University of Virginia Library

Scene VI.

Midnight. The interior of the temple: a row of columns, on either side of the name, throws the side aisles into shadow. A huge baptismal font of stone, resting on four rudely-sculptured figures,—a lion, an ox, a griffin, and a ram,—rises from the floor: behind, on a platform of stone, an altar bearing the ark, on each side of which lights are burning in seven-branched candlesticks. A veil, partly lifted on one side, conceals a semicircular chancel, which is the Holy of Helics.
DAVID
(Slowly pacing along the nave.)
And this complete, a house to give Him joy!
So near, so great, the triumph, and the dread
Forerunning it! But, while I feared a bolt
From heaven, the earth, without a warning, heaved.
She cannot see the harm, nor I translate:
O doubt of soul, so often trampled down!
O highest faith, as oft renewed in pain!
Why comes your fiercest battle now? She fed;
An accident upset the toppling rock;
The vision was a dream: the flock I lead
Is fooled by me, as I have fooled myself!
Howe'er I turn, I stand as girt by fire;
And all in me which seemed divinely good
Is changed to poison, made a scorpion-sting,
To pierce my soul with death. Oh, hearken, Lord!

[He buries his face in his hands. A shadow glides swiftly from pillar to pillar, and pauses opposite to him.]
LIVIA
(Aside, in a whisper.)
He's nigh despair: I know—there's but one source—
Whence comes it. Fail me not, my woman's heart,
Or he and I are lost.

DAVID
(Lifting his head.)
He will not speak!
Doth He not know how terrible it is
To ask, and not be answered? Why, one soul,
For sin so tortured, would make justice weep:
But this is good, this seek a million souls.
What, then, is He? Hold, hold! There lies a gulf
Whose awful darkness frightens worse than flame.
The thought's a serpent, coiled round heart and throat,
And crushing life, save one dull spark that burns
In suffering only.

[He staggers to one side, and leans against a column.
LIVIA
(Aside.)
This is deepest woe
Of doubt, that vibrates back to faith again,
Can I but loose the string. He must not see,
Nor hear, as yet; but, stay! one chance remains.

[She steals forward, and vanishes in the darkness.
DAVID
Thus all accomplished crumbles, slides away!
Power lost, authority's a puff of smoke;
Respect becomes its angry opposite;
For each an insult in my failure feels,
Spying a cold intention where I gave
In self-forgetting faith.
This dare not be:
Am I set back, to seek His face again?
Through heat and haste of youth, too ardent hope
Of large acceptance, was confusion born,
And still I stray? Even for the sake of men,
Should I appear as I believed I was?
One line of light,—one little entering thread,
As through a worm-hole in a shutter probes
A darkened chamber,—that would save my power.
[The bass-pipes of the organ begin to sound, scarcely audible at first, but gradually increasing in volume; then, after a few simple, alternating Cords, a faint, flute-like stop is added.]
Is this an answer, out of weary sense
Awakened, to delude me as before?
Not so! I cannot dream such harmonies:
That shuddering of the air, that far-off sweep
Of myriad voices, hiding what they sing,—
I feel, I hear again! Come near, and speak!
Fold up your fluttering wings, that shake the sound,
Or soothe my passion, loosened through the eyes,
Till I distinguish. Oh! some pity breathes
In your celestial sweetness, melting me
To such self-sorrow, I can bear no more.
[He covers his face, and weeps: the music gradually ceases.]
My soul is quieted, and yet so sad!
It seems to wait, not all disclothed of hope,
But passive, like the silence of a child
Shut up alone, whom love may soon release.
But I,—will love release me?

LIVIA
(Stepping noiselessly forward: in a low voice.)
Prophet, yea!

DAVID
(Starting.)
Ah! What is this? How came you here?

LIVIA
He called.

DAVID
He called? What said He?

LIVIA
First, “Prepare a chant,
Meet for the dedication of My house.”
I rose, came hither; and the organ-stops
Compelled my fingers to the strain you heard.
As in a dream, the solemn, breathing chords
Filled all of space beneath the hollow sky,
Above a valley; trees and rocky crests
I seemed to see; and one awaiting soul
Was there, and listening.

DAVID
Livia! This you saw?

LIVIA
Dimly, and far away; but you were near.
Within the temple something wild and strange,
A sense of agony, a dread appeal,
So pierced my soul, I wept. I felt whence came
The subtile influence,—felt, and yielded all
Receptive tablets of magnetic sense
Which woman keeps, the substitute for power;
Till what, unconsciously, you wrote thereon
Brought me to you.

DAVID
I wrote? and you know all?
'Twere miracle! and yet, within your eyes
I read the knowledge.

LIVIA
Also that my faith
Finds surer triumph, planted in your doubt?
This is the prophet-nature: such were they
Whose lips became live coals of kindled truth,
Dipped in the hell of an uncertain mind,
To fit them for the bliss of certainty.
What you esteem more keenly, dreading loss,
You will attain: your very fears are hopes;
For, if the signs of power be accidents,
Then accident is greater miracle!

DAVID
Ha!

LIVIA
Thus, each side, your feet are firmly set.

DAVID
And what I ponder,—is it known to you?

LIVIA
Ay, known and pondered, as a woman weighs
Her share in law, her half of destiny;
Not coldly, but with warm, impressive mind,
That shapes its living features. Would you see
Their form in mine?

DAVID
I feel it, ere you speak;
And yet I would behold.

LIVIA
Within my heart
Truth purer is, than educated shame.
Unteach this last in woman, she will love
Not selfishly, as now,—possessing less
By claiming more,—but with a proud content
In yielding home and honor to the rest.
[She speaks in a lower tone.]
Here might I help: my heart suggests a way
It shrinks from, save extremity of need
Demand all sacrifice. If I confess
One timid prayer, and justify the law
Through my desire, I do but shut the door
On its fulfilment.

DAVID
Livia!

LIVIA
Bid me speak,
And by obedience other bliss may come.

DAVID
Livia! fulfilment of your prayer, and mine!
So many hearts, as birds in mating-time,
Draw near each other perched on hedge and spray;
But ours, like skylarks, met above the cloud!
When first I saw you, there was touch of wings,
Far up in loftier solitudes of air
A warm companionship. You cannot sink
Below our partnered light, nor I, alone,
Aspire beyond it. Come, and be yourself
The law, the revelation!

[He stretches out his arms: Livia throws herself upon his breast.]
LIVIA
David! now
My Prophet and my love!
[Kissing him.]
Oh! nevermore
Shall I, thus beckoned, falter on the way;
But when your weary spirit leans on mine,
And draws such life as once, from hers he gave,
The Roman father, I am all fulfilled.
This is the place, the purpose, and the power
For me ordained: be not less bold to take
Than I to give!

DAVID
(Returning her kisses.)
This sign shall triumph. Lo!
The Enemy but made his last assault:
My power comes back: the temple stands complete!