 | The Judgement of the Flood |  |
‘I know it, of a truth;’—then, Lamech cried—
‘Even so the unwritten word of Enoch saith,
Tradition sacred, that no flesh shall be
Before its Maker just. Were I to say,
That I am perfect, I were proved perverse;
Nay, grant me perfect, the Supreme destroys
The pious, and the impious both alike;
For what avails the excellence of dust?
Hence is my soul aweary of my life;
For he hath given the earth into the grasp
Of wicked men . . the blessed land of trees
And herbs, and fruits, and waters, . . hill, and vale,
Though holy. God; thou hidest in thy heart
Decree divine; I sin, thou markest me;
Am wicked, and woe to me; righteous, yet
My head I may not lift; yet shall I die
Even as the sinner . . die in grief, and gloom.
And what advantage have I over him?
Are we not equal? Equal are the dead,
Nor look on light for ever. Meanwhile, he,
With meat, and drink; with plunder, rapine, lust,
Wealth, and good days; hath been made arrogant:
But the poor saint has sorrowed, while he lived,
And died in trouble; going to the land
Of darkness, and the shadowy vale of Death;
The shadowy vale of Death, of order void;
And where the very light as darkness is—
Let me alone, and soothe me as I may.’
‘Even so the unwritten word of Enoch saith,
Tradition sacred, that no flesh shall be
Before its Maker just. Were I to say,
That I am perfect, I were proved perverse;
Nay, grant me perfect, the Supreme destroys
The pious, and the impious both alike;
For what avails the excellence of dust?
Hence is my soul aweary of my life;
For he hath given the earth into the grasp
Of wicked men . . the blessed land of trees
And herbs, and fruits, and waters, . . hill, and vale,
Though holy. God; thou hidest in thy heart
Decree divine; I sin, thou markest me;
Am wicked, and woe to me; righteous, yet
My head I may not lift; yet shall I die
89
And what advantage have I over him?
Are we not equal? Equal are the dead,
Nor look on light for ever. Meanwhile, he,
With meat, and drink; with plunder, rapine, lust,
Wealth, and good days; hath been made arrogant:
But the poor saint has sorrowed, while he lived,
And died in trouble; going to the land
Of darkness, and the shadowy vale of Death;
The shadowy vale of Death, of order void;
And where the very light as darkness is—
Let me alone, and soothe me as I may.’
The passages here and elsewhere referred to as “the unwritten word of Enoch,” are to be found in the pseudo Ethiopian prophecy; and which is thus used on the hypothesis of its including some traditions of Enoch, though not the genuine Book of the patriarch; such genuine Book being subsequently given in this poem, as supposed to be revealed by inspiration to the Poet.
| The Judgement of the Flood | |