
 
 What ne'er again may be, nor e'er tUl now hath 
 been. 
 Clara. Where didst thou see — and what 1 
 Festus. In space. He took me there, 
 
 Of whom I oft have told thee. Midst in air 
 Was God. I'll tell thee that He told the spheres; 
 For the great family of the universe 
 Round Him were gathered as a fire: but we 
 Held back ; and, saving God, none did us see ; 
 Though round His throne in sunny halo rolls 
 A ceaseless, countless throng of sainted souls. 
 Clara. Say on, love ! Let me hear. 
 Festus. A sound, then, first 
 
 I heard, as of a pent-up flood just burst: 
 It was the rush of Gods world-winnowing wing. 
 Which bowed the orbs as flowers are bowed by 
 
 breath of spring. 
 And then a voice I heard, a voice sublime — 
 To which the hoarded thunders of all time, 
 Pealing earth's death-knell, shall a whisper be — 
 Saying these words : Where will ye worship me \ 
 Ay, where shall be your Maker's holy place? 
 The Heaven of Heavens is poor before His fac& 
 How sliall ye mete my temple, ye who die ? 
 Look ! can ye span your God's infinity ?
 
 FESTUS. 573 
 
 Hear, mighty universe, thy Maker's voice ! 
 Let all thy myriad, myriad worlds rejoice ! 
 Lo ! I, your Maker, do amid ye come, 
 To choose my worship, and to name my home. 
 This heard each sphere ; and all throughout the sky 
 Came crowding round. Our earth was rolling by. 
 When God said to it — E,est ! And flxst it stood. 
 With voice like winds through some wild, olden 
 
 wood. 
 Thus spake the One again : Behold, O Earth ! 
 Thy parent, God ! it is I who gave thee birtli. 
 With all my love I did thee once endow ; 
 With all my mercy — and thou hast them now. 
 But hear my words ! thou never lo^'edst me well, 
 Nor fearedst my wrath : dreadst thou no longer Hell ? 
 Dream'st thou that guilt shall alway mock those 
 
 fires 1 
 That deathless death which Hell for aye expires? 
 Should all creation its rebellion raise, 
 I speak, and this broad universe doth blaze — 
 Pass like a dew-drop 'neath mine angry rays — 
 Blaze like the fat in sacrificial flame : 
 And that burnt-offering, when I come to claim. 
 Its scorching, quenchless mass, all, I will pour 
 Upon thy naked soul : — canst tliou endure 
 He spake ; and, as the feai"-fraught words flew past, 
 Earth fluttered like a dead leaf in their blast. 
 Am not I God ? Answer me ! Hope not thou, 
 [mpemitent, to Avard my righteous blow.
 
 574 FESTUS. 
 
 .Yet, come again ! my proffered mercy hear ! 
 Rejoice and sing ! sweet music in thine ear, 
 And peace, I speak: seek but to be foi-given: 
 Repent ! and thou shalt meet thy God in Heaven. 
 Go ! cleanse thy brow from blood, thy heart from 
 
 crime, 
 And on thy Savior call while yet is time! 
 Now to this universe of pride and sin 
 I speak, ere yet I call mine angels in. 
 Draw nigh, ye worlds ! — and lo ! theii' light did 
 
 seem 
 Before His eye paled to a pearl's dull beam. 
 Attend! said God — o'er all He lifts His hand. — 
 "Where will ye set my tent 1 where shall my temple 
 
 stand 1 
 And all were dumb. Distracting silence spread 
 Throughout that host as each were stricken dead. 
 I made ye. I endowed ye. Ye are mine. 
 Then trembled out each orb : Thine, God ! forever 
 
 Thine ! 
 All that ye have, within myself have I ; 
 God, am complete ; full inexhaustibly. 
 I dwell within myself, and ye in me. 
 Not in yourselves ; I have infinity. 
 The every thing in all things is my throne ; 
 Your might is my might, and your wealth mine 
 
 own : 
 'Tis by my power and sufferance that ye shine ; 
 I live in light, and all your light is mine.
 
 FESTUS. 575 
 
 Be dark ! said God. Night was. Each glowing sphere 
 
 Dulled. Night seemed every thing and every where, 
 
 Save that in utter space a feeble flare 
 
 Told that the pits of Hell were sunken there. 
 
 Shuddered in fear the universe the while, 
 
 Till God again embi-aced it with a smile. 
 
 Divine delight responsive spread through space ; 
 
 Till, like a serious smile, whose gradual grace 
 
 Expands its soul-born sunshine o'er the face, 
 
 Lo I all things made were glad. Come now and hear, 
 
 Ye worlds ! said God, the truth I thus make clear : 
 
 My words are mercy, wherefore should ye fear 1 
 
 And straight, obedient to his sacred will. 
 
 One great concentrate globe they crowd to fill ; 
 
 Systems and suns pour forth their glowing urns ; 
 
 Full in the face of God the glory burns. 
 
 Hearken, thou host ! thy trembling hope to raise, 
 
 I to all being tlius make plain my ways : — 
 
 God, the Creator, bade creation rise. 
 
 And matter came in void like clouds in skies ; 
 
 Lifeless and cold it spread throughout all space, 
 
 And darkness dwelt and frowned upon its flxce : 
 
 Chaos I bade depart this work of mine. 
 
 And straight the mighty elements disjoin. 
 
 Then light I lit ; then order I ordained, 
 
 And put the dance of atoms to an end. 
 
 Matter I brake, and scattered into globes, 
 
 And clad ye each in green and growing robes:
 
 576 FESTUS. 
 
 Your sizes, places, forms, I fixed with laAvs, 
 
 And wrought the link between effect and cause. 
 
 Then formed I lives for each, Avhich might inherit 
 
 Will, reason, form, and power — not deathless spirit. 
 
 Then I made spirits, thirgs of heavenly worth, 
 
 Deathless, divine. Round these, from every earth, 
 
 I gathered forms and features fit for love. 
 
 Trust, pleasure, power, and all I could approve. 
 
 One universal nature spread through space, 
 
 Free, faulty, human, born for better place. 
 
 To every spirit I disclosed my name. 
 
 My love, my might, and whence all being came: 
 
 To deathless souls I righteously decreed 
 
 Accountability for thought, word, deed. 
 
 Then every orb complete, along the sky, 
 
 In glory, beauty, order, harmony, 
 
 I launched. Souls, worlds, did every thing possess 
 
 Which could a mortal and immortal bless. 
 
 To all tlie hope of happier state was given — 
 
 For all I keep one common, boundless Heaven. 
 
 Ye all have freedom, and ye all do sin. 
 
 For ye are creatures: but ye all may win 
 
 Life everlasting — everlasting joy. 
 
 If ye do but the love of sin destroy: 
 
 This only is offence; for sin ye must 
 
 Not by my will; but weakness dwells Avith dust. 
 
 Unless ye have sinned, ye cannot enter Heaven. 
 
 How shall a sinless creature be forgiven ?
 
 FESTUS. 577 
 
 And by forgiveness only can ye claim 
 
 Hope in my mercy, trust upon my name. 
 
 I knew that ye would all to sin be given ; 
 
 But I, even God, have paid your price to Heaven : 
 
 And if ye will not journey on that way — 
 
 The truth — the life — what do ye merit 1 say ! 
 
 Death is the gate of life ; and sin, of bliss : 
 
 Mark the dread truth ! but mourn your deeds 
 
 amiss. 
 Cast, off your guilt! abandon folly's path! 
 Turn to the Lord your God ere hell His wrath ! 
 Turn from your madness, wicked ones, and live ! 
 Take, take the bliss which God alone can give. 
 God, the Creator, me all beings own — 
 (iod, the Redeemer, I will still be known — 
 God, too, the Judge — the each — the three — the 
 
 one. 
 Again the Everlasting cried — Repent ! 
 To bless or curse I am Omnipotent. 
 And what art thou, created being I Round 
 That world of worlds His arm the Almighty 
 
 wound ; 
 The bright immensity He raised, and pressed. 
 All trembling like a babe, unto His breast. 
 There, in the Father's bosom, rose again. 
 Of filial love, the universal strain ; 
 Strong and exultant — blissful, pure, sublime. 
 It rolled, and thrilled, and swelled in notes unknown 
 
 to time. 
 
 73 ■ WW
 
 578 FESTUS. 
 
 Think ye that I, wlio thus do ye maintain ; 
 
 Thus alway cherish ye, or all were vain — 
 
 Ye all would drop into your native void, 
 
 If by my hand ye were not held and buoyed: 
 
 Think ye that I cannot uphold in Heaven, 
 
 In righteous state, the souls I have forgiven? 
 
 Be this a weightier task ? with God, 'tis one 
 
 To guide a sunbeam or create a sun — 
 
 To rule ten thousand thousand worlds, or none. 
 
 Go, worlds ! said God, but leani, ere ye depart, 
 
 My favored temple is a humble heart ; 
 
 Therein to dwell I leave my loftiest skies — 
 
 There shall my lioh' of all holies rise ! 
 
 He spake ; and swiftly reverent to His will. 
 
 Sprang each bright orb on high, its sphere to fiU. 
 
 Glov\ to God ! they chanted as they soared — 
 
 Father Almighty ! be Thou all-adored. 
 
 Thou art the glory — we. Thine universe, 
 
 Serve but abroad Thy lustre to disperse. 
 
 Unsearchable, and yet to all made known ! 
 
 The world at once Thy kingdom and Thy throne — 
 
 Pity us, God ! nor chase us quite away 
 
 Before Thy Avrath, as night before the day. 
 
 In Thee, our God, we live ; from Thee we came — 
 
 The feeble sparks of Thine eternal flame. 
 
 Thy breath from nothing filled us all at first. 
 
 And could again as soon the bubble burst. 
 
 In TliP';', like motes in the sunbeam, we move ; 
 
 Glow in Thy light, and gladden in Thy love.
 
 FESTUS. 579 
 
 And midst this praise, earth was the only one 
 
 Sullen remained in that grand union 
 
 Of joy and harmony. Word spake she none. 
 
 Clara. Earth only had been chidden. 
 
 Festus. Not alone. 
 
 High o'er all height, God gat upon His throne. 
 Downwards He bent ; and, as a grain of sand, 
 He lifted up our globe. Then from His hand, 
 As 'twere in pity, bowled the ingrate sphere, 
 Which rushed like ruin down its dark career. 
 And high the air's blue billows rolled and swelled 
 On many an island world mine eye beheld. 
 
 Clara. And where and what is he, this miglity 
 friend, 
 Who to thee, human, thus his might doth lend ? 
 Who bore thee harmless, as thou sayst, through 
 
 space. 
 And brought thee front before thy Maker's face? 
 
 Festus. I know not where he is. It is but at 
 times 
 That lie is with mc ; but he aye sublimes 
 His visits thus, by lending mc his might 
 O'er things more bright than day, more deep than 
 
 night. 
 And he obeys me — whether good or ill 
 His or my object, ho obeys me still. 
 
 Clara. O Festus ! I conjui-e thee to beware, 
 Lest thus the Evil One thy soul insnare.
 
 580 FESTUS. 
 
 Festus. What ! may not a free spirit have pre 
 ferred 
 A. mortal to his heart — as thou thy bird 
 Lovest, because it singeth of the sky, 
 Although it is as for below thy soul 
 As I 'neath an archangel's majesty 1 
 God will protect the atom as the whole. 
 
 Clara. Him, then, I pray: the spirit full must 
 share 
 The truths it feels with God Himself in prayer. 
 So guide us, God ! in all our works and ways, 
 That heart may feel, hand act, mouth show Thy 
 
 praise ; 
 That when they meet, who love, and when they part, 
 Each may be high in hope, and pure in heart: 
 That they who have seen, and they who have but 
 
 heard 
 Of Thy great deeds, may both obey Thy word ! 
 
 Festcs. Unto the wise belongs the sphere of light, 
 And to the spirit world-compelling might. 
 Yon sun, now setting in the golden main, 
 Sliall count me his ere next he rise again. 
 One farewell round I long to make above, 
 As now -with thee this leave-taking of love. 
 Once more to circle round the central skies. 
 And sound the silent infinite, where rise 
 Creation's outflows, and the new-born light 
 Smiles babe-like on the lap of ancient nursing night
 
 FESTUS. O&l 
 
 Would that the earth liad nothing fair tci lure, 
 Nor bein" more to answer or endure ! 
 But I foresee, fore-suffer. Bound to earth, 
 Wrecked in the deeps of Heaven, in Death's expiring 
 birth ! 
 
 Clara. Is all, then, over 1 I ask not what hath 
 come 
 Of those who once were thine ; but fear, nor speak. 
 Fate brooks not to be questioned in the light. 
 But shall we part ? Is this ordained, or not I 
 Or is the earth-star struggling still with death ? 
 
 Festus. Being of beaut)' ! whose yet unfilled arms 
 Form an incarnate Eden, and whose eyes 
 The angel Avatchers o'er it — mine exiled 
 And gazing on thee gainless — smile no more. 
 For if life's feelings flow not now as erst. 
 It is not that they are vanished like a stream 
 Sun-dwindled or earth-drained, but tluit their face 
 Is frozen 'neath tlie world's wide winter. No ! 
 The liquid lightning of thine eye no more, 
 Nor flowery light which blooms upon thy clieek. 
 Nor delicate perfection of pure form — 
 A breathing revelation incarnate — 
 Illumes for me tlie dusk of life. Night reigns. 
 My lieart's poles now are fixed like earth's in Heaven, 
 Shining in solid silence to the moon 
 Starry and icy silence ; and all ceased 
 Their torrid oscillancies. Once it rolled 
 In tropic splendor. Now experience treads 
 
 WW*
 
 582 FESTCS. 
 
 Deep in the snow of blossoms. Maid of love ! 
 Were thy heart now free as a zoneless nymph, 
 And on life's race of rapture mad to start 
 Like her of old, ere dropped the golden pome, 
 'Twere vain to me ; immovable is mine, 
 Still as a statue studying stony tome. 
 Unite we may not. In this fatal life 
 There is no real union. All things here 
 Seem of monadic nature ; and with God, 
 All oneness and sole alluess lives alone. 
 Still even in this — Time's age penultimate — 
 And in my heart's exhausted mine, I feel — 
 But I forever have forsworn it — both 
 The magic might of beauty and the fierce 
 Deliciousness of love. Yes ! I must be 
 Alone in sacrifice, alone in soul. 
 I hold life's feast, death's fast, indifferent. 
 There is divorce between my heart and me ; 
 And I have neither bride nor brethren — I ; 
 But I achieve my end — the end of all. 
 From this is no appeal to death, nor fate, 
 Nor the just Gods ; herein are all at one. 
 Love me not therefore, now; but when with me 
 The great cessation happens, when the poles 
 Are icing, and this tyrant of life's realm 
 Totters to execution and well-earned 
 Ruin — attend me ; whether in the flesh 
 Or in the spirit, be with me ; and mark, 
 One birdlike thought through death's white void shall 
 fly
 
 F E S T U S . h "^a 
 
 Rij^lit to thy bosom home, the thought of thee. 
 
 Cherish it there as mine, ;iud royally 
 
 In its snow jDalace. It will bear the gaze 
 
 Of all the star souls and the spirit stars 
 
 Which will the living land of light indwell. 
 
 I feel earth slacken in rotation. Time 
 
 Lays down his weary length, as though the work 
 
 Wherefore he had his hire were finished. Go ! 
 
 Now there is nothing left for us on earth, 
 
 Save separation. 
 
 Clara. Still I love thee, still. 
 
 But this is not the end. 
 
 Festus. Go ! I have said it ; 
 
 I am henceforth alone. My thought of thee 
 Above all passionate fire-peaks and above 
 The sacred snowline of my heart, where soul 
 And spirit in ecstatic stillness join. 
 Bides in perpetual purity. Farewell ! 
 
 Scene — Elsewhere. 
 
 Festus, alone. I feel as if I could devour the days 
 Till the time came when I shall gain muie end ; 
 God shall have made me ruler, and all ^^•orlds 
 Signed the sublime recognizance. Till then, — 
 Even as a boat lies rocking on the beach, 
 Waiting the one white wave to float it free, — 
 Wait I the great event ; — too great it seems
 
 584 FESTUS. 
 
 Yet, Lord ! Thou Kuowest that the power I seek 
 
 Is but for others' good and Thme oavii glory, 
 
 And the desire for it inspired by Thee. 
 
 So use me as I use it. Tliou hast passed 
 
 Thy Avord that such I shall enjoy, and then 
 
 My mission is accomplished in this Avorld. 
 
 I go unto another, where all souls 
 
 Begin again, or take up life from where 
 
 Death broke it at. I cannot think there will be 
 
 Like disproportion there between our powers 
 
 And will, as here: if not, I shall be happy. 
 
 I feel no bounds. I cannot think, but thought 
 
 On thought springs up, illimitably, round, 
 
 As a great forest sows itself; but here 
 
 There is nor ground nor light enough to live. 
 
 Could I, I would be every where at once. 
 
 Like the sea, for I feel as if I could 
 
 Spread out my spirit o'er the endless world. 
 
 And act at all points : — I am bound to one. 
 
 I must be here, and there, and every where, 
 
 Or I am nowhere. Sense, flesh, feeling, fail 
 
 Before the feet of the imperious mind. 
 
 To which they are but as the dust she treads, — 
 
 Windlike treads o'er, uplifts and leaves behind. 
 
 How mind will act with bodv glorified 
 
 And spiritualized, and senses fined, 
 
 .\nd pointed brilliant-wise, we know not. Here, 
 
 Even, it may be ■wrong in us to deem 
 
 The senses degradations, otherwise
 
 FESTUS. 585 
 
 Than as fii^e steps, whereby the queenly soul 
 
 Comes down from her bright throne to view the mass 
 
 She hath dominion over, and the things 
 
 Of her inheritance ; and reascends. 
 
 With an indignant fiery purity, 
 
 Not to be touched, her seat. The visible world. 
 
 Whereby God maketh Nature known to us, 
 
 Is not derogatory to Himself 
 
 As the pure Spirit Infinite. A world 
 
 Is but, perhaps, a sense of God's, by which 
 
 He may explain His nature, and receive 
 
 Fit pleasure. But the hour is hard at hand, 
 
 When Time's gray wing shall winnow all away. 
 
 The atoms of the earth, the stars of Heaven ; 
 
 Wlien the created and Creator mind 
 
 Shall know each other, worlds and bodies both 
 
 Put off" for aye ; man and his Maker meet 
 
 Where all, who through the universe do well, 
 
 Embrace their heart's desire ; what things they will 
 
 And whom remember ; live, too, Avhere they list ; 
 
 And with the beings they love best, and God, 
 
 Inlierit and inhabit boundless bliss. 
 
 Hear me, all-favoring God ! my latest prayer ; 
 
 Thou, unto wliom all nations of the world 
 
 Lift up their hearts, like grass-blades to the sun; 
 
 Thou who hast all things, and hast need of nought ; 
 
 Thou who liast given me earth and all it holds, 
 
 Give me, from out Thy garner stored with good, 
 
 Some sign. Lord ! while I live, in proof to earth 
 
 74
 
 586 FESTUS. 
 
 My prayers are with Thee ; that they rend the clouds, 
 
 And, rising through the sightless dark of space, 
 
 Reach to Thy central throne. Oh! let me feel — 
 
 What was my constant dream in my young years, 
 
 And is in all my better moments now — 
 
 My hope, my faith, my nature's sum and end, 
 
 Oneness with Thee and Heaven. Lord !' make me sure 
 
 My soul already is in unison 
 
 With the triumphant. Ah ! I surely hear 
 
 The voices of the spirits of the saints, 
 
 And Avitnesses to the; Redeeming Truth ; 
 
 Not, as of old, in scanty scattered strains, 
 
 Breathed from the caves of earth and cells of cities, — ■ 
 
 Nor as the voice of martyr choked with fire, — 
 
 But in one solemn Heaven-pervading hymn 
 
 Of happiness impregnable, as when 
 
 From the bright walls of the Son's city they 
 
 Looked on the war of hell, host ujson host. 
 
 Foiled by God's single sword before their gates 
 
 Of pei-fect pearl ; — nearer and nearer now ! 
 
 This is the sign, O God ! which Thou hast given, 
 
 And I Avill praise Thee through eternity. 
 
 The SAI^'TS from Heaven, 
 
 Call all who love Thee, Lord ! to Thee ; 
 
 Thou knowest how they long 
 To leave these broken lays, and aid 
 
 In Heaven's unceasing song ;
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 >87 
 
 How they Icing, Lord ! to go to Thee, 
 And hail Thee with their eyes, — 
 
 Thee in Thy blessedness, and all 
 The nations of the skies. 
 
 All who have loved Thee and done well, 
 
 Of every age, creed, clime. 
 The host of saved ones from the ends 
 
 And all the worlds of time: 
 The wise in matter and in mind, 
 
 The soldier, sage, and priest, 
 King, prophet, hero, saint, and bard, 
 
 The greatest soul and least. 
 
 The old and young and very babe, 
 
 The maiden and the youth, 
 All re-born angels of one age — 
 
 The age of Heaven and truth ; 
 The rich, the poor, the good, the bad, 
 
 Redeemed alike from sin ; 
 Lord! close the book of time, and let 
 
 Eternity begin. 
 
 Festus. "Will ye away, ye blessed ones ? To God 
 I then commend ye, and my soul with yours. 
 And midst the light in which ye live. Oh ! mind 
 Of all the sunless days and starless nights 
 Whicli myriads pass on earth, and pray for them ! 
 Oh ! pray for those who in the world's dark womb
 
 588 FESTCS. 
 
 Are bound, who know not yet their Father, God! — 
 
 Lord of all earth, all worlds, all Heaven ! lii't up 
 
 My spirit to Thy glory ! Let me share 
 
 The comfort of Thy love, and while ordained 
 
 'J'o the great task I have to go through, let 
 
 No more misgiWngs, fears, nor mortal doubts. 
 
 With the cold dew of darkness, chill the soul 
 
 "Which Thou hast hallowed with Thy love, and which, 
 
 Like molten gold within its mould, hath made 
 
 The thing that holds it precious ; — or if. Lord ! 
 
 For Thine own purpose Thou wilt suffer such, 
 
 May they pass quick and perish tracelessly ; 
 
 So, too, all thoughts of earth and pangs of death 
 
 May I o'ercome at last, and with Thy chosen. 
 
 Seraphs and saints, and all-possessing souls, 
 
 Wliich minister unto the universe. 
 
 Enthroned in spirit and intensest bliss, 
 
 Succeed to Heaven forever. 
 
 Guardian Angel. Mortal, hear ! 
 
 The soul once saved shall never cease from bliss, 
 Nor God lose that He buyeth with His blood. 
 She doth not sin. The deeds which look like sin, 
 The flesh and the false world, are all to her 
 Hallowed and glorified. The world is changed. 
 She hath a resurrection unto God 
 While in the flesh, before the final one, 
 And is with God. Her state shall never faU. 
 Even the raolt(>u granite which hath split 
 Mountams, and lieth now like curdled blood
 
 F E S T u s . 589 
 
 In marble veins, shall flow again when comes 
 The heat which is to end all ; when the air 
 Is as a ravening fire, and what at first 
 Produced, at last consnmeth ; but the soul 
 Redeemed is dear to God as His own throne, 
 And shall no sooner perish. Hearken, man ! 
 Wilt thou distrust God I Doubt on doubt no more. 
 Prepare thee for the power and lot sublime 
 Whereto the I^ord hath called thee. He liath heard 
 The prayers Avith which thou hast entreated Him, 
 And bids me tell thee, shrink not, doubt not. He 
 Will comfort and uphold thee at the end ; 
 For after God the Chooser, God the Slain, 
 Cometh the God of Comfort to the heart, 
 Whose action and effect is ministrant 
 Forever after — consummating all. 
 
 Festus. I fear, I fear this miracle of Death 
 Is something terrible. But go to God, 
 Thou angel, and declare that I repent 
 Of ail misdeeds ; that but for His own grace 
 I should repent of my whole life ; that on 
 That grace, which now hatli sanctified the whole, 
 I trust for all the rest of it, and then 
 Forever; that I am prepared to act 
 And suffer as He bids, and in all things 
 To do His will rejoicing. 
 
 Angel. It is done. 
 
 Festus. Oh ! I repent me of a tliousand sins,
 
 590 FESTUS. 
 
 In number as the breaths which I have breathed. 
 Am I forgiven 1 
 
 Angel. Child of God, thou art. 
 
 It is God prompts, inspires, and answers jirayer; 
 Not sin, nor yet repentance, which avails: 
 And none can truly worship but who have 
 The earnest of their glory from on high — 
 God's nature in them. The world cannot worship. 
 And whether the lip speak, or in inspired 
 Silence we clasp our hearts as a shut book • 
 Of song unsung, the silence and the speech 
 Is each His, and, as coming from and going 
 To Him, is worthy of Him and His Love. 
 Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth ; 
 The expiration of the thing inspired. 
 Above the battling rock-storm of tliis world 
 Lies Heaven's great calm, through which, as through 
 
 a bell, 
 Tolleth the tongue of God, eternally 
 Calling to Avorship. Whoso hears that tongue 
 Worships. The Spirit enters witli the sound. 
 Preaching the' one and universal word. 
 The God-word, which is spirit, life, and light ; 
 The written word to one race, the unwrit 
 Revealment to the thousand peopled world. 
 The ear which hears is preattuncd in Heaven, 
 'I'he eye which sees prevision hath ere birth. 
 But the just future sliall to many give
 
 F E S T U S . 591 
 
 Gifts which the partial present doles to few ; 
 To all the glory of obeying God. 
 I go. Thy God is with thee. We shall meet 
 Again in Heaven, no more to part. 
 
 Festus. Thou art gone! 
 
 'Tis sweet to feel we are encircled here 
 By breath of angels as the stars by Heaven ; 
 And the soul's own relations, all di\'ine. 
 As kind as even those of blood ; — and thus 
 "While friends and kin, like Saturn's double rings, 
 Cheer us along our orbit, we may feel 
 We are not lone in life, but that earth's part 
 Of Heaven and all things. Praise we, therefore, 
 
 God! 
 O all ye angels, pray and praise with us ! — 
 
 Scene — A Gathering of Kings and Peoples. 
 
 Festus, throned. Princes and Peoples ! Powers 
 once, of earth ! 
 It suits not tliat I point to ye the path 
 By which I reached this sole supreme domain — 
 This mountain of all mortal miglit. Enough, 
 Tliat I am monarch of the world — the world. 
 Let all acknowledge loyally my laws. 
 And love me as I them love. It will be best. 
 No rise against mc can stand. I rule of God ; 
 And am God's sceptre here. Think not the world
 
 592 FESTUS. 
 
 Is greater than my might — less than my love — 
 
 Or that it stretcheth farther than mine arm. 
 
 Kings ! ye are Kings no longer. Cast your crowns 
 
 Here — for my footstool. Every power is mine. 
 
 Nobles ! be first in honor. Ye, too, lose 
 
 Your place, in place : retrieve yourselves in good. 
 
 Peoples ! be mighty in obedience. 
 
 Let each one labor for the common weal. 
 
 Be every man a people in his mind. 
 
 Kings — nobles — nations ! love me and obey. 
 
 I need no aid — no arms. Burn books — break swords! 
 
 The world shall rest, and moss itself with peace. 
 
 Kings. Tyrant, we love thee not ; and we as one 
 Man will resist thee. 
 
 Festus. Well I know it. Mark! 
 
 Ye are all nations, I a single soul. 
 Yet shall this new world order outlast all. 
 Behold in me the doomsman of your race. 
 Will, reason, passions, all shall serve and aid, 
 Yea, your most secret qualities and powers. 
 
 Nobles. Reason rebels against thee, and condemns 
 Tyrant and slave alike ; exalting this, 
 Deposing that, adjusting all ; as yet 
 Hope we and mean to do with thee and these. 
 
 Festus. And seek ye to gainstand the faith in 
 Godi 
 O blindest rulers ! will ye never learn 
 Your proper region and due dominance? 
 "Whatever ye rule, I rule over you.
 
 FESTUS. 593 
 
 All unobstructed power is sanctified. 
 
 Divine rule is a tyranny of good. 
 
 Mine shall be like it. Tyrant ! Avell ; I am. 
 
 T glory in the title ; reverence 
 
 Myself for that it is accorded me. 
 
 What is above this soul of mine but Heaven 1 
 
 Peoples. The opposite of rule divine is best 
 For man. Power gives temptation, which in turn 
 Sets aside honor, social duty, law, 
 And right ; creates abuse, and abuse, strife, 
 Confusion, retribution, bloodshed, sin. 
 Though for a season cloud and meteor 
 Usurp the heights of air, yet soon the stars 
 Their peaceful reign resume : and now at last, 
 Since earth hath wiser waxed, the people theirs. 
 Therefore, descend thou and make room for us ; 
 Or else thy powers submit to perfect proof, 
 And our approval ratified by all. 
 
 Festus. Man's conscience is an angel or a fiend, 
 According to his deeds. What have I done ? 
 I was the youngest born of Destiny, 
 The favorite of Fate, and Fortune's heir ; 
 My word for once was law and prophecy. 
 Speak, spirit ! have I forfeited my star ] 
 
 Lucifer. Storms give to dust a privilege to rise 
 And fly in all men's faces — even kings' ! 
 
 Festus. What if a million molehills were to leacue 
 Their meannesses together with due pomp. 
 And to some mountain say. In the name of God ! 
 
 "5 XX*
 
 594 FESTUS. 
 
 Whither dost thou aspire? Does any deem 
 That great imperial creature woukl descend 
 From those sublimest solitudes of Heaven, 
 ^^^here it had dwelt in snowy sanctity 
 For ages, ere the mud-made world below 
 Was more thau half conceived, to parley there 
 At its own footstool, and lay down its crown 
 And elemental commune Avith the skies. 
 Because its height was so intolerable, 
 And its supremacy termed tyranny ? 
 Why look ye all amort "? Is doomsday come 1 
 Stand forth, and speak, sole servant of my throne! 
 If aught thou hast to settle and explain — 
 Or straightway send these nations to their homes. 
 LuciFEK. Ye mighty once — ye many w'eak, give 
 ear ! 
 I and my god — for god he sure he must be, 
 In human form, who sitteth there enthroned — 
 For readier rule, and for the good of all. 
 Have cast again the dynasties of earth 
 According to the courses of the air : — 
 Therefore, from East, and West, and Xorth, and South, 
 Four element-like ministers sliall bend 
 Before his feet. Hearken, thou unkinged crowd ! 
 Ye have not sought the good of those ye governed. 
 The people only for the people care. 
 Ye seem to have thought earth but a ball for kings 
 To play with : rolling the royal bauble, empire, 
 \ow East — now AVest. Your hour and power is past.
 
 -^&^
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 * 
 
 4 
 
 ' 4 
 
 1
 
 FESTUS. 595 
 
 Ye are the very vainest of mankind, 
 
 As loftiest things weigh lightest. Ye are gone ! 
 
 Nations, away with them ! Nor do ye boast ! 
 
 Ye find that power means not good, not bliss. 
 
 But ye would wed delusion : — now, ye know her. 
 
 And she is yours for life — and death — and judgment. 
 
 There is no power, nor majesty, save his : 
 
 His is the kingdom of the world and glory. 
 
 His throne is founded centre-deep by Heaven ; 
 
 And the whole earth doth bless liim. Unto all 
 
 He hath laid out one perfect, level law — 
 
 His will. For as the people cannot rule 
 
 Themselves, so neither may a crowd of kings : 
 
 And hence hath been the evil of the earth — 
 
 Now ceased forever. War will be no more. 
 
 His is the sway of social, sovereign peace •: 
 
 His tyranny is love and good to all : — 
 
 His is the vice-royed, vouched-safe sway of God : — 
 
 And he will turn the world, at will ; as light 
 
 Turneth the world round. (jreet your Lord, and 
 
 Depart, ye nations ! — 
 
 P'estus. Hark ! thou fiend ! dost hear ? go ! — 
 
 Lucifer. Ay ! it is the death groan of the sons 
 of men — 
 Thy subjects — King ! 
 
 Festus. Why hadst tliou this so soon '? 
 
 Lucifer. It is God wlio brings it all about — 
 not I. 
 
 Festis. I am not ready — and — it shall not be!
 
 596 FESTUS. 
 
 Lucifer. I cannot help it, monarch ! and — it is ! 
 Hast not had time for good 1 
 
 Festus. One day — perchance. 
 
 Lucifer. Then hold that day as an eternity. 
 
 Festus. All around me die. The earth is one 
 great death bed. 
 
 Clara. Oh ! sa^e me, Festus ! I have fled to 
 thee, 
 Through all the countless nations of yon dead — 
 For well I knew it was thou who sattest there — 
 To die with thee, if that thou art not death : 
 And if thou wert, I would not shrink from thee. 
 I am thine own, own Clara ! 
 
 Festus. Thou art safe ! 
 
 Here in the holy chancel of my heart — 
 The heavenly end of this our fleshly fane — 
 I hold thee to communion. Rest thee safe ! 
 
 Clara. Men thought I was an angel, as I passed ; 
 And caught up at my feet — but I 'scaped all. 
 I knew — I was sure, that I should die by thee. 
 The heart is a true oracle — I knew it ! 
 
 Festus. Then there is faith among these mortals 
 yet. 
 Thy beauty cometh first, and goeth last — 
 Willow-like. Welcome ! 
 
 Clara. Oh ! I am so happy ! 
 
 Festus. I speak of thee as of the dead ; — the dead 
 Are alway faithful. 
 
 Clara. I will stay with thee —
 
 FESTUS. 597 
 
 Though angels beckon — may I ? Let me, love I 
 I dare not, cannot, take mine eyes from thee. 
 For fear of looking on the dead. Dear Festus ! 
 
 Festus. Thou art the only one hast answered me, 
 Love to love — life to life. 
 
 Clara. Oh ! I am dying ! 
 
 Give me one kiss — the kiss of life and death — 
 The only taste of earth I will take to Heaven. 
 Here ! let me die, die in it ! [D/es. 
 
 Festus. Last and best ! 
 
 Now am I one again. Oh ! memory runs 
 To madness, like a river to the sea. 
 Happy as Heaven have I been with thee, love ! 
 Thine innocent heart hath passed through a pure life, 
 Like a white dove, Aving-sunned through the blue sky. 
 A better heart God never saved in Heaven. 
 She died as all the good die — blessing — hoping. 
 There are some hearts, aloe-like, flower once, and 
 
 die — 
 And hers was of them. — Thrall art thou, and free: 
 Free of immortal life, though bound of death. 
 Not the emotional surface of the sea, 
 Whose form from things without is ta'en, but more 
 The deep, essential quiet of its bed 
 Thy soul resembled in the pure profound. 
 Thy love to me was as the morning dew. 
 Earth's liquid jewellery, wrought of air, 
 Young Nature's christening ; whose every bead, 
 Round as the globular genesis of things,
 
 598 FESTUS 
 
 Aiid bright as Heaven's own gems in diamond set. 
 
 Emblemed its pure perfection o'er this heart, 
 
 Now sun-parched, thunder-scorched ; yet stricken thus 
 
 Feeling myself each hour, each pulse I live 
 
 More mightily drawn to join and glory in 
 
 All being's everlasting sense of God. 
 
 I see the universe made clear Avith light, 
 
 Holy with spirit, pure with Deity ; 
 
 Man, the dear son of God, to God leturned. 
 
 And earth's renascent nature throned in Heaven. 
 
 The voice of ages, syllabled in suns. 
 
 Pronounces God's unceasing benison 
 
 Upon His bright creation. Time is touched 
 
 On all hands by the Eternal, and the world 
 
 Is bounded, rounded, ended but by Heaven. 
 
 Therefore the soul in death resilient 
 
 Looks back to whence its impulse came, to God ; 
 
 And all things lovely and divine that here 
 
 It loved in spirit are with it conjoined. 
 
 And mingled Avith the future of the stars, 
 
 And blissful occupation of all space. 
 
 As pending time, the past and future, cause 
 
 Chief reasons, and the present but a point, 
 
 So in eternity all's presentness. 
 
 Hence, therefore, from me noAv all thoughts of earth ; 
 
 Be they as in a lake of lightning quenched ; 
 
 In lone annihilation lie entombed ; 
 
 And memory's pall be buried with the bier. 
 
 There lies my soul's love. Ah! all life hath ceased.
 
 FESTUS. 599 
 
 And silence reads the dead world's burial tale. 
 And Death sits quivering there, and watering, 
 His great, gaunt jaw at me. When must I die ? 
 
 Lucifer. Say ! dost thou feel to be mortal, or 
 immortal ? 
 
 Festds. Away ! — and let me die alone. 
 
 Lucifer. I go : — 
 
 And I will come again ; but spare thee, now, 
 One hour, to think — [Goes. 
 
 Festus. On all things. God, my God ! 
 
 One hour to sum a life's iniquities ! — 
 One hour to fit me for eternity — 
 To make me up for judgment and for God! — 
 Only one hour to curse thee ! Nay, for that. 
 There may be endless hours. God ! I despair, — 
 And I am dying. Let me hold my breath ! 
 I know not if I ever may draw another. 
 I feel Death blowing hard at the lamp of life. 
 My heart feels filling like a sinking boat ; 
 It will soon be down — down. What will come of me { 
 It is as I always w-ished it ; — I shall die 
 In darkness, and in silence, and alone. 
 Even my last wish is petted. God ! T thank Thee ; 
 It is the eai'nest of Thy coming — what ? 
 Forsiveness ? Let it be so : for I know not 
 What I have done to merit endless pain. 
 Is pleasure crime 1 Forbid it, God of bliss ! • 
 Who spurn at this world's pleasures, lie to God ; 
 And show they are not worthy of the next.
 
 IJOO FESTUS. 
 
 What are 'Jliy joys we know not — nor can we 
 
 Come near Thee, in Thy power, nor truth, nor justice: 
 
 The nearest point wherein we come towards Thee 
 
 Is loving — making love — and being happy. 
 
 Thou wilt not chronicle our sand-like sins ; 
 
 For sin is small, and mean, and barren. Good, 
 
 Only, is great, and generous, and fruitful. 
 
 Xumber the mountains, not the sands, O God ! 
 
 God will not look as we do on our deeds ; 
 
 Nor yet as others. If He more condemn. 
 
 Shall He not more approve 1 A few fair deeds 
 
 Bedeck my life, like gilded cherubs on 
 
 A tomb, beneath which lie dust, decay, and darkness. 
 
 But each is better than the other thinks. 
 
 Thank God! man is not to be judged by man; — 
 
 Or, man by man, the world would damn itself. 
 
 What do I see ? It is the dead. They rise 
 
 In clouds ! and clouds come sweeping from all sides, 
 
 UpAvards to God : and now they all are gone — 
 
 Gone, in a moment, to eternity. 
 
 But there is something near me. 
 
 Spirit. It is I. 
 
 Festus. Go on ! I follow, when it is my time. 
 Not perfect yet the complement of Heaven. 
 There is no shadow on the foce of life: 
 It is the noon of fate. AVhy may not I die? 
 Methinks I sliall have yet to slay myself 
 I am calm now. Can this be the same heart 
 Which, \vhen it did sleep, slept from dizziness,
 
 FESTUS. 601 
 
 And pure rapidity of passion, like 
 
 The centre circlet of the whirlpool's wheel ? 
 
 The earth is breaking up ; all things are thawing. 
 
 River and mountain melt into their atoms : 
 
 A little time, and atoms will be all. 
 
 The sea boils ; and tlie mountains rise and sink 
 
 Like marble bubbles, bursting into death. 
 
 thou Hereafter ! on whose shore I stand — 
 Waiting each toppling moment to ingulf me — 
 What am 1 1 Say, thou Present ! — say, thou Past ! 
 Ye three wise children of Eternity ! 
 
 A life ? — a death ? — and an immortal ? — all 1 
 
 Is this the threefold mystery of man 1 
 
 The lower, darker trinity of earth 1 
 
 It is vain to ask. Nought answers me — not God. 
 
 The air grows thick and dark. The sky comes down. 
 
 The sun draws round him streaky clouds, like God 
 
 Gleaning up wrath. Hope hath leaped off my heart, 
 
 And overturned it. I am bound to die. 
 
 God ! why wilt Thou not save ^ The great, round 
 
 world 
 Hath wasted to a column beneath my feet. 
 
 1 will Imrl mc off it, then ; and search the depth 
 Of space, in this one infinite plunge ! Farewell 
 
 To Earth, and Heaven, and God ! Doom ! spread 
 
 thy lap ; 
 I come — I come ! But no ! may God forbear 
 To judge the tempted purpose of my heart !
 
 602 FESTUS. 
 
 Me hath He "stablished here, and He Avill save ; 
 And I can smile destruction in the face. 
 Let His strong hand compress the marble world, 
 And wring the starry fire-blood from its heart; 
 Still on this earth-core I rejoice in God ; 
 I know Him and believe in Him as Love, 
 And this divinest truth He hath inspired, — 
 Mercy to man is justice to Himself. 
 He His hand opened, and the world was bom. 
 He shuts it, and the essential nothingness, 
 Embodied, dies its everlasting death. 
 The infinite conclusion of all things. 
 Open thine arms, O Death ! thou fine of Avoe 
 And warrantry of bliss ! I feel the last 
 Red mountainous remnant of the earth give way. 
 The stars are rushing upwards to the light ; 
 My limbs are light, and liberty is mine. 
 The spirit's infinite purity consumes 
 The sullied soul. Eternal destiny 
 Opens its bright abyss. I am God's ! 
 
 God. 
 
 Man, di(' !
 
 I'ESTUS. 60i 
 
 Scene — The Skies. 
 
 God, Angels, Angel of Earth, Lucifeb. 
 
 God. 
 The age of matter consummates itself. 
 All things that are shall end, save that is mine. 
 As with one A^'orld, so shall it be with all ; 
 For all are human, fallible, and false, — 
 As creature towards Creator must be aye. 
 But for the whole prepare ye, not the less 
 Grade ujion grade of glory, sons of God ! 
 The world begins and ends with Paradise, 
 The garden and the city of the blest. 
 And earth shall live again, and, like her sons. 
 Have resurrection to a brighter being; 
 And waken like a bride, or like a morning, 
 With a long blush of love to a neAv life. 
 Another race of souls shall rule in her. 
 Creatures all loving, beautiful, and holy. 
 Go, angel! guide her, as before, through Heaven. 
 Angel of Earth. On ! on ! my world again ! 
 
 Away we fly 
 
 Through Heaven's blue plain. 
 
 Like thought through the eye. 
 Ye angels, keep your Heaven ! 
 I, earth. For that with God I have striven, 
 
 And have prevailed.
 
 fiO-i 
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 I come once more, 
 I come to thee, Earth ! 
 Like a ship to shore. 
 Lucifer. Have not I triumphed o'er the earth 
 that was 1 
 
 God. 
 Prince of the powers of air ! thy doom is nish. 
 The prison-place of spirits is for thee — 
 As for all others thou hast wronged, for a time — 
 But those who, by my favor, die not. Him 
 Conduct, ye angels, into Hades ; there 
 To wait my Avill while the world's Sabbath lasts 
 
 Scene — The Millennial Earth. 
 
 Saints and Angels xoorshipping ; Festus. 
 
 Saints. To Thee, God, Maker, Ruler, Savior, 
 Judge ! 
 The Infinite, the Universal One ; 
 Whose righteousnesses are as numberless 
 As creature sins ; who Giver art of life ; 
 Who sawest from the first that all was good 
 Which Thou didst make, and sealed it with Thy love, 
 Thy boundless benediction on the world ; 
 To Tlice be honor, glory, prayer, and praise, 
 .Vnd full-orbed worship from all worlds, all Heavens ! 
 May every being bless Thee in return
 
 VESTUS. 605 
 
 As Thou dost bless it ; every age and orb 
 
 Utter to Thee the praise Thou dost inspire. 
 
 Let man, Lord ! praise Thee most as all redeemed. 
 
 As many in the saints, as one in Thee ! 
 
 Oh ! may perpetual pleasure, peace, and joy, 
 
 And spiritual light inform all souls, 
 
 And grace and mercy in bliss thousand fold 
 
 Enwrap the world of life. May all who dwell 
 
 On open earth, or in tlic hid abyss, 
 
 Howe'er they sin or suffer, iu the end 
 
 Receive as beings born at first of Thee 
 
 The mercy that is mightier than all ill. 
 
 May all souls love each other in all worlds 
 
 And all conditions of existence ; even 
 
 As now these lower lives that dwell with man 
 
 In amity, rejoicing in the care 
 
 Of their superior, and in useful peace, 
 
 Upon the common earth no more distained 
 
 With mutual slaughter — no more doomed to groau 
 
 At sights of woe, and cruelty, and crime. 
 
 Lo ! all things, now rejoicing in the life 
 
 Thou art to each and givest, live to Thee ; 
 
 And knowing others' nature and their own. 
 
 Live in serene delight, content with good. 
 
 Yet earnest for the last and best degree. 
 
 Their hands are full of kindness, and their tongues 
 
 Are full of blessings, and their hearts of gooc'. 
 
 All things are happy here. May kindness, truth, 
 
 Wisdom, and knowledge, liberty, and power, 
 
 YY*
 
 606 FESTUS. 
 
 Virtue, and holiness o'erspreacl all orbs 
 As this star now — the world be bliss and love — 
 And Heaven alone be all things ; till at last 
 The music from all souls redeemed shall rise, 
 Like a perpetual fountain of pure sound 
 Upspriuging, sparkling in the silvery blue — 
 From round creation to Thy feet, O God ! 
 
 Angel. The earth is all one Eden. Pity, sure. 
 That it should ever end. 
 
 Saint. I say not so ; 
 
 Although I have a thousand plans in hand. 
 Some interwoven with the farthest stars — 
 Each one of which might ask a year of years 
 To perfect. 
 
 Angel. True ; our Maker knoweth best 
 What thought or deed may best belong to time 
 Or to eternity. 
 
 Saint. All prophecy 
 
 Hath said the earth shall cease, and that right soon. 
 
 Festus. 'Tis like enough. Beauty's akin to 
 Death. 
 
 Angel. Behold, our sister Graces of the skies, 
 Faith, Hope, and Love, descend ! Methinks, of late, 
 Ye chiefly dwell on earth. 
 
 Love. Where lives and reigns 
 
 The Son of God, there are we ever seen, 
 Successive, as the seasons to the sun. 
 
 Saints. Well are ye known and welcome in all 
 worlds.
 
 FEGTUS. 607 
 
 ^^1lel■eyel■ lofty thought or godly deed 
 
 Is lodged or coinp;u;£ed, tiiere your blessings rest. 
 
 Hope. How s^^'c•oi, hnw sacred now, this earth of 
 man's, 
 The prelude of a yet sublimer bliss ! — 
 I marked it from the first, while yet it lay 
 Lightless and stirless ; ere the forming fire 
 Was kindled in its bosom, or the land 
 Lift its volcanic breastwork up from sea. 
 Tlie deluge and idolatries of men 
 I viewed, though shuddering, and with faltering eye, 
 E'en to the incarnation of Heaven's Lord, 
 And dawning of His faith ; that faith which was 
 An infant, and anon a giant ; was 
 A star, and grew a Heaven-fulfilling sun ; 
 Which was an outcast, and became, ere long, 
 A dweller in all palaces ; which hid 
 Its head in dens of deserts, and sat throned, 
 After, in richest temples high as hills ; 
 Which was poured out in mortal blood, and rose 
 In an immortal spirit ; as a slave 
 Was sold for gold and prostrated to Power ; -~ 
 And now that lowly bondmaid is a (picen ; 
 And lo ! she is beloved in Earth and Heaven ; 
 And lieth in the bosom of her Lord, 
 The Bride of the All-worshipped, one with God, 
 
 Lovii. We even of divinest origin 
 In infinite progression view all worlds ; 
 And we are happy.
 
 608 FESTUS. 
 
 Faith. The dead sleep, as yet; 
 
 But their time cometh, aud trie bonds of death 
 Already slacken round tlif; iiviiig soul; 
 The mortal sleep of ages, which began 
 When Time sank down into his slumberous west, 
 Thins even now o'er the rcW%-ing eyes 
 Gathering their Heaven-lent light, no more to wane 
 In woe or age ; never be quenched in tears, 
 Like a star in the sea. 'Tis as I ever knew ; 
 My life is to receive and to believe 
 The Word and words of God. 
 
 Love. I, who am Love, 
 
 And Grace, and Charity, rejoice with you ; 
 Whitlier ye wend, I with ye ; whether here, 
 Or on the utmost rim of Light's broad reign — 
 The least and last of stars which even seems 
 To tremble at its insignificance 
 In presence of Infinity ; where yet 
 No angel's wing hath waved, nor foot of fiend 
 Left its hot imprint ; — still, in all do we 
 Find fit delight and honor, as now here. 
 Now Earth and HeaAen hold commune, day and 
 
 night ; 
 Thei'e's not a wind but bears upon its wing 
 The messages of God, and not a star 
 But knows the bliss of earth. 
 
 Festcs. The earth hath God 
 
 Remade, and all its elements refined. 
 Fit for sublimer being. Flesh hath passed
 
 FESTUS. 609 
 
 I*^' fiei) baptism, and coiik^ fortli clear 
 
 As crystal gold : all that of vile or mean 
 
 Pertained to it hath perished atomless. 
 
 Earth, like a diamund, basks in her own free light ; 
 
 Unfed, unaided, unrequiring aught. 
 
 All now is purity, and power, and peace. 
 
 The first-born of creation, they who hail 
 
 Archangels as their brethren, mountain-like 
 
 Reign o'er the plains of men, converting all ; 
 
 Heaping the fields of immortality, 
 
 Each one his sheaf, for Him, the Harvest-Lord, 
 
 To Avhom belongs earth's wliole estate and life, 
 
 And every world's. 
 
 Angkl. And He shall garner all. 
 
 The awful tribes which have in Hades dwelt. 
 Past count of time, aw-ait their rising. God's 
 Great day, the Sabbath of the world's long week, 
 Is at high noon ; and Christ liath yet to come 
 To judge and save the living and the dead. 
 
 S.iiNT. The shadows of eternity o'ercast 
 Already Time's bright towers. The Heaven? shall 
 
 come 
 Down like a cloud upon a hill, and sweep 
 Their spirit over earth, and the whole face 
 And form of things shall be dissolved and changed. 
 Nothing shall be but essence, perfect, [)ure, 
 And vf)id of every attribute but God's. 
 This even is too gross for that which is 
 'i'o come. The holy hath both Earth and Heaven.
 
 610 FESTfS. 
 
 Fesfus. Xor pain, nor toil of mind or frame, nor 
 doubt. 
 Nor discontent, nor enmity to God, 
 Disturb the steady joy the spirit feels ; 
 Xor element can torture, nor time tire ; 
 Nor sea, nor mountain make, or bar, or fear ; 
 Sickness, and woe, and death are things gone by ; 
 Destroyed with the destruction of the world : — 
 Shadows of things which have been, nevermore 
 To waste the world's bright hours, nor grate the heart 
 Of mighty man ; now fit for thrones and wings ; 
 Ruler of worlds, main minister of Heaven, 
 Inheritor of all the prophecies 
 Of God fore-uttered through the tongues of Time, 
 Ages of ages. Evil is no more. 
 
 Archangel. And does earth satisfy thee now 1 
 
 Festus. As earth, 
 
 '.'here is a brighter, loftier hfe for man 
 I.ven yet, the very union Avith God. 
 
 Archangel. God works by means. Between the 
 two extremes 
 Of Earth and Heaven there lies a mediate state, — 
 A pause between the lightning lapse of life 
 And following thunders of eternity ; — 
 Between eternity and time a lapse. 
 To scail unconscious, though age-lasting, where 
 Spirit is tempered to its final fote ; 
 AVithiu or between worlds, rejwse or bliss, 
 Divested, man shall mix with Deity,
 
 FESTUS. (ill 
 
 And the Eternal and Tinmortal make 
 
 One Being. As in earth's first paradise 
 
 God's Spirit \valked Mith man, and commnne made 
 
 AVith him ; so in the second, after death, 
 
 Plan's spirit walks with God in an elect 
 
 Existence, and a vigil of the great. 
 
 The holy day which is to break in Heaven. 
 
 Thither the liOrd of Life went, in the hour 
 
 That Hell by Earth revenged itself on Heaven, 
 
 With one soul penitent accompanied ; — 
 
 Nor long remained He there, yet long enough 
 
 To cheer earth's faithful, Avho received Him then 
 
 In silent, unknown blessedness of soul. 
 
 With time-outwearing liope that yet in Him 
 
 They should partake the Godhood of His love. 
 
 And with Him rose then, in prophetic proof 
 
 Of His Divinity, many a deathless ghost, 
 
 'I'riumphant o'er tliat blind revenge which wrought, 
 
 Hell! thy destruction — thy salvation. Earth! 
 
 Festus. That sucli will be, tlie just well know; 
 and all 
 Earth's great events and clianges tend tliereto ; 
 Its fiery dissolution in the past. 
 And supernatural recommencement now 
 Under the uni\'ersal creed of Christ. 
 The chosen and tlie world-redeemed partake 
 His personal and spiritual reign. 
 
 Archangel. And this shall last, till, like the set- 
 ting sun
 
 612 FESTUS. 
 
 Deserting earth, He shall retire to Heaven, 
 With all His captive Aictors in His train, 
 Triumphant, and translated evermore 
 Into the hierarchal skies. Wilt see, 
 While yet time is, earth's shadowy world within — 
 Tlic inward li\"ing death she bears about 
 Her heart, hath ever borne — and, augur-like, 
 Explore the ominous bowels of the earth 1 
 To me are given the secrets of the centre. 
 The keys of earth, to lock and to unlock. 
 Coffer-like. I it was who seized and bound, — 
 At His behest who wills and it is done, — 
 Even on their thrones, the mighty thou wilt see. 
 
 Festus. Angel of Heaven ! I would ^^iew these 
 things. 
 
 Archangel. Xor these alone, but other wonde^rs 
 
 yet. 
 
 The valley where Death's dark wings brooded o'er, 
 
 A God-offending night, un-\"isited 
 
 By sun or star, where but the fatuous fire 
 
 Of man's weak judgment wandered, till God's Son 
 
 Laid o'er the black abyss a bridge of light. 
 
 And married Earth to the main land of Heaven — 
 
 This shalt thou see. Death's grave; and over him, 
 
 And over it, that monument of light. 
 
 Enlightening earth. The gods and fiends of old. 
 
 And all the fictions of the heart of man, 
 
 Imagined of the future past for aye. 
 
 Thou shalt inspect. Behold this mountain ! We
 
 F E S T U S . 
 
 613 
 
 iSIiist pass through it ; for under lie the gates 
 Of the invisible regions whereunto 
 We tend, for a brief season. 
 
 Festus. On, then ! 
 
 Archangel. Bare 
 
 Thy marble breast, O mountain, to its depths ! 
 An angel and a man divine demand 
 A way through these foundations. 
 
 Festus. * And the rocks 
 
 Open like mists before thee. 
 
 Archangel. Follow me! 
 
 Scene — Hades 
 
 Archangel, Festus, Death, Lucifer. 
 
 Festus. Almighty God ! sustain me. This is 
 Death ; — 
 And this — I knew not, angel ! he was here — 
 Is I.ucifcr — the fallen, like a bolt 
 Of thiuider forged in intramundane air. 
 Self-buried in the centre. I.ucifer ! 
 Wake from thy sea-like sleep ; in peace or wrath, 
 Rouse from thine age-long trance ; arise and see ; 
 'i'he representatives of Earth and Heaven 
 Stand by thee. As for me, I blame no more 
 The part thou tookest in my mortal life ; 
 'Tis gone, — nor s])uni thee for delusions dead.
 
 bi4 '-^STUS. 
 
 The blood that hath been spilt is sunk in ear;,h. 
 And run into the rivers, and dried up 
 Into the air ; — and tliere's an end of it. 
 What srood hath come of it alone I bear 
 At heart. And we have both offended God. 
 Let me, though not in nature to forget, 
 I'orgive, what every one hath sometime felt — 
 I he Devil's burning gripe upon his heart. 
 I see thee with compassion, half with hope. 
 
 Lucifer. Mortal ! I bow to thee, and would do to 
 The least and lowest spirit God hath made ; 
 But still the curse that I am cursed with 
 Outlasts the element- — outlives all time. 
 
 Festus. All curses cease with time ; all ill, all woe 
 Blessings star forth forever, but a curse 
 Is like a cloud — it passes. 
 
 Lucifer. 'Twas by him — 
 
 You angel, only not almighty, there ! 
 As with a chain of mountains I was bound 
 And hurled into this unformed, nebulous life ; 
 Stripped of all might when mightiest, struck down 
 While triumphing the loftiest, — enslaved 
 "\Mien most a monarch o'er both earth and hell. 
 And made a shadow among shadows here. 
 Tt recks not. Let the impenetrable soul 
 Be ground as through a mill, I only kn'"w 
 In action, or inaction, equal woe — 
 Suffering, doing, being, one extreme. 
 Pass on ! Me meet again.
 
 FESTUS. 615 
 
 Festus. And when we do. 
 
 May God forgive, as I ! — 
 
 Archangel Behold there, Death! 
 
 Throned on his tomb — entombed in his throne ; 
 Just as he ceased he rests for aye — his scythe. 
 Still wet out of its bloody swath, one hand 
 Tottering sustains • tlip ■"'^her strikes the cold 
 Drops from his bony brow : his mouldy breath 
 Tainteth all air. 
 
 Festus. I dvead him now no more, 
 
 Nor hate. He is a vanquished enemy. 
 
 Archangel. Listen ! he speaks. 
 
 Death. To you, ye sons of God, 
 
 My latest words I utter. Unto Him 
 AVho ever lives, and hatli for aye destroyed 
 Me and my reign, give ye this crown usurped. 
 And lay it at His feet ; and this dulled dart 
 Which was my sceptre. To the conqueror 
 Belong these trophies. All the progeny 
 Of time will soon cease. Lo ! the end's at hand. 
 
 Archangel. Thus shall it be, O Death ! and thus 
 it is. 
 
 Festus. And wko are these gigantic, awful shades 
 Which fill the midst — tlie present of the place 1 
 
 Archangel. Ihese are the mighty nothings man 
 Made ; the dread unrealities by whom 
 He swore, to whom he prayed, and at whose shrines 
 
 of old 
 He sacrificed a thousand times a day : —
 
 616 FESTas. 
 
 His brother falsehoods these, men like himself. 
 Which mere imagination changed to gods, 
 Some for their good deeds, others for their bad: 
 Bel, Odin, Bramh, and Zeus, the lords of death, 
 And fire, and judgment, waiting here their death 
 And fiery judgment — Time and Titan — war — 
 Beauty, and sti-ength, and light, and the long roll 
 Of creatural powers and passions deified ; — 
 Who gave their names to stars ^\ hich still roam round 
 The skies, all worshipless, even from climes 
 Where their own altars once topped every hill. 
 
 Jove. Before the Christian cross and Moslem 
 mosque 
 Mv marble fanes have fallen, and mv shrmes 
 Shrunk like a withered hand ages ago. 
 But now all signs and sacred domes for gods 
 To dwell in are extinct. The world is all 
 One Temple of the Truth. 
 
 Bramh. The ages feigned, 
 
 That made Time groan to think how old he was, 
 And deities in millions, are no more. 
 Ageless eternity, and God the sole. 
 The royalty of Heaven, is at hand. 
 
 Boodh. All things that are shall nothing be at last, 
 Save what's resolvable in Deity. • 
 
 Festus. And all yon lesser shades, which move lik 
 moons. 
 Half darkened by the greater — half illumed — 
 A.re priests and prophets of the mightier ones 1
 
 F £ S T C S . 61 7 
 
 Archangel. They are ; — and ferther round thiiie 
 eye can mark 
 The myriads of adorers of each god, 
 Confused and prostrate, as their souls awake 
 To the demoniac madness of their creeds. 
 Behold ! they kneel to those they hailed on earth 
 As makers — as omnipotent — eternc — 
 And cry for help, for comfort ; none have they 
 To give to others or themselves. The false, 
 The base, the brutish deities give way, 
 And all their sacred follies in their train, 
 Before the earthquake truth, ingulfing all. 
 Woe to the false gods, woe! to prophet, priest, 
 And worshipper, all woe ! 
 
 Festus. Hark ! round the earth 
 
 Each soul hath found a tongue, and uttereth woe. 
 Lo ! from their thrones the man-made gods descend, 
 And rend their robes, and trample on their crowns. 
 And hurl away their sceptres. Woe to all 
 The gods and idols of the heart of man ! 
 Their sun is set forever in the night 
 Which was ere Light was. Surely it is more 
 To be true man or woman than false god 
 And falser prophet. God alone the true, 
 Tlie God of Heaven, shall be witnessed to 
 And worshipped. 
 
 Archangel. Witnessed, worshipped, too. 
 
 By all : the faithful and the faithless — saint 
 And sinner. 
 
 78 zz»
 
 618 FESTljS. 
 
 Festus. Lo ! the nations of tlie dead, 
 Which do outnumber all earth's races, rise. 
 And hiffh in sumless myriads overhead 
 Sweep past us in a cloud, as 'twere the skirts 
 Of the Eternal passing. 
 
 A Voice. Souls, arise 
 
 To deathless life ! 
 
 Archangel. It is God speaks. Let us hence. 
 
 The general judgment is in hand, — God's hand. 
 The souls of those whom God loves circle us. 
 For thee, thy lot thou knowest. As a seed 
 Buried in earth doth multiply itself 
 Full fifty fold, so will thy nature, when, 
 Changed, it lifts head in the air di\ine of Heaven. 
 
 Festds. Out of the depths of earth and the world's 
 womb 
 Thine unborn angels seek thee, God, all Love ! 
 Now is Thine hour for which all hours were made. 
 All life created, all things else ordained; 
 Be it the hour of mercy. Lord ! to all. 
 For Thy Son's sake, who, for the sake of man, 
 Came down from Heaven into the pit of earth. 
 And lived as one of us, and died ; — He died 
 The death of all at once of every age; 
 The world's accumulated weight of woe, 
 From its first life unto its last, which none 
 But the Omnipotent could bear — He bore; 
 And all for us. God became man that man 
 Might become God. Oh, favor infinite !
 
 FESTUS. 619 
 
 Now reap the righteous, righteous but in Him 
 
 Any, their guerdon. E\il to repay 
 
 With good was Christ's command, and Earth witu 
 
 Heaven 
 Is thus the great example of His word. 
 Enough for sinners this, for all which live. 
 Do Thou, Lord ! be with us. In Thee we live ; 
 Our treasure, trust, and triumph is in Thee. 
 Behold the day of our salvation come 
 Unto the countless all Thou hast redeemed ! 
 The ages sweep around me with their wings, 
 Like angered eagles cheated of their prey. 
 Reach forth your arms, ye angels I wreathe anew 
 Your starry crowns. Earth was betrothed to Heavtt 
 Upon her natal day. I hear them come ; 
 I hear the armied torrent of their wings 
 Hitherward streaming. Lo ! the glowing Heavruis 
 Are rushing to receive us. Oh, rejoice 
 All ye that are immortal — and wliate'er 
 Hath been predestined to eternal end. 
 The day determined ere all time was dawns ' 
 
 Scene — Earth. 
 
 Angels and Saints — An K^GiLh descending ; testub 
 
 Saint. Whence art thou "? 
 
 -.ViiuiiL. 11 from Heaven, and thither tena, —
 
 t??0 FESTUS. 
 
 One moment here to bid ye to prepare. 
 Our Lord the Eternal Son comes hither, girt 
 With His victorious hosts, to judge the world. 
 
 Saint. What victory hath our Almighty gained * 
 
 Angel. One final, over Death and Hell. Shout, 
 Earth ! 
 Thy freedom is accomplished, and thy foes 
 Brought dovs^n to endless ruin. 
 
 Saint. Angel, speak ! 
 
 We burn to learn the tidings of this war, 
 Whereof thou tell'st, and doubtless wast a part. 
 
 Angel. Hot from the fight I come. This light- 
 ning blade 
 Hath holpen well to thin the infernal rout, 
 Which back hath fled to hell, howling like winds. 
 But let me, at your will, ye peaceful saints, 
 Relate what happened to us, from first to last. 
 The time was come in Heaven when God the Son, 
 Bowing His head before the Omnipotent, 
 Who doubled eA'ery blessing infinite 
 Wherewith He had enriched His Only One 
 From first, rose from His glorious throne, and stepped 
 Into His sun-bright car, calling aloud 
 His angels to attend Him while He went 
 To judge the earth, as foreordained of old ; 
 That Heaver and Earth might A-iew the majesty 
 And mercy of the God of all. W^e came, 
 Selectest spirits, countless — crowded bright 
 As the g"2»t stream of stars which flows thrciugh Hra ren
 
 FESTUS. 621 
 
 Fast Ity tlic foot of God, each \va\'e a \\orl;i — 
 
 Eager to eye this act of glory long 
 
 Talked of in Heaven, and now to be achieved. 
 
 Forth from tlic starry towers, and world-wide wajla, 
 
 Of Heaven, we sat in high and silent joy, 
 
 And journejed half our way through Heaven, when lo . 
 
 A sight which checked the foremost, fiamins ranks, 
 
 Tliat halted frontwise, working doubt at first. 
 
 But triumpli after. Shielded and drawn up close, 
 
 Behind a broken and decaying world. 
 
 From whicli the light had vanished like the light 
 
 Out of a death-shrunk eye, sat Lucifer — 
 
 Midst in the powers of darkness, and the hosts 
 
 Of hell, enthroned sublime ; and all were still 
 
 As ambushed silence round the foe of God. 
 
 But Oh ' hew changed from him we knew in Heaven, 
 
 Whose brightness nothing made might match nor 
 
 mar : — 
 Who rose, and it was mora ; — who stretched his wing, 
 And stepped from star to star ; — so changed he showed 
 Most like a shadowy meteor, through which 
 The stars dim glint — woe-wasted, pined wit)\ pain. 
 And by his side there sat or shrank a shape 
 We angels knew not, but the Son of God 
 Knew him, and called him Death ; whom, when he 
 
 saw. 
 Arousing, after, out of sleep intense. 
 That unrealmed tyrant drew his mortal dart. 
 And drave it through himself, — a shade, shade-quelled
 
 622 FESTUS. 
 
 Then to that chief of mischief and his fiends, 
 
 Who, thick as burning stones that from the throat 
 
 Of some volcano foul the benighted sky, 
 
 Shot up triumphant into air as they 
 
 Beheld our rank* move on, thus spake otir Lord, — 
 
 Not wrathfully. but sternly pitying: 
 
 Hell's wretched remnant ! wherefore crouch ve here ! 
 
 Is it to sue destruction, or to bar 
 
 My passage ] If it be, in both ye err. 
 
 And will ye trust yourselves again to war 
 
 With me. Almighty 1 Have I not overcome 
 
 Ye separately, both 1 Speak, brutal Death ! — 
 
 Fit follower and fellow to all woes, — 
 
 Wherefore this instantaneous haste from hell. 
 
 And both from Hadean bondage, thus again 
 
 So soon to compass mightiest wickedness. 
 
 And tempt extrcmcst wrath ? Speak, head of hell ! 
 
 To Him thus Lucifer : Almijjhtv Son ! 
 
 Thy power I defy not ; but in peace 
 
 I war with fate. My life is to destroy. 
 
 Enl hath more acti^^ty, if good 
 
 ^lore strength: and one must wear the oth'^r out 
 
 The more august the sin, so much the more 
 
 Is my necessity. Yon Earth hath been 
 
 The battle-plain of Heaven and Hell. From Th'^'^. 
 
 Who knowest all things, it were vain to hide 
 
 \f)' purpose, Avhich for a thousand years, the years 
 
 Of bondage, hath grown in me and lived '>n. 
 
 Toad-lilce within a rock — ^•ital where all
 
 lESTUs. 623 
 
 Beside was death — (o seize the nascent souls 
 
 Of men as they re-rose from death to life, 
 
 And sweep them off in midst of all these hosts, 
 
 Assembled for that cause here as Thou seest, 
 
 To hell; — the universal race of man. 
 
 But if ordained that not on them, but Thee 
 
 And Thine, old hate shall satisfy itself. 
 
 Approach no nearer ; for we live by death ; — 
 
 Or turn the tide of fate, Thou sole who canst ! 
 
 Ceasing thereat, his host upraised a shout 
 
 Which shook the stars, and made them ring again. 
 
 Our Lord to him then spake thus, mild as Spring 
 
 Addressing Earth when smiling she lets fall 
 
 All flowerets from her lips : 'Tis Avell there is a G(td 
 
 Lo ! to what base extremes infernal pride 
 
 Can push a princely spirit once in Heaven. 
 
 'J'hee we will not destroy now, for thine hour 
 
 Hath yet to come — when least thou thinkest it. 
 
 God's wrath thou hast endured in punishment, 
 
 Not yet His power. Away ! I warn ye hence, 
 
 Ei'e wrath ride forth again. To Him the fiend 
 
 Answered : God rules not us the unorder(>d damned. 
 
 Nor recks of hell. For ages past belief. 
 
 Unless by those who, like ourselves, denied 
 
 Thine own eternity — by creature minrl. 
 
 However lofty, hardly compassed — we 
 
 Have borne our pain without remorse, or sign 
 
 Of pity from our Maker. Shall we now 
 
 Believe, whilst thus confronting Him a£j;ain,
 
 624 FisTus. 
 
 He means us better ? Never «orse than now. 
 
 Therefore I say to ye, On ! mightiest fiends, 
 
 On ! Let us reap companions for our woes, 
 
 Or earn annihilation ! At the word, 
 
 Hib fiery phalanx rushed to bar the way 
 
 It' Him whose ways are over all His works. 
 
 ,1. million spears blazed forth their answer bright, 
 
 As of as many tongues. Serene our ranks 
 
 ■^tood as the stars o'er thunder. God the Son 
 
 .Sate in His orbed car, and breathed on them : 
 
 And they were rolled up like the desert sands 
 
 Before the ourning wind, — throne wrecked on 
 
 throne, 
 All ruhied and foredoue. Pursue ! He cried, 
 Nor let them near the earth I go to judge. 
 Aud we pursued, as many as He chose, 
 \nd chased from sphere to sphere that wretched 
 
 wreck 
 Of falsest fiends ; — and I, it seems, am first 
 Of all my victor brethren to declare 
 The triumph past and coming, and to cheer 
 Your hearts with tidings of our Lord, to whom 
 Be glory for His universal deeds. 
 And to Him, only God ! 
 
 S.iiNT. Behold where comes 
 
 Another warrior-angel from on high ; 
 Like angels, always singly or in hosts. 
 
 Angel. It is the most dread Azrael, unto whom 
 The sword of Death is given as a boon.
 
 ■9 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 J 
 
 >4 
 
 
 ?
 
 FESTUS. 
 
 625 
 
 Saini'. What sayst thou, heavenly one'? 
 
 AzRAEL. Tn the extreme bound 
 
 Of Light's domain we chased the flying foe, 
 Who on the confines of the lower air 
 Once rallied at their leader's stern command, 
 "Whom more they fear, or seem to fear, than God. 
 llicy halted, formed, and faced us. I and mine, 
 As on we came in order, full career. 
 Exalted by success, hoped ardently 
 One more convincing contest ; but in spite 
 Of future woe, or the tempestuous threats 
 Of the great fiend avIio marshalled them, each eyed 
 His neighbor pale ; their trembling shook all air ; 
 And each one lift his arm, but no one struck. 
 Awhile in dead throe-like suspense they stood. 
 Or like the irresolution of the sea 
 At turn of tide — then wheeled and fled amain. 
 And in one mass immense broke down from Heaven, 
 Cliff'-like ; — there let them lie ! such fate have fiends. 
 And we returned, hoping to meet, as charge 
 To all was given, the Lord our glory here. 
 
 Arciiangei . Let all the dead rejoice ! their Savior 
 cojnes.
 
 626 7ESTUS. 
 
 Scene — The Juds^menc of Earth. 
 
 The Son oi (j'od, the Archangel, Saints and 
 Angels. 
 
 Archangel. Let all the dead rejoice ! their Sa\doj 
 comes ; 
 With clouds of angels circled like a sun, 
 Belted with light, and brighter than all light. 
 Lo ! He descends and seats Him on His throne. 
 Alighting like a new-made sun in Heaven. 
 Tlie v/orld awaits Thee, Lord ! Rise, souls of meu. 
 Buried beneath all ages from the first ; 
 Ye numbered and unnumbered, loathed and loved, 
 Awake to judgment ! Rise ! the grave no more 
 Hath power upon ye than the ravening sea 
 Upon the stars of Heaven. Ye elements ! 
 Give back your stolen dead. He claimeth them 
 Whose they both were and are, and aye shall be. 
 
 Son of God. I come to repay sin with holiness, 
 And death with immortality; man's soul 
 "S^'ith God's Spirit ; all evil with all gooa. 
 All men have sinned: and as for all 1 died. 
 All men are saved. Oh ! not a single soul 
 Less than the countless all can satisfy 
 The infinite triumph which to me belongs, 
 AVho infinitely suffered. Ye elect ! 
 And all ye angels, with God's love informed,
 
 FESTUS. 627 
 
 Who reign with me o'er Earth and Heaven, assume 
 Your seats of judgment. Judge ye all in love, 
 The love which God the Father hath to you — 
 For His Son's sake, and all shall bo forgiven. 
 
 Saints. Lord ! let us render back to Thee the love 
 AVhich is Thine own : none else is Avorthy Thee. 
 
 Son of God. Behold this day I dwell with ye on 
 Earth, 
 E'en to the last ; the next shall be in Heaven, 
 Where ye sliall meet the Father, and remain 
 In the eternal presence, He through me 
 Blessing all spuits overflowingly. 
 
 Saints. Dear Lord, our God and Savior ! for Thy 
 gifts 
 The world were poor in thanks, though every soul 
 Were to do nought but breathe them, every blade 
 Of grass and every atomy of earth 
 To utter it like dew. Thy ways are plain 
 Only in Thine own light. And this great day 
 Unveils all nature's laws and miracles — 
 All to Thee all as one. Thy death was life ; 
 Thy judgment is all mercy. Lord of Love ! 
 The world's incomprehensible no more 
 To man, but all is bright as new-born star. 
 
 Son of God. Tiie Book of Life is opened. Heaven 
 begins.
 
 628 FESTUS. 
 
 Scene — The Heaven of Heavens. 
 The RrcoRDiNG Angel, Lucifer, Festus, Ajsgels. 
 
 The Recording Angel. All men ir»! judged savp 
 one. 
 
 Son of God. He, too, is ,*a,yeu. 
 Immortal ! I have saved thy soul to Heaven. 
 L/ome hithei-. All hearts bear themselves to me, 
 As clouds unbind their bosoms to the sun ; 
 -Lnd ihine was wealthy in the gifts of good. 
 And, if its guilt and glory lay in love. 
 Let light outweigh the darkness ! Thou art saved. 
 
 Saints. Rejoice ! Rejoice ! 
 
 Festus. Could I, Lord ! pour my soul out, 
 
 In thanks, even as a river roUing ever, 
 It would be too scant for what I owe to Thee. 
 
 Son of God. Nay ; immortality is long enough, 
 As life, or as a moment is, to show 
 Thy love of good, thy thanks to me and God. 
 One heart-throb sometimes eameth Heaven — one tear, 
 
 Festus. My Maker ! let me thank Thee, I have 
 lived, 
 And live a deathless mtness of Thy grace. 
 And Thee, the Holy One, who hast chosen me, 
 From old eternity, whUe yet I lay 
 Hid, like a thought in God, unuttered — Thou, 
 Who makest finite full with the Infinite,
 
 FESTUS. 629 
 
 As is a womb with an immortal spirit, 
 
 Oh ! let me thank Thee that I witness to The* 
 
 And Thou, mid-God ! my Savior, and my Judge ! 
 
 iSun of the soul, whose day is now all noon — 
 
 Who makest of the universe one Heaven — 
 
 I praise Thee. Heaven doth praise Thee. God dotli 
 
 praise Thee. 
 The Holy Ghost doth praise Thee. Praise Thyself! 
 
 Lucifer. Is he not minel 
 
 God. 
 
 Evil ! away, for aye ! 
 In the beginning, ere I bade things be — 
 Or ever I begat the worlds on space, 
 I knew of him, and saved him in my Son, 
 Who now hath judged ; for, fraught with Godhood, 
 
 He 
 Yet feels the frailties of the things He has made ; 
 And therefore can, like-feelingly, judge them. 
 For I abide not sin ; and in my Son 
 rhere is no sin — not that Tic takes away. 
 It is destroyed forever and made nothing. 
 
 Son of God. Spirit, depart ! this mortal loved me 
 With all his doubts, he never doubted God ; 
 But from doubt gathered truth, like snow from clouds, 
 The ir;f'3t, and whitest, from the darkest. Go ! 
 
 Lucifer. I leave thee, Festus. Here thou wilt b? 
 happy. 
 To be in Heaven is to love forever 
 God — and thou must love hero Here thou wilt find 
 
 AAA*
 
 S20 FESTUS. 
 
 All tliat thou caust and oughtst to love ; for souls, 
 
 Re-made of God, and moulded over again 
 
 Into his sun-like emblems, multiply 
 
 His might and love : the saved are suns, not earths , 
 
 And Avith original glory shine of God. 
 
 AMiile I shall keep on deepening in my darkness, 
 
 With not one gleam across the gloom of being. 
 
 Festcs. Let us part, spirit! It may be in the 
 coming. 
 That as we sometime were all worth God's making, 
 We may be worth forgi^dng ; taking back 
 Into His bosom, pure again — and then. 
 All shall be one with Him, who is one in all. 
 
 Lucifer. It mav be, then, that I shall die. Fare- 
 Avell. 
 Forgive me that I tempted thee ! 
 
 Festus. I am glad. 
 
 God. 
 Stay, spirit ! all created things unmade 
 It suits not the eternal laws of good 
 That Ea^I be immortal. In all space 
 Is joy and glory, and the gladdened stars. 
 Exultant in the sacrifice of sin. 
 And of all human matter in themselves. 
 Leap forth as though to welcome Earth to Heaven — 
 Leap forth and die. All natui-e disappears. 
 Shadows are passed away. Through all is light. 
 Man is as high above temptation now, — 
 A.nd where by grace he always shall remain
 
 I 
 
 Stay Spirit! all creurcd iliiu^a uauxadc 
 It zuixs not tiic eternal Irw» of ^ood 
 That EvU Ijc immortal
 
 
 'i 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 I
 
 FESTUS. 6;U 
 
 A.S ever sun o'er sea; and sin is burnt 
 
 111 liell to ashes with the dust of death. 
 
 The worlds themselves are but as dreams within 
 
 Their souls who lived in them, and thou art null. 
 
 And thy vocation useless, gone with them. 
 
 Therefore shall Heaven rejoice in thee again, 
 
 And the lost tribes of angels who with thee 
 
 Wedded themselves to woe, and all who dwell 
 
 Around the dizzy centres of all worlds, 
 
 Again be bhjssed with the blessedest. 
 
 Lo ! ye are all restored, rebought, rebrought 
 
 To Heaven by Him who cast ye forth, your God. 
 
 Receive ye tenfold of all gifts and powers. 
 
 And thou who cam'st to Heaven to claim one soul, 
 
 Remain possessed by all. The sons of bliss 
 
 Shall welcome thee again, and all thy hosts, 
 
 AVhereof thou first in glory as in woe — 
 
 In brightness as in darkness erst — shalt shine. 
 
 Take, Lucifer, thy place. This day art thou 
 
 Redeemed to archangelic state. Bright child 
 
 Of morning, once again thou shinest fair 
 
 O'er all the starry armaments of light. 
 
 Lucifer. The highest and the humblest I of all 
 The beings Thou hast made, Eternal Lord ! 
 
 Angel. Behold they come, the legions of the lost, 
 Transfonned already by the bare behest 
 Of God our Maker to the purest form 
 If seraph brightness. 
 
 The Restored Angels. His be all the praise
 
 (]32 FESTUS. 
 
 And ours submissive thanks. When evil had done 
 Its worst, then God most blessed us and forgave. 
 Oh, H'. hath triumphed over all the world, 
 Iv mercy, over Death, and Earth, and Hell! 
 
 Son of God All God hath made are saved. 
 
 Heaven is complete. 
 Guardian Angel. Hither with me! 
 Festus. But where are those I level 
 
 Angel. Yon happy troop? 
 
 Festus. Ah ! blest ones, come to me ! 
 
 liOves of my heart on Earth, and soul in Heaven ! 
 Are ye all here, too, with me 1 
 
 All. All ! 
 
 Festus. It is Heaven. 
 
 Angel. Come, let us join our souls into the song 
 Of glory, which the saved all sing, to God. 
 The Saved. Father of goodness, 
 Son of love. 
 Spirit of comfort, 
 Be with us ! 
 God who hast made us, 
 God who hast saved, 
 God who hast judged us. 
 Thee we praise. 
 Heaven our spirits. 
 Hallow our hearts ; 
 Let us have God-light 
 Endlessly. 
 Ours is the wide world.
 
 FESTus. 6:{3 I 
 
 Heaven on Heaven ; j 
 
 "What have we done, Lord, 
 
 Worthy thisi \ 
 
 On ! we have loved Thee ; I 
 
 That alont I 
 
 Maketh our glory, 
 
 Duty, meed. ' 
 
 Oh ! we have loved Thee ! 
 
 Love we will i 
 
 Ever, and every 
 
 Soul of us. 
 
 God of the saved. 
 
 God of the tried, 
 
 God of the lost ones, 
 
 Be with all! I 
 
 Let us be near Thee 
 
 Ever and aye ; 
 
 Oh ! let us love Thee ; 
 
 Infinite ! 
 Festus. So, soul and song, begin and end in 
 Heaven, 
 Yotii birthplace and your everlasting home. 
 
 Angels. In Heaven extolled are now all souls of 
 
 Earth, ' 
 
 And each particular essence at Thy word, 
 
 O God ! rejoins the pure and pious skies. ' 
 
 All government, rule, empire is at last 
 United here, the kingdom sole of Heaven, 
 Meant from the first for universal rule. 
 
 80
 
 fi34 FESTDS. 
 
 In boundless bliss all creatural power is now 
 
 Essentially and evermore absorbed. 
 
 Henceforth the holy offspring of the word 
 
 Of all-sustaining grace shall teach the souls 
 
 Victors through God, eternal \-irtue's truth, 
 
 Adding celestial might to every thought 
 
 Hallowed by Thee, by Thee all thought inspired. 
 
 The Gods are one God, and all power is His. 
 
 High over all, and deep in aU, dost Thou 
 
 Kver rule one thing by another ; still 
 
 On aU Thy throne is based, and round all Thou 
 
 Stretchest the line unlimited of Heaven. 
 
 Di\ine and holy is Thine every work, 
 
 Eternal only as ordained by Thee, 
 
 Unknown but to Thyself, who dost remain 
 
 Steadfast in love, though Heaven and Earth rebel. 
 
 All sway is Thine, Lord ! Heaven and Earth are one 
 
 In universal glory : world by world 
 
 Night renders up to Thee the fruit of light, 
 
 Sown in her bosom, reaped and ripened here : 
 
 Unutterably happy to approach 
 
 Perfection in the Infinite, how far. 
 
 How high soever, still to Thee allied. 
 
 All blessing God ! who with Thy boundless love 
 
 Dost deify the Heavens, and make the soul 
 
 Of man expand with immortality, 
 
 Now we with him in foui-fold joy rejoice. 
 
 And all the heavenly hierarchies of light. 
 
 Ineffable, adore Thy grace supreme.
 
 FESTUS. 635 
 
 All sanctifying Lord of love and might, 
 Let whole creation testify to Thee 
 As vice to virtue, darkness to the light. 
 Hell thus to Heaven, and man to Deity! — 
 Glory to Thee, our God, who all to prove. 
 Of Earth the law, of Heaven the grace ahove, 
 Dost make the great I am, the all I love. 
 
 The Holy Ghost. Time there hath been when 
 only God was all ; 
 And it shall be again. The hour is named, 
 When seraph, cherub, angel, saint, man, fiend, 
 Made pure, and unbelievably uplift 
 Above their present state — drawn up to God, 
 Like dew into the air — shall be all Heaven ; 
 And all souls shall be in God, and shall be God, 
 And nothing but God, be. 
 
 Son of God. Let all be God's. 
 
 God. 
 World without end, and I am God alone ; 
 The Aye, the Infinite, the AVhole, the One. 
 T only was — nor matter else, nor mind, 
 The self-contained Perfection unconfined. 
 I only am — in might and mercy one ; 
 I live in all things, and am closed in none. 
 1 only shall be — when tlie worlds have done, 
 My boundless Being will be but begun.
 
 L'ENVOI. 
 
 Read this, world! He who writes is dead to thee, 
 
 But still lives in these leaves. He spake inspired : 
 
 Night and day thought came unhelped, nndesired. 
 Like blood to his heart. The course of study he 
 Went through was of the soul-rack. The degree 
 
 He took was high : it was wise wretchedness. 
 
 He suffered perfectly, and gained no less 
 A prize than, in his own torn heart, to see 
 
 A few bright seeds : he sowed them — hoped them 
 truth. 
 The autumn of that seed is in these pages. 
 
 God was with him ; and bade old Time, to the 
 youth, 
 Unclench his heart, and teach the book of ages. 
 
 Peace to thee, world ! — farewell ! May God the 
 Power, 
 And, God the Love, and God the Grace, be ours !
 
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