University of Virginia Library

“ The dim world of the dead is all alive;
All busy as the bees in summer hive;
More living than of old; a life so deep,
To you its swifter motion looks like sleep.
Whether in bliss they breathe, in bale they burn,
His own eternal living each must earn.
We suck no honeycomb in drowsy peace,
Because ennobling natural cares all cease;
We live no life, as many dream, caressed
By some vast lazy sea of endless rest—
For there, as here, unbusy is unblest.

“Man is the wrestling-place of Heaven and Hell,
Where, foot to foot, Angel and Devil dwell,
With both attractions drawing him. This gives
The perfect poise in which his freedom lives.
No one so near to heaven to lack for scope;
No one so near to hell to lose all hope.
Whichever way he wills, to left or right,
Lets in a flood of supernatural might.
He flames out hellward, and all hell is free,
Rejoicing in the gust of liberty,
To rush in on him, work its devilry!
In strength of faith, or feebleness of fear,
He bows and bends the highest heavens near.
The brightness upon Prayer's uplifted face
Reflects some spirit-presence in the place.

“Each impure nature hath its parasites,
That live and revel in unclean delights.
Like moths around a flame they float and swarm;
Like flies about a horse, they ride the warm
And reeking air which is their atmosphere,
Their breath of life, the ranker the more dear.
They glory in the grossness of the blood,
For, reptile-like, they lay their eggs in mud.
In every darksome corner of the mind
They hang their webs, the wingèd life to bind;
Weaving the shadow of the Evil One
To darken 'twixt the spirit and its sun.

“If those blind Unbelievers did but know
Through what a perilous Unknown they go
By light of day; what furtive eyes do mark
Them fiercely from their ambush of the dark;
What motes of spirit dance in every beam;
What grim realities mix with their dream;
What serpents try to pull down fallen souls,
As earth-worms drag the dead leaves through their holes;
What cunning sowers scatter seed by night
That flames to fatal flower in broad daylight;
And rub their hands at having danced it in
Ere the sun rise to ripen it in sin!
What foul birds drop their eggs in innocent nests,
To win their heat from warmth of innocent breasts:
What snaky thieves surmount each garden wall;
On life's fresh leaves what caterpillars crawl;
What cool green pleasaunces and brooding bowers
Are set with soul-snares hid among the flowers;
What Tempters in the Chamber of Sleep will break,
And with insidious whisperings keep awake
The Soul! How, toad-like, at the ear will lurk
The squatted Satan, wickedly at work:
What evil spirits hover in amorous hate
Round him who nibbles at the devil's bait,
Or him who dallies, fingering the sharp edge
Of peril, or sits with feet beyond the ledge,
By some dark water, with his face ash-wan,
Until they urge him over: a doomed Man!
What cruel demons try to break a way,
Through weak brains, back to their lost world of day,
Till from some little rift in nature yawns
A black abysm of madness, and Hell dawns:
What starvelings seek to drink Corruption's breath
From rosy life, more rich than rot of death;
What ghosts of drinkers old would quench their drouth
At the wine-bibber's dreaming stertorous mouth;
What Sirens seek to kindle at your fire
Of passion some live spark of dead desire—
They would be ready even to doubt God's power
To shield their little life from hour to hour,
And many would be going, with idiot-grin,
Out of their mind to let the marvel in.

“But do not think the Devil hath his will.
Whate'er he doth he is God's servant still.
And in the larger light of day divine
The spark of his hell-fire shall cease to shine.
God maketh use of him; what he intends
For evil Heaven will turn to its own ends.
With subtle wile he tries to circumvent
The Lord, and works just what the Master meant.
He hangs the dark cloud round this world of yours;
God smileth, and a rain of good down-pours.
He strove to found the Empire of the Slave,
It crumbled in: he had but delved its grave.

“He stole upon a Nation, in disguise
Of thieves that prowled by night; day-lurking spies;
Plotters who privily set their eyes to mark
Her weakness, and garrotted her i' the dark!
The face of Freedom frightfully they scarred,
That men might know her not, so sadly marred,
And, seeing her in the dust, misjudge her stature;
And, finding she grew calm, mistake her nature!
They built about her; dreamed not she would stand
Up, terribly tall once more; and, in her hand—
Clenched, till the knuckles whiten with their grip—
And the blood blackens 'neath the nails that nip—
The sword set sharp as is her red-edged lip:
And in her eyes the lightnings that should break
In blinding, black, irreparable wreck:—
Rending their roof to heaven, their walls to earth,
(The sorer travail the more glorious birth!)
An Earthquake crash! the edifice is crowned,
And there's a heap of ruin on the ground!—
Arise, to sweep them from her onward path,
Stern as the Spectre of God's whitest wrath.
Even while they clutched the gains of their foul play
And parted them, I heard the Avengers say—
‘They plant in dust a breath will blow away,
Although they wet it well with blood to-day.

“‘Ay, Traitor, mount your topmost pinnacle.
The merry-making Heavens would mark you well,
Where all the gazers of the world may see
You throned upon the peak of infamy!’
So crooned the implacable ministers of Fate,
Standing in shadow where they watch and wait.

“‘Well done. Now place the crown upon your brow,
With its brave glitter all eyes dazzle now:
Lost in its splendour is that frightful stain
Branded beneath; the murder-mark of Cain!’
So crooned the implacable ministers of Fate,
Standing in shadow where they watch and wait.

“‘Well done. Now fold the Imperial Purple round,
And let a Pope's Anointed, robed and crowned,
Thus glorify the blood so basely spilt;
Thus image to all time the loftiest guilt.’
So crooned the implacable ministers of Fate,
Standing in shadow where they watch and wait.

“‘Well done, thou faithful servant. Hell shall rise
From half her thrones to offer you their prize,
And meet you coming; greet you with a kiss
Of benison, for such a deed as this!’
So crooned the implacable ministers of Fate,
Standing in shadow where they watch and wait.”