Our race; behold their stature and their | Dost thou here with these children of the Anah. Whate'er our God decrees, Making my dim existence radiant with Oh! if there should be mercy-seek it, find it: The bugbear he hath built to scare the Shaken my sister? Are we not the loved And bid those clouds and waters take a shape Japhet. He,whose one word produced them. Turn to thy Seraphs; if they attest it not, Samiasa. Aholibamah, own thy God! As thine, and mine: a God of love, not sorrow. Japhet. Alas! what else is Love but wicked? Dreadst thou not to partake their coming doom? Japhet. Father, it cannot be a sin to seek To save an earth-born being; and behold, These are not of the sinful, since they have The fellowship of angels. Noah. These are they, then, Who leave the throne of God, to take them From out the race of Cain; the sons of Who seek Earth's daughters for their beauty? Thou hast said it. Noah. Woe, woe, woe to such communion! Has not God made a barrier between Earth And Heaven, and limited each, kind to kind? Samiasa. Was not man made in high Jehovah's image? Did God not love what he had made? And Do we but imitate and emulate But man,and was not made to judge mankind, Azaziel. What! though it were to save? Were your immortal mission safety, 'twould Japhet. Oh father! say it not. Noah. Son! son! If that thou wouldst avoid their doom, forget Japhet. Let me die with this, and them! Samiasa. And why him and thee, And mine, but not less subject to his own He who made earth in love, had soon to Almightiness. And lo! his mildest and grieve Above its first and best inhabitants. Aholibamah. Tis said so, Japhet. It is even so. Enter NOA and SEM. Noah. Japhet! What Least to be tempted Messenger appears! Enter RAPHAEL the Archangel. Whose seat is near the throne, Is thus a Seraph's duty to be shown Now that the hour is near When earth must be alone? Return! Adore and burn In their immeasurable forfeiture. In glorious homage with the elected "seven." Seraphs! less mighty than that mightiest one, Your place is Heaven, Samiasa. Raphael! The first and fairest of the sons of God, That earth by angels must be left untrod? The world He loved, and made And as the latest birth of His great word, Raphael. Had Samiasa and Azaziel been Think how he was undone ! And think if tempting man can compensate Long must I war With him who deem'd it hard To be created, and to acknowledge him Made him as suns to a dependant star, Was ever like to Satan's! Would the hour In their true place, with the angelic | He hath not tempted you, he cannot tempt The angels, from his further snares exempt; But man hath listen'd to his voice, And ye to woman's-beautiful she is, A second host from Heaven, to break Hea- Yet, yet, oh fly! Shall pass away, While ye shall fill with shrieks the upper sky Whose memory in your immortality Shall long outlast the sun which gave Think how your essence differeth from theirs And reap'd by Death, lord of the human soil? Still they are Evil's prey and Sorrow's spoil. I hear the voice which says that all must die, Sooner than our white-bearded Patriarchs died; Her race, return'd into her womb, must The wither, And much which she inherits; but oh! why And that on high While from below deep shall rise to meet Heaven's overflow. And the eternal Lord In vain would be implored If not unmoved, yet undismay'd, And, when the fatal waters are allay'd, And as your pinions bear ye back to Heaven, And if I look up with a tearless eye, And must I lose thee too, Azaziel? Oh, my heart! my heart! Thy prophecies were true, And yet thou wert so happy too! The blow, though not unlook'd for, falls as new; But yet depart! Ah, why? Yet let me not retain thee-fly! My pangs can be but brief; but thine would be Eternal, if repulsed from Heaven for me. Too much already hast thou deign'd Our doom is sorrow; not to us alone, From his once archangelic throne For me. And thou, Azaziel! No- Away! nor weep! Thou canst not weep; but yet Her, whom the surges of the all-strangling Deep Can bring no pang like this. Fly! fly! Being gone, 'twill be less difficult to dic. Japhet. Oh say not so! Father! and thou, archangel, thou! Surely celestial Mercy lurks below That pure severe serenity of brow: Let them not meet this sea without a shore, Live as he wills it- die, when he ordains, Such would it be To alter his intent Japhet. Ay,father! but when they are gone, Floating upon the azure desert, and And dearer, silent friends and brethren, all Can we in desolation's peace have rest? Renew not Adam's fall: Mankind were then but twain, Whose drops shall be less thick than would Were graves permitted to the seed of Noah. Silence, vain boy! each word of Angel! forgive this stripling's fond despair. Who are, or should be, passionless and pure, Samiasa. It may not be: Azaziel. He hath said it, and I say, Amen! Then from this hour, Shorn as ye are of all celestial power, Japhet. Alas! where shall they dwell? blossom: Earth groans as if beneath a heavy load. In clouds they overspread the lurid sky Yet dared to soar, Never a white wing, wetted by the wave, | Fear not, though we are shut from Heaven, Yet much is ours, whence we can notbe driven. Raphael. Rebel! thy words are wicked, as thy deeds Even when the waters wax'd too fierce to brave. Soon it shall be their only shore, And then, no more! Japhet. The sun! the sun! He riseth, but his better light is gone; His glaring disk around, Proclaims earth's last of summer-days hath shone! The clouds return into the hues of night, Save where their brazen-colour'd edges streak The verge where brighter morns were wont to break. Noah. And lo! yon flash of light, The distant thunder's harbinger, appears! It cometh! hence, away, Leave to the elements their evil prey! Hence to where our all-hallow'd ark uprears Its safe and wreckless sides. Japhet. Oh, father, stay! Shall henceforth be but weak: the flaming sword, Which chased the first-born out of Paradise, Still flashes in the angelic hands. Azaziel. It cannot slay us: threaten dust with death, And talk of weapons unto that which bleeds! What are thy swords in our immortal eyes? Raphael. The moment cometh to approve thy strength; And learn at length How vain to war with what thy God commands: Thy former force was in thy faith. Enter Mortals, flying for refuge. The heavens and earth are mingling-God! oh God! What have we done? Yet spare! Leave not my Anah to the swallowing tides! | Hark! even the forest-beasts howl forth Noah. Must we not leave all life to such? Man's daughters. Aholibamah. The Tempest cometh; Heaven and Earth unite For the annihilation of all life. Between our strength and the Eternal Might! Samiasa. But ours is with thee: we will bear ye far To some untroubled star, Where thou and Anah shall partake our lot: And if thou dost not weep for thy lost earth, Our forfeit Heaven shall also be forgot. Anak. Oh! my dear father's tents, my place of birth! And mountains, land, and woods, when ye are not, Who shall dry up my tears? their prayer! The dragon crawls from out his den, To herd in terror innocent with men; And the birds scream their agony throughair. Yet, yet, Jehovah! yet withdraw thy rod Of wrath, and pity thine own world's despair! Hear not Man only but all Nature plead! Raphael. Farewell, thou earth! ye wretched sons of clay, I cannot, must not aid you. 'Tis decreed! [Exit Raphael. Japhet. Some clouds sweep on, as vultures for their prey, While others, fix'd as rocks, await the word At which their wrathful vials shall be pour'd. No azure more shall robe the firmament, Nor spangled stars be glorious: Death hath risen: In the Sun's place a pale and ghastly glare Hath wound itself around the dying air. Azaziel. Come, Anah! quit this chaosfounded prison, To which the elements again repair, [Azaziel and Samiasa fly off, and disappear with Anah and Aholibamah. Japhet. They are gone! They have disappear'd amidst the roar Of the forsaken world; and never more, Whether they live,or die with all earth's life, Now near its last, can aught restore Anah unto these eyes. dumb! The forest's trees (coeval with the hour When Paradise upsprung, Ere Eve gave Adam knowledge for her dower, Or Adam his first hymn of slavery sung), And shut out God from our besceching eyes. From first to lastTime-space-eternity-life-deathThe vast known and immeasurable unknown. He made, and can unmake; And shall I, for a little gasp of breath, Blaspheme and groan? No; let me die, as I have lived, in faith, Nor quiver, though the universe may quake! Chorus of Mortals. Where shall we fly? Not to the mountains high; For now their torrents rush with double roar, To meet the ocean, which, advancing still, Already grasps each drowning hill, Nor leaves an unsearch'd cave. Enter a Woman. Woman. Oh, save me, save! Our valley is no more: My father and my father's tent, My brethren and my brethren's herds, The little rivulet which freshen'd all No more are to be seen. morn, I turn'd to bless the spot, And not a leaf appear'd about to fall;And now they are not!Why was I born? Japhet. To die! in youth to die; Than to behold the universal tomb Am thus condemn'd to weep above in vain: Why, when all perish, why must I remain? [The Waters rise: Men fly in every direc tion; many are overtaken by the waves; the Chorus of Mortals disperses in search of safety up the Mountains; Japhet remains upon a rock, while the Ark floats towards him in the distance. |