Heaven and Earth; A MYSTERY. FOUNDED ON THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE IN GENESIS, CHAP. VI. And woman wailing for her demon lover.-COLERIDGE. MEN. NOAH, and his Sons. IRAD. WOMEN. ANAH. AHOLIBAMAH. Unto some son of clay, and toil and spin! ANAH. I should have loved Azaziel not less were he mortal: yet Of the poor child of clay which so adored him, Chorus of Spirits of the Earth.-Chorus of Mortals. His grief will be of ages, or at least HEAVEN AND EARTH. SCENE I. Mine would be such for him, were I the scraph, AHOLIBAMAH. That he will single forth some other daughter ANAH. A woody and mountainous district near Mount Ararat. And if it should be so, and she so loved him, TIME-midnight. Enter ANAH and AHOLIBAMAH. Better thus than that he should weep for me. AHOLIBAMAH. If I thought thus of Samiasa's love, All seraph as he is, I'd spurn him from me. ANAH. Seraph! 91 Whatever star contain thy glory; Oh! think of her who holds thee dear! Eternity is in thine years, Unborn, undying beauty in thine eyes: Thou walk'st thy many worlds, thou see'st 1 The archangels, said to be seven in number Some wandering star which shoots through the abyss,To meet them! Oh! for wings to bear Whose tenants, dying while their world is falling, Or joining with the inferior cherubim, I call thee, I await thee, and I love thee. Many worship thee-that will I not: If that thy spirit down to mine may move thee, Descend and share my lot! More bright than those of day Thine immortality cannot repay My love. There is a ray In me, which, though forbidden yet to snme, Our mother Eve bequeath'd us--but my heart I feel my immortality o'ersweep All pains, all tears, all time, all fears, and peal Into my ears this truth-" thou livest for ever!" I know not, nor would know; My spirit, while they hover there, To Samiasa's breast! ANAH. Lo! they have kindled all the west, On Ararat's late secret crest A mild and many-colour'd bow, The remnant of their flashing path, Now shines! and now, behold! it hath Which the leviathan hath lash'd When sporting on the face of the calm deep, AHOLIBAMAH. They have touch'd earth! Samiasa! ANAH. SCENE II. My Azaziel! Enter IRAD and JAPHET. IRAD. Despond not: wherefore wilt thou wander thus To add thy silence to the silent night, JAPHET. But they soothe me With gloom as sad: it is a hopeless spot, And I anı hopeless. IRAD. But 't is dangerous; Strange sounds and sights have peopled it with terrors. I must go with thec. JAPHET. Irad, no; believe me I feel no evil thought, and fear no evil. IRAD. But evil things will be thy foe the more No; neither, Irad: JAPHET. I must proceed alone. IRAD. Then peace be with thee! JAPHET (solus). [Exit IRAD. Peace! I have sought it where it should be found, In love with love too, which perhaps deserved it : Have come upon me. Peace! what peace? the calm Of I my mind overworn. The earth's grown wicked, And many signs and portents have proclaim'd A change at hand, and an o'erwhelming doom To perishable beings. Oh, my Anah! When the dread hour denounced shal! open wide The fountains of the deep, how mightest thou Have lam within this bosom, folded from The elements; this bosom, which in vain Hath beat for thee, and then will beat more vain! While thinc-Oh, God! at least remit to her Thy wrath! for she is pure amidst the failing, As a star in the clouds, which cannot quench, Although they obscure it for an hour. My Anab How would I have adored thee, but thou wouldst nuk; And still would I redeem, thee-see thee live When ocean is carth's grave, and, unopposed By rock or shallow, the leviathan. What doth he there? It is an evil spot And can it be?-Shall yon exulting peak, Nearest the stars? and can those words "no more" Be meant for thee, for all things, save for us, Upon thy coming doom, without a feeling [He pauses. [A rushing sound from the cavern is heard, and shouts of laughter-afterwards a Spirit passes. [Exeunt NOAH and SHEM. JAPHET. In the name Of the Most High, what art thou? Ye wilds, that look eternal; and thou cave, And topling trees that twine their roots with stone Of man would tremble, could he reach them-yes, And man-Oh, then! my fellow-beings! Who By all that earth holds holiest, speak! Son of the saved! When thou and tnine have braved The wide and warring element; When the great barrier of the deep is rent, Shalt thou and thine be good or happy?—No! Thy new world and new race shall be of wo We, we shall view the deep's salt sources pour'd Until one element shall do the work Of all in chaos; until they, The creatures proud of their poor clay, Shall perish, and their bleached bones shall lurk In caves, in dens, in clefts of mountains, where The deep shall follow to their latest lair; Where even the brutes, in their despair, Shall cease to prey on man and on each other, And the striped tiger shall lie down to die Beside the lamb, as though he were his brother. Till all things shall be as they were, Silent and uncreated, save the sky: While a brief truce Is made with Death, who shall forbear The little remnant of the past creation, To generate new nations for his use; This remnant, floating o'er the undulation Of the subsiding deluge, from its slime, When the hot sun hath baked the reeking son Into a world, shall give again to time New beings-years-diseases-sorrow-critne. With all companionship of hate and toil, Until |