Prince Lucifer By Alfred Austin |
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 | Prince Lucifer |  |
SCENE II
[Father Gabriel reciting Mass; the Choir, accompanied by a harmonium, singing the parts allotted to it.]FATHER GABRIEL.
Kyrie, Eleison!
Christe, Eleison!
Kyrie, Eleison!
[The Choir sings.]
EVE.
(praying).
In the hour of my temptation,
Lord! have mercy on me!
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Christ! have mercy on me!
In the hour of my repentance,
Lord! have mercy on me!
[Prince Lucifer, who has entered the Church along with Count Abdiel, leans against a pillar where Eve can see him.]
EVE.
(praying).
Lo! there He stands:
But with unfolded hands,
And knees not bent in prayer.
Why did I bid him come?
His lips are locked and dumb;
And yet—and yet—my heart is glad to know that he is there!
No more upon the mountain-side
With workday kirtle and unribboned crook,
His eyes upon me look,
But here in white apparel of a bride.
I close my eyes, but see him still.
Have mercy on me, Lord, have mercy!
Do what I will,
The incense and the flowers and the chants grow dim;
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My heart, instead of Thee, with him!
LUCIFER.
(to himself).
Her thoughts from earth have got away so far,
That, like a lark whose soaring we pursue
Till in celestial vacancy the song
Dwindles to doubt, her soul is buried in Heaven.
If she can thus on fantasy unseen
Concentrate adoration, how would love,
Love of a living presence, bind her heart
To sweet idolatry! She nothing hears
Save the angelic canticles, nothing sees
But the imagination of her breast,
On which she broods. The rescued lamb should be
Still in her arms, as she lives still in mine,
Fondly remembered.
FATHER GABRIEL.
Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi,
Dona nobis pacem.
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(praying).
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world,
Give me peace, give me peace!
The mists are round me rolled and curled,
The dark and dangers of the way increase.
I cannot pray,
Pray as of old.
My thoughts are like a flock astray.
Wilt Thou not call them back,
Back to the heavenly track,
Unto the trodden pathway of thy fold?
Bid these strange tumults cease!
Thyself upon my heart enthrone!
Make me Thine own, Thine own!
Give me peace, give me peace!
LUCIFER.
(to himself).
What seeks she in the hollow of her palms,
Making her eyes a darkness, shutting out
The clear and wholesome presence of the day?
Either she hides from earthy visitant
Her heart should welcome, or to vaporous guest
Gives useless lodging. Tender little head,
And hands unmarred by shepherding, ye should
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The treasure each contains. A bride elect,
Arrayed for barren nuptials, how she would
Adjust the part of love's own celebrant!
Now she but plays with marriage, and enfolds
A shadowy bridegroom. . . . O unnatural Nature!
Why is thy work so prodigal of waste?
Thou, like a wanton mother, dost refuse
To suckle our legitimate desires,
Thy very offspring. Thy delight alone
Is in the getting, selfish sensualist!
Content though half thy teeming progeny,
Beauty, and youth, and genial appetite,
Pine unfed foundlings!
FATHER GABRIEL.
[Reciting the beginning of the Gospel according to St. John.]
Et verbum caro factum est.
[They all kneel.]
LUCIFER.
(to himself).
“The Word, made flesh.” The Word, that is, the Spirit.
Why then oppose them? If the spirit endues
A carnal garment, should it not revere
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Divorce the nuptials? Granted that the body
Is kindled by the spirit, spirit should own
The substance that it feeds on. Yet this man,
This simple soul, this lantern to the simple,
If he should speak, will glorify the flame,
Anathematise the fuel, making base
And bestial, by the act of banning it,
What complete fusing of the flesh and spirit
Can burn to ether. He is going to speak.
[Mass being over, Eve and her companions approach the altar-rails.]
FATHER GABRIEL.
And now, my children, gather round,
And listen humbly to the sound
Of holy counsel through me poured,
As by a conduit, from the Lord.
The words I utter are not mine:
They come from unseen source divine,
Cleansing, where'er they freely flow,
The soul from sin, the heart from woe.
And listen humbly to the sound
Of holy counsel through me poured,
As by a conduit, from the Lord.
The words I utter are not mine:
They come from unseen source divine,
Cleansing, where'er they freely flow,
The soul from sin, the heart from woe.
There is a world you have not seen,
A world of turmoil and chagrin,
Where wealth and penury maintain
A conflict cruel, endless, vain.
How blest are we, my children dear,
Safe in our mountain haven here,
Far from the sea and storms of life,
Far from the struggle and the strife.
A world of turmoil and chagrin,
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A conflict cruel, endless, vain.
How blest are we, my children dear,
Safe in our mountain haven here,
Far from the sea and storms of life,
Far from the struggle and the strife.
But where shall we our souls seclude
So safely, sin may not intrude?
You know the shameless bird of spring,
When innocent warblers pair and sing,
Drops its foul egg within their nest,
Where, fostered by a loving breast,
And warmed to life with their own brood,
Sharing their couch, their warmth, their food,
The half-fledged alien writhes about,
And from their own home thrusts them out.
So safely, sin may not intrude?
You know the shameless bird of spring,
When innocent warblers pair and sing,
Drops its foul egg within their nest,
Where, fostered by a loving breast,
And warmed to life with their own brood,
Sharing their couch, their warmth, their food,
The half-fledged alien writhes about,
And from their own home thrusts them out.
ABDIEL.
(to himself).
Alas! poor cuckoo! Yet I ween it were
Scarcely the spring, without you!
FATHER GABRIEL.
So to your hearts, God meant to be
Close nests of loving purity,
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Slow it matures from day to day,
Feeds on the warmth it findeth there,
Expels peace, purity, and prayer,
And, foully glorying in its guile,
Dwells in the breast it doth defile.
ABDIEL.
(to himself).
Thus Nature lends herself to any text,
Dispassionately various. If one owned
The ready fancy this wise preacher boasts,
One could malign the turtles.
FATHER GABRIEL.
Therefore, dear daughters, watch and pray;
And pure like her we crown to-day,
Alike in thought, and word, and deed,
With Mary Mother intercede
To tend you safely till you feel
Your earthly senses faint and reel,
And burst upon your soul's desire
The Hosannas of the heavenly choir.
[Father Gabriel, having placed a chaplet of white wild-flowers on Eve's head, retires to the Sacristy. Eve, followed by
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LUCIFER.
My roses to your rose; not grown so fair,
Nor yet so faultless; frail, ephemeral,
But such as homage offers. When they fade,
Your sweetness and my memory will survive them.
[Prince Lucifer and Count Abdiel take their leave.]
CRONE.
What did he say?
1ST MATRON.
I didn't catch the words; did you?
2D MATRON.
Not the last ones. But what I did hear was beautiful.
1ST PEASANT.
Yes, that's the sort of talk they like. Flowers and fair words would people a nunnery.
2D PEASANT.
Aye, if one had such a tongue and such roses, Elspeth wouldn't flout a fellow long.
[The villagers disperse, and Eve, attended by some of her companions, walks homeward.]1ST MATRON.
Did you see how shy she was? She never answered him a word.
2ND MATRON.
What would you have her say? To
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3D MATRON.
She looked mighty pleased, though.
1ST MATRON.
What girl wouldn't? He treated her as though she were the Princess, and he the peasant.
| Prince Lucifer | |