ZEDEKIAH

Accursed one, thou liest! High and hale stand the walls of Jerusalem.

JEREMIAH

[With growing frenzy] Every head hath been shorn, Every beard hath been clipt.

The mothers, wearing sackcloth, Tear the flesh from their cheeks, Wailing: "Where are my sons, where are my daughters?"

Woe is me!

The dead bodies of the sons Lie like dung in the streets Where they have perished by the sword; The daughters have been strangled with their own hair, And the women with child have been ripped up.

The jackals of the wilderness are gorged, The ravens weary with feasting.

ZEDEKIAH

Be silent, be silent! Thou liest!

JEREMIAH

What availeth it to seek safety in th.o.r.n.y thickets, To flee from death into the burning fissures of the rock?

They hunt thee with horses, with companies of spearmen, Track thee down, and with sticks beat the coverts for their game, Drive thee forth from the crannies with firebrands and smoke, Pursue thee, and seize thee, and slay.

They ravish the women, they slaughter the elders, Just men are made slaves of their lowliest bondsmen, Made servants of servants the daughters of kings.

ZEDEKIAH

Hold thy peace, liar, lest my wrath smite thee!

JEREMIAH

[Lamenting] Jerusalem, virgin and daughter of Judah, The heathen make mock of thy pitiful plight.

Woe is me that I must look on thine affliction.

All thine enemies have opened their mouths against thee, Laughing, and hissing, and gnashing their teeth, Saying: "We have swallowed her up!

"Is this the city that men call "The perfection of beauty, "The joy of the whole earth?

"Verily we have laid her low.

"Certainly this is the day we looked for, "We have found it, "We have seen it."

ZEDEKIAH

[Beside himself with rage, clenching his fists] Be silent, liar, I will listen no longer.

JEREMIAH

Jerusalem, holy city of the Lord, Cradle of the nations, treasure of the world!

Who will extol thee, who now will search thee out?

A legend of the ages hast thou become, A fable and a proverb among the peoples.

Ah, I see ...

ZEDEKIAH

Raving madman, naught more shalt thou see.

JEREMIAH

I see thy suffering, I witness thy death, I see ...

ZEDEKIAH

[Grappling with him, bursts out in a fury] Naught more shalt thou see! I will have thee blinded.

JEREMIAH

[Stares around, as if suddenly and dreadfully awakened. Then laughing loudly, he chants with renewed frenzy]

Me?

Blind me? Nay, ruthless one, Not such is the purpose of G.o.d.

Know well that one shall be blinded Ere these days draw to a close.

'Tis one with eyes that see not, With ears that will not hear.

Yet hearken now, King Zedekiah!

[ZEDEKIAH releases JEREMIAH, and regards him with amazement and terror.

JEREMIAH raises his hands in denunciation, and continues]

Thee Shall they seize, The servants of Ashur, Seize thee in G.o.d's temple which thou hast destroyed.

They tear thee away from the horns of the altar, To which thy hands cleave in the vain hope of help.

Naught availeth thy sword, for they break it in sunder, Then bind thine arms straitly with fetters of bra.s.s, Haling thee forth and the stairway adown; Like a beast for the sacrifice scourging thee on; To him will they bring thee whose hand thou rejectedst; To him will they bring thee whose yoke thou hast broken, To him who thy fiery doom will have spoken.

[ZEDEKIAH has retreated several steps, and makes gestures as if to avert the threatened fate]

To thy knees as they force thee with curses and blows, In the air-blast the furnace roars fiercely and glows.

Now the iron is heated, gleaming red, flashing white.

In thine eyeb.a.l.l.s they plunge it, the scorching steel.

Thy flesh smokes and hisses, thy senses reel.

G.o.d's daylight has vanished in infinite night.

[ZEDEKIAH screams, and claps his hands to his eyes as if blinded]

But ere thy sight, in a fiery mist Of blood and tears, is forever gone, Thy sons, by the sharp sword fiercely kissed, Shall be slain in thy presence, one by one, As the headsman's blade flashes through flesh and through bone.

Bootless thy struggles; the slaves hold thee fast!

The first falls, the second, the third and last!

They are sped, and thy weeping and wailing are vain.

Their blood drenches the ground, while thou, in thy pain, Ere the burning steel seareth the sight from thine eyes, Seest how Israel's race and kingship dies.

ZEDEKIAH

[Groping his way across the room like a blind man, staggers to the couch. Now he puts up his hands beseechingly] Mercy! Have mercy!

JEREMIAH

By thy cries all in vain will the darkness be riven, As thou liftest thy hands to the unseen heaven, G.o.d's mercy imploring! G.o.d no mercy will show To the king whose false pride Zion's temple laid low.

He casteth thee down among worms which are blind, Which crawl on their bellies, each after his kind.