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Page 1 of 11901 · PDF PAGE 57
…eanse his fate of shame, Set his seal of disaster, a royal seal to his name. [Exeunt. PACHAD. I am not Horus, but I shall be king. Enter LEPER. THE LEPER. I am a leper, but I am the king. PACHAD. Monstrous illegible horror, let thy mouth Frame from its charnel-house some pregnant word Intelligible. THE LEPER. I am king; thy mother’s limbs Clung fast to mine when I begot thy father. PACHAD. He died in battle; thou art not the king.
1901 · PDF PAGE 44
…ished the throne of an evil and fatal force.”— ZOROASTER. PEOPLE. RATOUM, Queen of Egyft. PACHAD, her son (by the son of herself and the LEPER). THE LEPER, her divorced husband. THE KING OF SYRIA. AMENHATEP, High Priest. Chorus of Priests. Soldiers of Egypt. Syrian Troops. PACHAD. HY is thy back made stiff, unrighteous priest, ! Thy knee reluctant? Thine old eyes, grown blind, Stare into silence, and behold no god Longer. Thy forehead knows no reverence Nor sign of worship. Or sits mutiny Blasphemous on thy brows? For in thine eyes
1901 · PDF PAGE 77
THE FATAL FORCE 63 AMENHATEP. We shall be patient, and we shall be strong. THE LEPER. The noise of rushing feet! The corridor Rings with their scurrying fear. This is the end. [Enter a flying soldier, crying aloud, and seeks a hiding-place. Speak not, thou trembling slave: we understand! [The soldier slips on the marble floor, and lies groaning. AMENHATEP. See that due silence greets catastrophe! No word from now without command of mine. [Szlence. Then grows a nowse of men fighting, &c.; above this after a while rises a shrill laughter, terrify…
1901 · PDF PAGE 76
…ight And justice, let him mediate between And mitigate your anger, that the name Of Egypt may not perish utterly. Make, make an end! THE LEPER. All things must work themselves To their own end. Created sin grown strong Must claim its guerdon. Ye abase yourselves Well for repentance; but ye shall not ward With tears and prayers the ruin ye have made, Nor banish the enormous deities Of judgment so invoked by any prayers, Or perfumes or libations. What must be Will be. Material succour ye demand In vain. But ye may purify yourselves. AMENHATEP. Kn…
1901 · PDF PAGE 79
THE FATAL FORCE 65 I am a leper: get ye hence! [Exeunt soldiers. Unclean! [Szence. This was the hour that my ambitious hopes Centred upon: and now I grasp the hour— So fares mortality. [ Szlence. Unclean! unclean! CURTAIN.
1901 · PDF PAGE 69
…e serpent-motion of this wand, Rise from the dead! Arise, dead Horus, rise To be Osiris. Isis speaks! Arise! | Zhe coffin ts opened. The leper ts raised out of zt swathed in bandages. Out of the sleep of ages wake and live! [ The wrappings fall off. THE LEPER. I am the resurrection and the death! [Ratoum falls back shrieking. The priests raise a chant to stifle the sound. PACHAD (tearing off his mask). I am the hideous poison of thy veins And foulest fruit of thy incestuous womb. RATOUM. I am thy mother! I have nurtured thee With woman’s tender…
1901 · PDF PAGE 60
…ustrous eyes Toward impossible things grown possible In Egypt. I will cleanse the land of this. Let me remember I am yet a god! Re-enter LEPER. THE LEPER. Thou must be brought before her presently Borne in a coffin. See thou fill it not, But take the lion’s mask and play his part Before the throne. Be ready, and be strong. PACHAD. I shall do so. Come, let us go together In hateful love and sacrilegious hate, Disease and godhead. I am still the god. [ Exeunt. Enter RATOUM. RATOUM. I stood upon the desert, and my eyes Beheld the splendid and supe…
1901 · PDF PAGE 59
THE FATAL FORCE 45 Highest among the secret ones; and we— See where our heritage is made; I, king, A leper, and thyself, the hideous fruit Of what strange poisons? But in mine own self I am the king and chief of all the priests; And thou, in thine own eyes, art a young god, Strong, beautiful, and lithe, a leaping fawn Upon the mountains. PACHAD. Yea, I am a god. I am fire against the fountain of my birth, The storm upon the earth that nurtured me! Leave me: we twain have no more words to speak. THE LEPER. Neither in heaven nor in hell. I go, Th…
1901 · PDF PAGE 58
44 THE FATAL FORCE THE LEPER. I did not fall in battle; but my queen Saw on my breast the livid mark of sin That was the leprosy of her own soul, And drove me forth to compass my disgrace With infamies ineffable. PACHAD. I know; I shall avenge. The old gods come again. THE LEPER. Nay! I have lived through all these barren years, Discrowned, diseased, abominable, cast out, And meditating on the event of life, And that initiated Hope that we, Royal, inherit, of the final life, Nor newer incarnation, and possessed Of strange powers, who have moved…
1901 · PDF PAGE 78
…IA. Your armies beaten back before my face, Your weapons broken, I am come to take The crown from her pale brows that sitteth there. THE LEPER. The Queen is dead: I am the King of Egypt. To-day I saved the house from its own shame By strange ways: I will strike one blow to save The land from its invaders. In the name Of all our gods, I here invoke on thee The spirit of my leprosy. Have at you! [Springs at the King of Syria, only to be transfixed on his drawn sword; but he succeeds tn clasping the King, who staggers. His soldiers, with a shout, …
1901 · PDF PAGE 71
THE FATAL FORCE 57 THE LEPER. It is finished! The sacrament is made! The god Has flamed within the altar-cake: 'tis done! [Szlence: presently the leper breaks into a hor- rible, silent, smooth laughter. Again silence. PACHAD. I am done with godhead: let me be a man. CHORUS. Hail, Pachad, king of Egypt and the Nile! Hail, Pachad, Lord of the two lands, all hail ! PACHAD. King of himself and lord of life and death, No lesser throne! I have borne me as a god, Avenging on my nearest blood the sin That brought me shameful to the shameless light. I h…
1901 · PDF PAGE 49
…in the tripod, and three times The smoke of adoration has gone up To greet our gods; for the old gods are dead.” Then there came forth a leper in the hall, In the most holy temple. So amazed All shrank. And he made prophecy and said: “The child that shall be born of thee is called Fear. He shall save a people from their sin; For the old gods indeed go down to death, But the new gods arise from rottenness.” Then said the goddess: “I indeed am pure In my impurity ; immaculate In misconception; maiden in my whoredom ; Chaste in my incest, being ma…
1901 · PDF PAGE 70
…ee ever, I have made thee god. PACHAD. I hate myself, and therefore I hate thee. RATOUM. I am still goddess, still desire thy love. That leper lies: thou art indeed a god. PACHAD. I am a god to execute my will. [ Threatens her with his dagger. RATOUM. Mercy! Thou canst not strike a woman down! PACHAD. So! The thin casing of the godhead rots, Mere mummy-cloth: the rotten corpse within, Dust and corruption! I am still the god, And gods slay women: therefore I slay thee. RATOUM. Then thou shalt see me once again a god! [By a tremendous effort she …