Читать книгу Elias: An Epic of the Ages - Orson F. Whitney - Страница 13
CANTO THREE
ОглавлениеElect of Elohim[1]
Sing I a song of aeons gone, 440
Of life from mystery sprung,
Ere sun, or moon, or rolling stars
Their radiance earthward flung;
Ere spirit-winged intelligence
Forsook those shining spheres.
Exceeding glory there to gain
Through mortal toil and tears.
A song they learn whose lives eterne
Transcend yon twinkling night,
Pale Olea's silver beam[2] outsoar, 450
Shinea's golden flight;
Passing the angel sentries by,
Mounting o'er stars and suns,
To where the orbs that govern burn,
Royal and regnant ones.
Declare, O Muse of mightier wing,
Of loftier lore, than mine!
Why God is God, and man may be
Both human and divine;
Why Sons of God, 'mid sons of men, 460
Unrecognized may dwell,
So masked in dense mortality
That none their truth can tell.
From worlds afar, from heavenmost star,
Heard I, or seemed to hear,
A sweet refrain, as summer rain,
A cadence soft and clear.
A voice, a harp,—Was it the same?—
Harping those harps among,
Leading the lyric universe, 470
On those high hills of song?
In solemn council sat the Gods;
From Kolob's height supreme,
Celestial light blazed forth afar
O'er countless kokaubeam;
And faintest tinge, the fiery fringe
Of that resplendent day,
'Lumined the dark abysmal realm
Where earth in chaos lay.
Silence. That awful hour was one 480
When thought doth most avail;
Of worlds unborn the destiny
Hung trembling in the scale.
Silence self-spelled, and there arose,
Those kings and priests among,
A power sublime, than whom appeared
None nobler 'mid the throng.
A stature mingling strength with grace,
Of meek though godlike mien;
The glory of whose countenance 490
Outshone the noonday sheen.
Whiter his hair than ocean spray,
Or frost of alpine hill.
He spake;—attention grew more grave,
The stillness e'en more still.
"Father!" the voice like music fell,
Clear as the murmuring flow
Of mountain streamlet trickling down
From heights of virgin snow.
"Father," it said, "since one must die, 500
Thy children to redeem
From spheres all formless now and void,
Where pulsing life shall teem;
"And mighty Michael[3] foremost fall,
That mortal man may be;
And chosen saviour Thou must send,
Lo, here am I—send me!
I ask, I seek no recompense,
Save that which then were mine;
Mine be the willing sacrifice, 510
The endless glory Thine!
"Give me to lead to this lorn world,
When wandered from the fold,
Twelve legions of the noble ones
That now Thy face behold;
Tried souls[4], 'mid untried spirits found,
That captained these may be,
And crowned the dispensations all
With powers of Deity.
"Who blameless bide the spirit state, 520
Clothe them in mortal clay,
The stepping-stone[5] to glories all,
If man will God obey,
Believing where he cannot see,
Till he again shall know,
And answer give, reward receive,
For all deeds done below.
"The love that hath redeemed all worlds[6]
All worlds must still redeem;
But mercy cannot justice rob— 530
Or where were Elohim?
Freedom—man's faith, man's work, God's grace—
Must span the great gulf o'er;
Life, death, the guerdon or the doom,
Rejoice we or deplore."
Still rang that voice, when sudden rose
Aloft a towering form,
Proudly erect as lowering peak
'Lumed by the gathering storm;
A presence bright and beautiful, 540
With eye of flashing fire,
A lip whose haughty curl bespoke
A sense of inward ire.
"Send me!"—coiled 'neath his courtly smile
A scarce concealed disdain—
"And none shall hence, from heaven to earth,
That shall not rise again.
My saving plan exception scorns[7].
Man's will?—Nay, mine alone.
As recompense, I claim the right 550
To sit on yonder Throne!"
Ceased Lucifer. The breathless hush
Resumed and denser grew.
All eyes were turned; the general gaze
One common magnet drew.
A moment there was solemn pause—
Listened eternity,
While rolled from lips omnipotent
The Father's firm decree:
"Jehovah, thou my Messenger[8]! 560
Son Ahman, thee I send;
And one shall go thy face before,[9]
While twelve thy steps attend.
And many more on that far shore
The pathway shall prepare,
That I, the first, the last may come,
And earth my glory share.
"After and ere thy going down,
An army shall descend—
The host of God, and house of him 570
Whom I have named my friend[10].
Through him, upon Idumea[11],
Shall come, all life to leaven,
The guileless ones, the sovereign sons,
Throned on the heights of heaven.
"Go forth, thou Chosen of the Gods,
Whose strength shall in thee dwell!
Go down betime and rescue earth,
Dethroning death and hell.
On thee alone man's fate depends, 580
The fate of beings all.
Thou shalt not fail, though thou art free—
Free, but too great to fall.
"By arm divine, both mine and thine,
The lost thou shalt restore,
And man, redeemed, with God shall be,
As God forevermore.
Return, and to the parent fold
This wandering planet bring[12],
And earth shall hail thee Conqueror, 590
And heaven proclaim thee King."
'Twas done. From congregation vast,
Tumultuous murmurs rose;
Waves of conflicting sound, as when
Two meeting seas oppose.
'Twas finished. But the heavens wept;
And still their annals tell
How one was choice of Elohim,
O'er one who fighting fell.
—-
A stranger star that came from far 600
To fling its silver ray,
Where, cradled in a lowly cave,
A lowlier infant lay;
And led by soft sidereal light,
The orient sages bring
Bare gifts of gold and frankincense,
To greet the homeless King.
O wondrous grace! Will gods go down
Thus low that men may rise?
Imprisoned here the Mighty One, 610
Who reigned in yonder skies?
Hark to that chime!—What tongue sublime
Now tells the hour of noon[13]?
O dying world! art welcoming
Life's life—Light's sun and moon[14]?
Proclaim Him, prophet harbinger!
Make plain the Mightier's way,
Thou sharer of His martyrdom!
Elias? Yea and Nay[15].
The crescent moon, that knew the Sun, 620
Ere stars had learned to shine[16];
The waning moon, that bathed in blood,
Ere sank the Sun divine.
"Glory to God!—good will to man!—
Peace, peace!"—triumphal tone.
"Why peace?" Is discord then no more?
Are earth and heaven as one?
Peace to the soul that serveth Him,
The monarch manger-born;
There, ruler of unnumbered realms; 630
Here, throneless and forlorn.
He wandered through the faithless world,
A prince in shepherd guise;
He called his scattered flock, but few
The Voice did recognize;
For minds upborne by hollow pride,
Or dimmed by sordid lust,
Ne'er look for kings in beggar's garb,
For diamonds in the dust.
Wept He above a city doomed[17], 640
Her temple, walls, and towers,
O'er palaces where recreant priests
Usurped unhallowed powers.
"I am the way, the life, the light!"
Alas! 'twas heeded not.
Ignored—nay, mocked—God scorned by man!—
And spurned the truth He taught.
O bane of damning unbelief!
When, when till now so rife?
Thou stumbling stone, thou barrier 'thwart 650
The gates of endless life!
O love of self, and mammon lust,
Twin portals to despair,
Where bigotry, the blinded bat,
Flaps through the midnight air!
Through these, gloom-wrapt Gethsemane[18]!
Thy glens of guilty shade
Grieved o'er the sinless Son of God,
By gold-bought kiss betrayed;
Beheld Him unresisting dragged, 660
Forsaken, friendless, lone,
To halls where dark-browed hatred sat
On judgment's lofty throne.
As sheep before His shearers, dumb,
Those patient lips were mute;
The clamorous charge of taunting tongues
He deigned not to dispute.
They smote with cruel palm a face
Which felt yet bore the sting;
Then crowned with thorns His quivering brow, 670
And, mocking, hailed him "King!"
Transfixt He hung,—O crime of crimes!—
The God whom worlds adore.
"Father forgive them!" Drained the dregs;
Immanuel[19]—no more.
No more where thunders shook the earth,
Where lightnings tore the gloom,
Saw that unconquered Spirit spurn
The shackles of the tomb.
Far-flaming might, a sword of light, 680
A falchion from its sheath,
It cleft the realms of darkness, and
Dissolved the bands of death.
Hell's dungeons burst, wide open swung
The everlasting bars,
Whereby the ransomed soul shall win
Those heights beyond the stars.
