Collected Works (Vol. III)

WHY JESUS WEPT 25 A turbulent flood Whispers and yells, Alight in my breast. God ! for the spells That unseal men—a rest ! No higher? I have climbed This pinnacled steep. It mocks me, this heaven Of thine, Adonai ! Rather be limed In the dusk, in the deep, Seven times seven Thy hells, O Jehovah ! I tune the great Name To a million vowels :— It escapes me, the flame ! But deep in my bowels Growls the deep lust, The bitter distrust, The icy fear, The cruel thought ! O! Iam here— And here is nought. I must rave on. I hate the sun. Anon! Anon! Let us both begone, Thou fiend that pourest One by one These evil words In my ear, in my heart ! Here on the summit The air is too thin. Wild as the winds Let me ride! Let me start Over the plains ; For here my brain’s Numb, it is dumb, it Is torn by this passion. Down! Eagle-fashion Drive to the level! Teeth ! you may gnash on ! My body’s anguish Is help to my soul. Hail to the revel ! The dance of the devil, The rhythms that languish, The rhymes that roll! Down like the swine Of the gross Gadarene In a maddening march From the snow to the rock, From the rock to the pine, From the pine to the larch, From the tree to the green ! [He leaps down, then pauses. O Devil! To mock With echo the roar Of a young boy’s spirit ! And yet (as before) I know I inherit The wit of the mage, The blood of the king, The age of the sage ! Ah! all these sting Through me—this rage Is the strength of my blood, The heat of my body, The birth of my wit. To hell with the flood Of words! Were I God, he Had made me as fit For all things as now, But added a brow Cool—O how cool ! Fool ! Fool! Fool! LWith a terrible laugh he springs out of sight down the crags. SCENE III. SIR PERCY PERCIVALE (zx the Hall), O the gloom of these distasteful tomes ! The horror of the secrets here discovered ! Awake, ye salamandrines;! sleep, ye gnomes ! Were those the sylphs that round me hovered On the mountain, and destroyed my peace? O the misery of this world ; the fear And folly that is unattained desire ! I would be master; I, the lord of Greece; 1 The spirits of fire, air, water, and earth were respectively named salamanders (fem. -drines), sylphs, undines, and gnomes.