THE EQUINOX
Through tempest toil and flooding fear,
From the wild waves o’ th’ west!
Blessed are they whose strength and faith
Pilot the ship whose name is Death!
Advancing ever to the east,
The holy pilgrims pace.
To the live God comes the dead priest
To front Him face to face,
If haply He reverse the doom
And tear its trophy from the tomb.
[The warders now approach and lay the body of the priest,
still in its shroud, at the foot of the Tree.
Juita. Now be ye witnesses of Truth!
Here let love’s lust yield youth!
[She raises her hands to heaven.
Joanna [Comes forward and invokes at the shrine).
Now let my lord declare His power
This equinoctial hour!
If there be virtue in the dance,
And life abide within the lance,
And if the wine within the cup
Be the right draught for gods to sup—
Then be my sister's music dowered
With answering song, and roses showered!
[JuLia dances and plays around the corpse.
The orchestra
Joins after the first few bars, and innumerable roses fall
Jrom heaven. A pause, while they watch.
Jurta. Alas! no life reposes
Beneath the rain of roses!
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