The Tower of Babel A Poetical Drama: By Alfred Austin |
 |
|
| I. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| II. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| III. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| IV. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. | SCENE III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| V. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
|
 | The Tower of Babel |  |
169
SCENE III.
—Same hour as in the preceding Scene. Afrael, poised a league above the Earth.AFRAEL
(sol.)
How slowly morning breaks! The upcoming sun
Through the embattled pitchy-volumed clouds
Can barely force his way. Look at him now!
His javelins blunted, and his dazzling shield
Forgotten in his haste to breast the foe,
He hath to fight the battle all unarmed.
Withal, he wins, and through the shattered ranks
Of the resisting wrack he breaks, and lo!
Whilst they with sullen thunder veil the rout,
Dapples his path with blood, until the skies
Are with his conquest all incarnadined.
O, what a crimson triumph! [He circles in the air, and gazes round.
It is as though
The air were all on fire, and that the wrack
Were smoke of its wide kindling. Never yet
Have I beheld such havoc in the sky.
It seems as though the filmy atmosphere
Had, in the night, of perturbation supped,
And reels unstably. Nothing smooth or soft
Denotes the sky, but under, and above,
170
The axis of the round infinite world
Trembles and tilts untrustily; and shakes
The Universe with rude unrhythmic spasms.
Order has been unthronëd in the spheres,
Calm ravished of its crown, and the mute sceptre
Struck from the hand of regal Harmony!
I can but guess where blackly spins the Earth,
For constellation none, nor wandering star,
Spangles the murky cloak that wraps me round.
Yet will unerring instinct thither guide
My unillumined flight; for Love, unhelped,
Straight through the heart of darkness strikes a track,
And makes its bourne with certainty. Now growl,
Ye disproportioned thunders! and ye clouds,
Pile up your shaggy mountains till they bulge
Into the jealous sky's serenest realms,
And make the ether yours! Let all the air
Confounded be with motions contrary,
Planets roll backwards, and the Heavens distend
With loud infernal laughter! What is't to me,
Who only want one little point of space,
One nook of shelter which the storm must miss,
If only that she hides there? Leave me that,—
Then let Creation crumble!
[He prepares to descend to Earth, and as he starts, he breaks into song.
171
She is mine, She is
mine! Let the lightnings make
Their nests in the downy clouds.
She is mine, She is mine! Let the thunders quake,
As they crouch in the whirlwind's shrouds.
At heights where the eagle's wing would flag,
Where the skylark's note would pine,
I circle as tern round a sea-scourged crag,
And I cry, She is mine! She is mine!
Their nests in the downy clouds.
She is mine, She is mine! Let the thunders quake,
As they crouch in the whirlwind's shrouds.
At heights where the eagle's wing would flag,
Where the skylark's note would pine,
I circle as tern round a sea-scourged crag,
And I cry, She is mine! She is mine!
I am hers, I am hers! Let the dimpling wave
Creep up to the waiting land;
I am hers, I am hers! Let them kiss, and crave
One couch on the smooth soft sand.
There's a love by which never the shore was rent,
And a want which no ocean stirs;
'Tis the want and the love which my wings torment,
Till I feel I am hers, I am hers!
Creep up to the waiting land;
I am hers, I am hers! Let them kiss, and crave
One couch on the smooth soft sand.
There's a love by which never the shore was rent,
And a want which no ocean stirs;
'Tis the want and the love which my wings torment,
Till I feel I am hers, I am hers!
We are one, we are one! Let the planets roll,
Each on his own bright car,
From the lazulite gates to the vermeil goal,
Singly, alone, afar!
We, we will revolve in the self-same sphere,
In one orbit our lives shall run,
And from round to round, and from year to year,
Will we sing, We are one, we are one!
Each on his own bright car,
From the lazulite gates to the vermeil goal,
Singly, alone, afar!
172
In one orbit our lives shall run,
And from round to round, and from year to year,
Will we sing, We are one, we are one!
| The Tower of Babel | |