The Judgement of the Flood :: :: University of Virginia Library

What wonder, then, at last the feasters bled?
Nay—not the blood of Beasts alone—but Man's,
His blood flowed with each wine-cup. Men were slain
For sport. There gladiator Giants strove;
Strength in each nerve sublimely agonized;
Dilated every muscle, and artery,
Into the majesty of human might;
Defiance in their attitudes, and loured
Courage upon their brows. How beautiful
The human form in extreme energy . .
Soul was in every lineament, and limb:
Fiercely they died. Their spirits went abroad,
Inflamed congenial souls, already inflamed
With banqueting; whence they in heat arose,
Flown with pride, insolence, or vanity,
With madness more than all, and fell in broil.

Away the prophet turned his sickened eye,

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And looked into the East; and, in the far
Horizon, sum of all the prospect, saw
The Mount of Paradise. The Cherubim
Still waved the excluding brand of angry flame
Above, around the place once fortunate,
Where bloomed the Tree of Lives, a fiery guard;
A living miracle, and constant sign;
A caution manifest, and visible;
The presence of God's vengeance, to warn man,
If aught might warn, of sin, and truth persuade:
Of more especial note, and greater power,
Than if the bourn of death had been repassed,
For a returning spirit to convince.
—Nor this alone:—but on the hill-side too,
Arose the appointed Ark, the Deluge-ship,
For which the axe had long the forest shorn;
Birds with its terrour scared from their retreat,
And beasts the violated woods expelled:
The labour of a century; and yet
So vast a wonder, though a work of time,
Of such endurance, who beheld it, deemed
That nothing less than miracle performed
Strange fabric so capacious, yet so strong.

And in the sight of all the people there,
Did Noah lift his hand toward Eden gate,
And bade men look upon the present God.
—Shem slew the yearling lamb, and straight disposed
The sacrifice upon that Altar-Tomb:
Then Noah bowed his face before the Lord.