Читать книгу Elias: An Epic of the Ages - Whitney Orson Ferguson - Страница 8

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.