University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

—The interior of the tents of Noema and Afrael. Deep night.
AFRAEL.
Then, shall we go?

NOEMA.
Yes, Afrael, if thou wilt.
For there is nothing here I care to keep,
Save thee and Irad! Sadness lags behind,
In whatso places that we leave; and some,
Some few prompt natural drops perhaps will fall,
When from the lintel of past days I turn,
Never to cross it more! 'Twas here I gained
A mother's knowledge, deepest of all lore;
Here I first heard thy questions musical,
And here—here—here,—where now we lie entranced,
I learned Love's awful secret!

AFRAEL.
So it was!
Nor shall I leave it panglessly. But, Noema,
We need another land for our new race,
Remote from this one, old, which, it would seem,
Hath from the ruin of its dismal Tower
Learnt nought but fear. It is unteachable!
For the best tutor still is cheerful Hope,
Who leads us on from day to day, until
The task of Life is mastered.

NOEMA.
Is it true
They speak with divers tongues, and understand
One not the other?

AFRAEL.
'Tis conceivable.
Nought is so unintelligent as fear,
For whilst it speaks with obscure stammering lips,
It comprehends not what is plainly said.
You cannot parley with it. And, besides,
'Tis credible that they who sought to pierce
The Impenetrable Barrier, were rolled back
In dire perplexity upon themselves,
And nothing apprehend. thus will it fare
Ever with their temerity who think
To storm and raze the Unknown. Preposterous Towers,
Absolute wreck, and tongues' confusion,—
Such, through all change of circumstance and time,
Will be their brief and doleful history!

NOEMA.
Hast thou no sure conception how the Tower
Was overthrown? Whether a frolic troop
Of Seraphim invisible rode by,
And with the points of their light-poisëd spears
Tilted, and down it went? Or lightnings real,
With thunder in reserve, successive launched
By Heaven's almighty Captain, smote its front,
And routed its pretenders?

AFRAEL.
Who shall say?
I saw no armoured Seraphim, nor heard
Thunders unparalleled or lightnings strange,
But only complete sickness of the air,
Clouds vomiting fire, and with deep rumblings vexed,
To which the Earth responded; and the Tower
Collapsed in their commotion. It may be
That one of Nature's mindless accidents
The ruin wrought; or that the Unseen Power
Made that loud music with man's folly chime,
And with a fixed coincidence rebuked
His weak extravagance. We cannot know.
E'en in that star whose denizen I was
Ere Earth's more blest inhabitant I turned,
God's face was all as dim as seems it here.
How were it otherwise? Let finite feet
With straining breath and clamorous tongue pursue,
With faster feet Infinity recedes,
And we drop ever more behind the view,
Which ere we started it, was very close;
Ay, if we do not frighten it away,
By prying if 'tis there, still keeps a seat
In every human breast!

NOEMA.
And must we be
Content with that?

AFRAEL.
My love, I think we must.

NOEMA.
And when we die?

AFRAEL.
Ah! then we shall know more,
Or else of this vexation be quite cured
That still we know so little! It is strange
Thy sires bethought them never, that Death may
Be but the falling of a wave, enlarged
By rising of another,—half the same!
Dost think that thou and I can all go out,
Or Love's prized household gods but serve to swell
The lumber of Oblivion? If 'tmust be,
At least we ne'er need know it, and 'twere wise,
With a resigned humility to hope
That Death's dark door, upon the other side,
Upon a more than living brightness looks.

NOEMA.
Here is a mystery in the heart of life,
We scarce could do without. Take it away,
The sun would shine but once, to shine no more.
The pathos of the winter wolds would pass,
From April's tears the glamour would be fled,
The smoke and smell of autumn's smouldering woods,
When summer's fire is out, no more would be
The soul of luscious sadness, and the face
Of this fair world, blank and expressionless!

AFRAEL.
Then let us go where it is fairest far,
And most its various aspect is expressed;
To the Land I told thee of, which 'witched my gaze
When I, a Spirit, this void globe surveyed,
And which we now must people with our race.
Into the largest of all inland seas
Earth's 'dented shores enclose, it jutteth out,
A long and lovely promontory lulled
By the soft murmurs of the soothing wave.
Vigilant mountains from its smiling vales
And slopes of hanging beauty fence the snows
The jealous North despatches, and adown
Its mild meandering length, soft-soaring crests
Catch the bright rays of the round-travelling sun,
East where he rises, westwards when he sets,
And pour them down into its laughing plains.
All Shinar's wealth is there; the sweet-pithed date,
Cedars, and pines, and many a waving grass,
And fields of dimpling corn, no sickle touched.
But other growths I saw which sprout not here;
Gardens of golden fruit that had not robbed
The glistering foliage of rich-scented bloom,
And tapering bunches of thick-clustering beads,
Which seemed to lock the sunshine in their veins,
Drooping from lissom, leafy-hidden stems,
Carelessly swung from happy bough to bough.
Let us go there, and make it with our blood
The land of Love, as 'tis of loveliness,
Art, Poesy, and Thought; all that can flow
From human minds wedded to human hearts!

NOEMA.
Yes! With to-morrow's dawn then let us go,
And take this wisdom with us: Though the Earth
May not ascend to Heaven, by Tower or aught
Of man's devising, Heaven descends to Earth
For those who will receive it. We have it here,
Here in each other's arms, where Spirit and flesh
Have recognised their kinship. Love is nought
But shadow or mere carcass, save it blend
The breath of both:—a name, a nothingness,
Or wholly self and bestial!

AFRAEL.
There it is!
Spirit is not extinguished by the flesh,
Nor flesh repelled by Spirit. One is flame,
The other fuel; both are requisite
For Love's most sacred fire. That is a truth,
A Being well might abdicate the skies,
To learn and teach!

NOEMA.
And thou hast taught it me.

AFRAEL.
Then, Noema, good night! Sound be thy sleep!

NOEMA.
And sweet thine, Afrael! My love, good night!