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THE BLUE DWARF. I09 JOHN Crystal clear. ISSA I came from heaven. JOHN We guessed it. ISSA Guess again ! What follows ? JOHN — Er — ISSA To humbug me is vain. Guess ! JOHN Well, to come from heaven — Thou com’st to reign ? ISSA I die — thou mark’st me ? JOHN Truly : plain as plain !
I32 THE WORLD’S TRAGEDY. JOHN Nay, thou Greek heretic devil, have done ! Before He is dead a schism begun ? Say Homoousios ! THE GREEK Never, dog Jew ! Homoiousios ! JOHN Master, decide ! ISSA O may I cease ! If my spirit to you I must commend. JOHN Are you now satisfied ? Clear as — THE GREEK You lie, pathic ! JOHN Pandar !
THE BLUE DWARF. I07 JOHN The upshot ? ISSA I am sick of everything. JOHN Of me, Lord ? ISSA Thou the least, sweet queen and king. But — finally — in sooth, lad — even of thee. JOHN Lord, have I failed in love ? ISSA Failure must be. Not by thy fault, but fixed in every feature Of Mistress Smirking Whore, our Mother Nature, Whose filthy dugs our poisoned kisses suck. Pah ! the whole world is just a mass of muck. JOHN Wait, master ! that’s a Phrase.
THE BLUE DWARF. III JOHN Even of me ? ISSA Yes — no — yes — what thou wilt. All’s one. JOHN I see. Then thou wilt slay thyself ? ISSA ’Twere too much trouble, Having cut the corn, to clear away the stubble. Hire thou a knave to slay me. JOHN Lord, I dare not. ISSA Denounce me to the Seventy — I care not. Indeed, since Death is Death, small odds the plan of it ! I’ll rather choose to get what fun I can of it. JOHN I have it, Lord ! Well make thy death suggest
II0 THE WORLD’S TRAGEDY. ISSA And then, to counterbalance the effect — What next ? JOHN I cannot say. ISSA I resurrect. JOHN What good would that do ? ISSA As I understand, It would spoil life for everyone. JOHN How grand ! How simple ! ISSA Look, boy, I am tired of things. Joy, that had legs before, hath now got wings. I am exceeding weary.
I04 THE WORLD’S TRAGEDY. MAGDA Thou empty bottle of brass of Bethlehem ! John, come and loose this surly saviour’s phlegm ! John descends a rickety ladder from a loft. Magda spits, and goes out. JOHN Hail, master, let me soothe thy time of teen ! ISSA Wine rots the liver ; fever swells the spleen ; Meat clogs the belly ; dusts inflames the eye : Stone irks the bladder ; gout — plague — leprosy ! Man born of woman is most full of trouble ; God a gorged fool that belches him, a bubble ! — But of all plagues wherewith a man is cursed, Take my word…
I08 THE WORLD’S TRAGEDY. ISSA Take note of it : Matter is muck ! JOHN True wisdom and true wit ! The upshot, Lord ? ISSA Than living, I would rather Play the fool’s game of my unnatural Father. JOHN Thy father, Lord ? Thy pardon, but we heard — ISSA No odds — all genealogy’s absurd. JOHN Suppose, Lord, I should simply call Thee “ Word ” ? ISSA Happy the thought ! But, in thy secret ear, There was a scheme — thou mark’st me ?
II4 THE WORLD’S TRAGEDY. ISSA Lie down, then ! On thine oath, no knavery ! JOHN Sleep well, dear master ! Kiss me ! ISSA Pah, young thickhead ! The door opens. No peace, saith someone somewhere, for the wicked ! Enter Magda. What is it now ? MAGDA If Rabbi Pip is gone, It’s Back to Bed ! Issa wearily rises. ISSA Then — Back to Bed with John ! JOHN What, wilt Thou go ? ISSA Yea, by the holy hem Of Aaron’s robe — off to Jerusalem ! He goes out, followed by the protesting pair.
…God, my break-and-build-the-temple joke : And make the fell indictment yet completer With my bewildering pun on ’ rock ’ and ’ Peter ’ ! JOHN It shall be done. ISSA Nay, thou wouldst feel remorse. Let the whole matter simply take its course ! Our Youdesh is a thief ; so, sure to rat. He’ll raise their camel to conceal his gnat. JOHN How choice a metaphor ! How terse ! How dry ! Apt as thy’ camel and the needle’s eye’. ISSA Agreed, then ! Now if Brothers Louse and Bug Will let me be, I’ll settle slack and snug Till noon. JOHN I too, Lord, I woul…
…and the rest ; And if there lack some detail — ISSA Thou art wise Enough to write in all the prophecies Fulfilled. That’s settled, then. JOHN I’d love to see The goggling eyes of duped posterity, Its mouth agape (while priests scoop out its poke) At the wild sequel of our harmless joke. ISSA Only one further fret balls up my brain : — The nuisance, if I have to rise again. JOHN Fear not ! The style suffices. ISSA Then be off, And tell the Seventy my bitter scoff
THE GREY NIGHT. I33 THE GREEK Demented ! JOHN Here is the argument Ehud invented ! (He thrusts a dagger into the belly of the Greek disciple from Alexandria. The dirt comes out. To the Bystander, Say Homoousios ! PUBLIUS Surely they will While his logic is backed with such surgical skill. TWO BYSTANDERS We fly to do as you desire us. JOHN And bring me up a clean papyrus ! These chapters will make of no account The ridiculous sermon on the mount. Where was I ? With twelve aeon-chains Somewhere revolving in these brains; Synoches, teletarchs, iyn…
…nd that sticketh closer than a brother ”. Ten groans of mine for every grin of hers ! What saith the prophet ? — “ Whited sepulchres ! ” JOHN Nay, Lord, the phrase unique is all thine own. ISSA Then write it down, an nothing less atone. And add — of all the itches that breed bile No itch beats the papyrus and the style. JOHN Hast thou no love for me, Lord ?
…nd on the bloodless face. IST BYSTANDER What is the name of the criminal ? A GREEK DISCIPLE FROM ALEXANDRIA Say, Logos, or Homoiousios ! JOHN Nay, Fool! Homoousios — lippis et nota ! THE GREEK Homoiousios, with the iota !
I34 THE WORLD’S TRAGEDY. Identity of Father and Son And a Comforter, comforting everyone Who reads the beautiful message of John ! AGRIPPA Know, I can hardly hold myself in. The whole scene tests our discipline Somewhat too harshly. Were it not best For a soldier to run him through the breast ? We should be free for a bath and a meal. PUBLIUS Sir ! AGRIPPA I know well ; but I somehow feel My backbone slacked to the writhe of a worm. PUBLIUS The prefect would know how to keep you firm At the cost of a handful of nails — up there ! AGRIPPA Tis th…
…st mite, the cold grey glutinous sweat — These things, I say, assailed me, bade me pause Praising the goodness of the great First Cause. JOHN Yet all we know His vast benevolence. ISSA Thou hast religion, but no common sense. The cud of wisdom is not duly chewed When whoredom’s whittled with a platitude.
…kin AGRIPPA, a Roman century. In blue. PUBLIUS, his lieutenant. ISSA, the grown man thereof. A Roman guard. MAGDA, an odalisque. An hag. JOHN, a young scribe. A blue-faced baboon. BYSTANDERS.
…here Wanton and white in that red touzle of hair As if a sow were wreathed with poppy-flowers. Pah ! I am sick of these delirious hours. John’s lips are cool like olive-oil — and thine, Even at the best, like some black stormy wine. MAGDA Oh beast thou art ! Didst thou not surely quicken me With child ? ISSA Thy lewdness and thy lowness sicken me. Nay, let the heavy-fringed purple lashes Lie still — my lust is burnt to bitter ashes ! The wrinkled eyepits black with grime and kohl Are like black bogs to suck away my soul. The coarse vermilion on…
PREFACE. III listic crusade at Plymouth in its early days was started in Ireland. It was an aristocratic and intellectual movement. John Nelson Darby, a learned man of good family, reasoned thus : The Bible is the Word of God. If its literal interpretation is once abandoned, the whole structure crashes to earth. This it will be seen is identically the Catholic position, save that for “ literal ” Rome reads “ Ecclesiastical.” Darby, too, found himself forced into the practical admis- sion that “ literal ” meant Darbeian ; for some of the more ob…
…t never with one who understood his subject. Empty babblers they are, muddle-headed philanthropists. They read a shilling abridgement of John Stuart Mill, and settle all economic problems over a « sirloin of turnips » in some filthy crank food dive. Ask them any simple question about detail, and the bubble is pricked. Well, as I was saying, they are all in favour of « Free Love ». Some paper mentioned the fact. What a stam- pede ! Oh no ! not me, please sir, it was the other boy. It would never do to shock the British public. If I exclude Berna…