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the complete poetical works-第135节

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II



MOUNT QUARANTANIA





I



LUCIFER。

Not in the lightning's flash; nor in the thunder;

Not in the tempest; nor the cloudy storm;

    Will I array my form;

But part invisible these boughs asunder;

And move and murmur as the wind upheaves

    And whispers in the leaves。



Not as a terror and a desolation;

Not in my natural shape; inspiring fear

    And dread; will I appear;

But in soft tones of sweetness and persuasion;

A sound as of the fall of mountain streams;

    Or voices heard in dreams。



He sitteth there in silence; worn and wasted

With famine; and uplifts his hollow eyes

    To the unpitying skies;

For forty days and nights he hath not tasted

Of food or drink; his parted lips are pale;

    Surely his strength must fail。



Wherefore dost thou in penitential fasting

Waste and consume the beauty of thy youth。

    Ah; if thou be in truth

The Son of the Unnamed; the Everlasting;

Command these stones beneath thy feet to be

    Changed into bread for thee!



CHRISTUS。

'T is written!  Man shall not live by bread alone;

But by each word that from God's mouth proceedeth!





II



LUCIFER。

Too weak; alas! too weak is the temptation

For one whose soul to nobler things aspires

    Than sensual desires!

Ah; could I; by some sudden aberration;

Lend and delude to suicidal death

    This Christ of Nazareth!



Unto the holy Temple on Moriah;

With its resplendent domes; and manifold

    Bright pinnacles of gold;

Where they await thy coming; O Messiah!

Lo; I have brought thee!  Let thy glory here

    Be manifest and clear。



Reveal thyself by royal act and gesture

Descending with the bright triumphant host

    Of all the hithermost

Archangels; and about thee as a vesture

The shining clouds; and all thy splendors show

    Unto the world below!



Cast thyself down; it is the hour appointed;

And God hath given his angels charge and care 

    To keep thee and upbear

Upon their hands his only Son; the Anointed;

Lest he should dash his foot against a stone

    And die; and be unknown。



CHRISTUS。

'T is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!





III



LUCIFER。

I cannot thus delude him to perdition!

But one temptation still remains untried;

    The trial of his pride;

The thirst of power; the fever of ambition!

Surely by these a humble peasant's son

    At last may be undone!



Above the yawning chasms and deep abysses;

Across the headlong torrents; I have brought

    Thy footsteps; swift as thought;

And from the highest of these precipices;

The Kingdoms of the world thine eyes behold。

    Like a great map unrolled。



From far…off Lebanon; with cedars crested;

To where the waters of the Asphalt Lake

    On its white pebbles break;

And the vast desert; silent; sand…invested;

These kingdoms all are mine; and thine shall be;

    If thou wilt worship me!



CHRISTUS。

Get thee behind me; Satan! thou shalt worship

The Lord thy God; Him only shalt thou serve!



ANGELS MINISTRANT。

The sun goes down; the evening shadows lengthen;

The fever and the struggle of the day

    Abate and pass away;

Thine Angels Miniatrant; we come to strengthen

And comfort thee; and crown thee with the palm;

    The silence and the calm。







III



THE MARRIAGE IN CANA



THE MUSICIANS。

Rise up; my love; my fair one;

Rise up; and come away;

For lo! the winter is past;

The rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of the singing of birds is come;

And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land。



THE BRIDEGROOM。

Sweetly the minstrels sing the Song of Songs!

My heart runs forward with it; and I say:

Oh set me as a seal upon thine heart;

And set me as a seal upon thine arm;

For love is strong as life; and strong as death;

And cruel as the grave is jealousy!



THE MUSICIANS。

I sleep; but my heart awaketh;

'T is the voice of my beloved

Who knocketh; saying: Open to me;

My sister; my love; my dove;

For my head is filled with dew;

My locks with the drops of the night!



THE BRIDE。

Ah yes; I sleep; and yet my heart awaketh。

It is the voice of my beloved who knocks。



THE BRIDEGROOM。

O beautiful as Rebecca at the fountain;

O beautiful as Ruth among the sheaves!

O fairest among women!  O undefiled!

Thou art all fair; my love; there's no spot in thee!



THE MUSICIANS。

My beloved is white and ruddy;

The chiefest among ten thousand

His locks are black as a raven;

His eyes are the eyes of doves;

Of doves by the rivers of water;

His lips are like unto lilies;

Dropping sweet…smelling myrrh。



ARCHITRICLINUS。

Who is that youth with the dark azure eyes;

And hair; in color like unto the wine;

Parted upon his forehead; and behind

Falling in flowing locks?



PARANYMPHUS。

                       The Nazarene

Who preacheth to the poor in field and village

The coming of God's Kingdom。



ARCHITRICLINUS。

                         How serene

His aspect is! manly yet womanly。



PARANYMPHUS。

Most beautiful among the sons of men!

Oft known to weep; but never known to laugh。



ARCHITRICLINUS。

And tell me; she with eyes of olive tint;

And skin as fair as wheat; and pale brown hair;

The woman at his side?



PARANYMPHUS。

                  His mother; Mary。



ARCHITRICLINUS。

And the tall figure standing close behind them;

Clad all in white; with lace and beard like ashes;

As if he were Elias; the White Witness;

Come from his cave on Carmel to foretell

The end of all things?



PARANYMPHUS。

                    That is Manahem

The Essenian; he who dwells among the palms

Near the Dead Sea。



ARCHITRICLINUS。

            He who foretold to Herod

He should one day be King?



PARANYMPHUS。

                     The same。



ARCHITRICLINUS。

                           Then why

Doth he come here to sadden with his presence

Our marriage feast; belonging to a sect

Haters of women; and that taste not wine?



THE MUSICIANS。

My undefiled is but one;

The only one of her mother;

The choice of her that bare her;

The daughters saw her and blessed her;

The queens and the concubines praised her;

Saying; Lo! who is this

That looketh forth as the morning?



MANAHEM aside。

The Ruler of the Feast is gazing at me;

As if he asked; why is that old man here

Among the revellers?  And thou; the Anointed!

Why art thou here?  I see as in a vision

A figure clothed in purple; crowned with thorns;

I see a cross uplifted in the darkness;

And hear a cry of agony; that shall echo

Forever and forever through the world!



ARCHITRICLINUS。

Give us more wine。  These goblets are all empty。



MARY to CHRISTUS。

They have no wine!



CHRISTUS。

               O woman; what have I

To do with thee?  Mine hour is not yet come。



MARY to the servants。

Whatever he shall say to you; that do。



CHRISTUS。

Fill up these pots with water。



THE MUSICIANS。

Come; my beloved;

Let us go forth into the field;

Let us lodge in the villages;

Let us get up early to the vineyards;

Let us see if the vine flourish;

Whether the tender grape appear;

And the pomegranates bud forth。



CHRISTUS。

                     Draw out now

And bear unto the Ruler of the Feast。



MANAHEM aside。

O thou; brought up among the Essenians;

Nurtured in abstinence; taste not the wine!

It is the poison of dragons from the vineyards

Of Sodom; and the taste of death is in it!



ARCHITRICLINUS to the BRIDEGROOM。

All men set forth good wine at the beginning;

And when men have well drunk; that which is worse;

But thou hast kept the good wine until now。



MANAHEM aside。



The things that have been and shall be no more;

The things that are; and that hereafter shall he;

The things that might have been; and yet were not;

The fading twilight of great joys departed;

The daybreak of great truths as yet unrisen;

The intuition and the expectation

Of something; which; when come; is not the same;

But only like its forecast in men's dreams;

The longing; the delay; and the delight;

Sweeter for the delay; youth; hope; love; death;

And disappointment which is also death;

All these make up the sum of human life;

A dream within a dream; a wind at night

Howling across the desert in despair;

Seeking for something lost it cannot find。

Fate or foreseeing; or whatever name

Men call it; matters not; what is to be

Hath been fore…written in the thought divine

From the beginning。  None can hide from it; 

But it will find him out; nor run from it;

But it o'ertaketh him!  The Lord hath said it。



THE BRIDEGROOM to the BRIDE; on the balcony。

When Abraham went with Sarah into Egypt;

The land was all illumined with her beauty;

But thou dost make the very night itself

Brighter than day!  Beh

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