 | The Serpent Play |  |
Scene V.
—The Paradise of Cœlis.Actors, Spectators, Troops, and the Serpent Kausis.
The stage into a nation grows;
The actors swell into avenging foes.
With sadder look the Troubadour
Advances towards the people, hushed,
While he uplifts the Cross once more;
So drops away their fitful roar
Like falling waves upon the boulders crushed.
Till it befal to learn their fates
The panting crowd his voice awaits:
Some deem that out of such a multitude
They may themselves the crush elude,
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Ere they have dropped beneath a sabre's wound.
HAYUS.
‘Hear, Voragine! When thou didst lead
Thy arms against us, what was our offence?
Then be the ending of thy deed
A terror for all coming time;
And be the sentence passed upon thy crime
Worse than the pangs of life-long penitence.
I curse thee through the Power above
Whose dearest work thou didst efface;
I curse thee through his utmost love
Who suffered death to spare the human race!
I curse thy kindred and thy bride,
And all who shared in thee a hero's pride!
Our fate we feel; be thine as hard a fate
And like our homes these homes be desolate!
The dogs of war to thee return,
Let loose upon us in that cruel fray;
Again with thirst of blood they burn
On this their second festal day.
So endeth this long-memorable Play!’
He lifts the Cross a third time, at whose flash
He turns his face, then out of sight retires,
But in departing hears the armour's crash.
The watchful troops had caught the sign
And in their bosoms wrath divine
The rage of vengeance fires.
The horsemen in their fury leap
At helpless crowds and o'er their bodies sweep,
Sabreing alike the old and young.
The people to and fro are driven,
Shrieking for pity never given
By those who trample down the astonished throng.
Some towards the open gates are rushing
To but encounter sights more dire:
The Serpent Kausis guards the gates,
And there his maddened prey awaits,
Rolling o'er them his eyes of fire;
Their bodies in an instant crushing.
He turns his face, then out of sight retires,
But in departing hears the armour's crash.
The watchful troops had caught the sign
And in their bosoms wrath divine
The rage of vengeance fires.
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At helpless crowds and o'er their bodies sweep,
Sabreing alike the old and young.
The people to and fro are driven,
Shrieking for pity never given
By those who trample down the astonished throng.
Some towards the open gates are rushing
To but encounter sights more dire:
The Serpent Kausis guards the gates,
And there his maddened prey awaits,
Rolling o'er them his eyes of fire;
Their bodies in an instant crushing.
When eyes no longer upward gaze,
Fresh dimmed by death, like fiery snakes outburst
Red flames upon the height accursed,
Swift coils of fire the castle racking,
Like bones its oaken rafters cracking,
Till every house was fuel in the blaze,
That like a sea to the far valley spread
Where Hayus lay, self-smitten, with the dead.
Fresh dimmed by death, like fiery snakes outburst
Red flames upon the height accursed,
Swift coils of fire the castle racking,
Like bones its oaken rafters cracking,
Till every house was fuel in the blaze,
That like a sea to the far valley spread
Where Hayus lay, self-smitten, with the dead.
| The Serpent Play | |