Werner.

Spirit, why dost thou Taunt me with my mortality? "Weak things, Brought forth from earth,"--"Poor simple child of clay,"-- These are thy words, when well thou knows't that I, Though bound to earth by bonds made of its mire, Am mightier than thou. Were it not so, Thou would'st not now be face to face with one Of mortal birth. Thou, too, canst feel revenge, And knowest how to wreak it; but, take heed,-- The power which brought thee hither, can, and may Deal harshly with thee. If thou knowest aught Worthy of an immortal mind to know, To which I have not pierced, reveal thy knowledge.

Spirit.

We may not tell the secrets of eternity; But I can show thee things thou hast not seen, And they may profit thee, although 'twill shake Even thy proud heart to look upon them.

Would'st see them?

Werner.

It is my wish.

Spirit.

Come then.

Werner.

Lead on; Although thy path be through h.e.l.l's gloomy gate, I too will pa.s.s its portals at thy back.

Thou canst not enter where I dare not pa.s.s.

[The cloud closes around them, and moves away, and a voice sings as it disappears.

To the region of shadow, The region of death, Where dust is a stranger, And life has no breath; Where darkness and silence Their dim shrouds have cast Round the phantoms of worlds That belong to the past; Spirits who sit on The thrones of the air, Guide ye our chariot, Waft ye us there.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

The verge of Creation. Enter Werner and Spirit.

Werner.

We have outtravelled light and sound: The harmonies that pealed around us, as Through yon array of dim and distant worlds We winged our flight, have wholly died away, Or come to us so faintly echoed, that Our ears must watch and wait to catch them.

Those stars are now like watch-fires, which though seen Blazing afar, send not their light to make The path of the benighted wanderer More plain and cheerful.

Before us stretches one vast field of gloom, So dense as to appear impenetrable:-- Darkness, that has a body and a form, Both palpable to touch and sight, across Our path a barrier rears that seems to bar Our farther progress. If there be, beyond This wall of blackness, aught of mystery, What power shall guide us to it?

Spirit.

Thy mind Which, from the influence of matter, free As it is now and shall be till again Though art returned unto thy native orb, Is its own master, and its will is now Its only needed guide.

Strange things are hidden by that ebon veil, To which a single wish of thine may bear us.

Werner.

Then let us on: Since we our search for knowledge have begun, Wherever there is aught that Power has made, Which Time has ruined, or which Fate has d.a.m.ned, There let us go, that we may look on it, And learn its history. What intense glooms We now are pa.s.sing through! I feel them part Before, and close behind us, as we fly, As plainly as the swimmer feels the waves That lave his gliding limbs. This sure must be The home of Death--no voice, no sound, no sigh, Not ev'n so much of breath as would suffice To make a lily tremble!

Spirt.

Though say'st true, This is indeed the realm of Death,--at least It has no more of life than what though hast Brought here with thee,--I speak of mortal life: We now are near the Hades of past worlds, Whose spirits have a life which cannot die.

You laugh! and show the haughty arrogance Which in your mortal brethren you cotemn.

Think you that he who gave to man his mind, The undying spark that quickens his clay frame, Would fashion from the same material Such mighty wonders as the spheres which go Hymning around his everlasting throne!

Giving to them a beauty which alone Could be conceived by him, which has great hand Alone could mould into reality, And yet deny them what he gave to thee, Intelligence! a thing that knows not death?

Hast though not seen thine earth put forth her leaves, Clothing her rugged mountain tops and sides, Her forests in the vale, each tree and shrub, With a fair foliage? hast though not beheld Her weaving, in the sunny springtide hours, A fairy web of emerald-bladed gra.s.s To robe her valleys in? With every flow'r Of graceful form, and soft and downy leaf, And tender hue, and tint, that Beauty owns, To deck her gentle breast? When Autumn came, With its rich gifts of pleasant, mellow fruits, Hast though not seen her wipe her sunburnt brow, And shake her yellow locks from every hill?

Hast though not heard her holy songs of peace And plenty warbled from each vocal grove, And murmured by her myriads of streams?

Hast though not seen her, when the hollow winds, Which moan the requiem of the dying year, Raved through her leafless bowers, wrap about Her breast a mantle, wherewith to protect And nurse the seed, the trusting husbandman Hath given to her keeping? Are thine acts As full of wisdom, and as free from blame?

If not, then why deny to her the life And spirit you possess?

Werner.

I did not laugh In disbelief of what thy words declare, But they stir such strange thoughts within my mind, That, as I will not weep, I can but smile.

Methinks the darkness has grown less profound,-- A heavy, dim, and shadowy light, like that Which, when the storm has chosen midnight's hour Of stilly gloom, to hold its revel in, First glimmers through the clouds which have been rent, And torn by their own fierceness, hands about us.

The light increases still, and in the distance, Enormous shadows, wearing distinct shapes, Since seemingly immovable, and others Like mighty, mastless, sailless, vessels, moved By magic o'er a tideless, waveless ocean, In calm, majestic silence float along!

Spirit.

Let us go nearer, Now what seest though?

Werner.

Worlds like to that I live on, save that these Seem made of living shades instead of dust; Vast mountains, with tall trees and mighty rocks, And fountains, gushing from their very summits; Huge, towering cliffs, and deep and lonely glens, And wide-mouthed caves that hold a deeper gloom,-- With precipices from whose edges soft And silvery cataracts are leaping down; Swift streams, that rush adown their rugged sides, And quiet lakelets, that appear to sleep In the embrace of the surrounding hills; The cottage of the hardy hunter, perched High on the rocks, like to an eagle's nest: The shepherd's humble shieling, and his fold, And, half-way up, broad vineyards, with their vines Bending with purple cl.u.s.ters of ripe fruit;-- Wide valleys, with green meadows, and pure streams, And gentle hills, where ripening harvests stand; Majestic rivers, with their verdant banks Studded with towns, and rural villages; Motionless lakes, and seas without a wave, And oceans pulseless as a dead man's heart!

And mighty cities, standing on their coasts, With vasty walls and gilded palaces, And giant tow'rs, and tapering spires, that seem The guardians of all they overlook.

Churchyards, with their pale gravestones, that appear Like watchers of the dead whose names they bear!

All these are there, but not a sign of life, No living thing that creeps along the ground, Or flies the air, or swims the wave, is seen.

It seems as if on all things some strong spell Had in the twinkling of a star came down And rocked them to an everlasting sleep!

Spirit! tell me if what I see is more Than a delusion; if it be, whence came These shades?

Spirit.

And have I not already said That these things are, that they are quick with life,-- Such life as disembodied spirits have,-- That they are deathless? Thou need'st not inquire Of me whence they are come, for thou hast seen One of their number on its journey hither.

The period may not be far remote When thine own planet, starting from its sphere, Shall fright the dwellers of the stars that skirt Its destined pathway to these silent realms!

Thou'st seen the comet rushing through the sky, And, gazing on the glowing track which it Had branded on the azure breast of s.p.a.ce, Thinking thy words were wisdom, thou hast said, "When its full term of years has been fulfilled, It shall return again." Not knowing that The light thou sawest was reflected from That sacred fire, which, in the end, shall purge The spirit essence which pervades creation, From the dull dust with which a wayward fate Has clogged its being! Question me no more-- Remember what I said--I dare not tell The secrets of Eternity. Look on And learn whate'er thou canst.

Werner.

There is one thing which I at last have learned,-- To feel that with the increase of our knowledge Our sorrows must increase. I oft have heard, But never before have felt the truth of this.

To know that were it not for this clay mask, I even now might pierce the shadowy veil That wraps in mystery the things I see, And comprehend their secret principle, Will make life doubly hard to bear, and tempt Me much to shake it prematurely off, And s.n.a.t.c.h wings for my spirit ere its time.

A total ignorance were better than The flash which from its slumber wakes the mind, And then, departing, leaves it to itself, In the wide maze of error, darkly groping.

Wisdom is not the medicine to heal A discontented mind. I now know more Than when I left the earth, but feel that I Have bought my knowledge with increase of sorrow.

Spirit.

Did I not tell thee that its path were steep, And hard to climb, and thick beset with thorns,-- And that its tempting, longed-for fruit, tho' bought With a great price, is full of bitterness?

If though art satisfied, let us retrace Our way to earth again; wert thou to go Yet farther on, thou might'st regret the more Our coming hither.

Werner.

What! is there aught still more remote than these From the great centre of the universe,-- The fair domain of life and living things?