_Anah_. My Azaziel!
[_Exeunt_.
SCENE II.--_Enter_ IRAD _and_ j.a.pHET.
_Irad_. Despond not: wherefore wilt thou wander thus To add thy silence to the silent night, And lift thy tearful eye unto the stars?
They cannot aid thee.
_j.a.ph._ But they soothe me--now Perhaps she looks upon them as I look.
Methinks a being that is beautiful Becometh more so as it looks on beauty, The eternal beauty of undying things.
Oh, Anah!
_Irad_. But she loves thee not.
_j.a.ph._ Alas!
_Irad_. And proud Aholibamah spurns me also. 10
_j.a.ph._ I feel for thee too.
_Irad_. Let her keep her pride, Mine hath enabled me to bear her scorn: It may be, time too will avenge it.
_j.a.ph._ Canst thou Find joy in such a thought?
_Irad_. Nor joy nor sorrow.
I loved her well; I would have loved her better, Had love been met with love: as "tis, I leave her To brighter destinies, if so she deems them.
_j.a.ph._ What destinies?
_Irad_. I have some cause to think She loves another.
_j.a.ph._ Anah!
_Irad_. No; her sister.
_j.a.ph._ What other?
_Irad_. That I know not; but her air, 20 If not her words, tells me she loves another.
_j.a.ph._ Aye, but not Anah: she but loves her G.o.d.
_Irad_. Whate"er she loveth, so she loves thee not, What can it profit thee?
_j.a.ph._ True, nothing; but I love.
_Irad_. And so did I.
_j.a.ph._ And now thou lov"st not, Or think"st thou lov"st not, art thou happier?
_Irad_. Yes.
_j.a.ph._ I pity thee.
_Irad_. Me! why?
_j.a.ph._ For being happy, Deprived of that which makes my misery.
_Irad_. I take thy taunt as part of thy distemper, And would not feel as thou dost for more shekels 30 Than all our father"s herds would bring, if weighed Against the metal of the sons of Cain--[142]
The yellow dust they try to barter with us, As if such useless and discoloured trash, The refuse of the earth, could be received For milk, and wool, and flesh, and fruits, and all Our flocks and wilderness afford.--Go, j.a.phet, Sigh to the stars, as wolves howl to the moon-- I must back to my rest.
_j.a.ph._ And so would I If I could rest.
_Irad_. Thou wilt not to our tents then? 40
_j.a.ph._ No, Irad; I will to the cavern,[143] whose Mouth they say opens from the internal world, To let the inner spirits of the earth Forth when they walk its surface.
_Irad_. Wherefore so?
What wouldst thou there?
_j.a.ph._ Soothe further my sad spirit With gloom as sad: it is a hopeless spot, And I am hopeless.
_Irad_. But "tis dangerous; Strange sounds and sights have peopled it with terrors.
I must go with thee.
_j.a.ph._ Irad, no; believe me I feel no evil thought, and fear no evil. 50
_Irad_. But evil things will be thy foe the more As not being of them: turn thy steps aside, Or let mine be with thine.
_j.a.ph._ No, neither, Irad; I must proceed alone.
_Irad_. Then peace be with thee!
[_Exit_ IRAD.
_j.a.ph._ (_solus_).
Peace! I have sought it where it should be found, In love--with love, too, which perhaps deserved it; And, in its stead, a heaviness of heart, A weakness of the spirit, listless days, And nights inexorable to sweet sleep Have come upon me. Peace! what peace? the calm 60 Of desolation, and the stillness of The untrodden forest, only broken by The sweeping tempest through its groaning boughs; Such is the sullen or the fitful state Of my mind overworn. The Earth"s grown wicked, And many signs and portents have proclaimed A change at hand, and an o"erwhelming doom To perishable beings. Oh, my Anah!
When the dread hour denounced shall open wide The fountains of the deep, how mightest thou 70 Have lain within this bosom, folded from The elements; this bosom, which in vain Hath beat for thee, and then will beat more vainly, While thine--Oh, G.o.d! at least remit to her Thy wrath! for she is pure amidst the failing As a star in the clouds, which cannot quench, Although they obscure it for an hour. My Anah!
How would I have adored thee, but thou wouldst not; And still would I redeem thee--see thee live When Ocean is earth"s grave, and, unopposed 80 By rock or shallow, the Leviathan, Lord of the sh.o.r.eless sea and watery world, Shall wonder at his boundlessness of realm. [_Exit_ j.a.pHET.
_Enter_ NOAH _and_ SHEM.
_Noah_. Where is thy brother j.a.phet?
_Shem_. He went forth, According to his wont, to meet with Irad, He said; but, as I fear, to bend his steps Towards Anah"s tents, round which he hovers nightly, Like a dove round and round its pillaged nest; Or else he walks the wild up to the cavern Which opens to the heart of Ararat. 90
_Noah_. What doth he there? It is an evil spot Upon an earth all evil; for things worse Than even wicked men resort there: he Still loves this daughter of a fated race, Although he could not wed her if she loved him, And that she doth not. Oh, the unhappy hearts Of men! that one of my blood, knowing well The destiny and evil of these days, And that the hour approacheth, should indulge In such forbidden yearnings! Lead the way; 100 He must be sought for!
_Shem_. Go not forward, father: I will seek j.a.phet.
_Noah_. Do not fear for me: All evil things are powerless on the man Selected by Jehovah.--Let us on.