XXXIII + 

Scene⁠—Hades. + 

Archangel, Festus, Death, Lucifer. + 

Festus + 

Almighty God! sustain me. This is Death;⁠— + 

And this⁠—I knew not, angel! he was here⁠— + 

Is Lucifer⁠—the fallen, like a bolt + 

Of thunder forged in intramundane air, + 

Self-buried in the centre. Lucifer! + 

Wake from thy sealike sleep; in peace or wrath, + 

Rouse from thine age-long trance; arise and see; + 

The representatives of earth and Heaven + 

Stand by thee. As for me, I blame no more + 

The part thou tookest in my mortal life; + 

’Tis gone⁠—nor spurn thee for delusions dead. + 

The blood that hath been spilled is sunk in earth, + 

And run into the rivers, and dried up + 

Into the air;⁠—and there’s an end of it. + 

What good hath come of it alone I bear + 

At heart. And we have both offended God. + 

Let me, though not in nature to forget, + 

Forgive, what every one hath sometime felt⁠— + 

The Devil’s burning gripe upon his heart. + 

I see thee with compassion, half with hope. + 

Lucifer + 

Mortal! I bow to thee, arid would do to + 

The least and lowest spirit God hath made: + 

But still the curse that I am cursed with + 

Outlasts the elements⁠—outlives all time. + 

Festus + 

All curses cease with time; all ill, all woe. + 

Blessings star forth for ever; but a curse + 

Is like a cloud⁠—it passes. + 

Lucifer + 

’Twas by him⁠— + 

Yon angel, only not almighty, there! + 

As with a chain of mountains I was bound + 

And hurled into this unformed nebulous life; + 

Stripped of all might when mightiest, struck down + 

While triumphing the loftiest⁠—enslaved + 

When most a monarch o’er both earth and hell, + 

And made a shadow among shadows here. + 

It recks not. Let the impenetrable soul + 

Be ground as through a mill, I only know + 

In action or inaction equal woe⁠— + 

Suffering, doing, being, one extreme. + 

Pass on! we meet again! + 

Festus + 

And when we do, + 

May God forgive, as I!⁠— + 

Archangel + 

Behold there, Death! + 

Throned on his tomb⁠—entombed in his throne; + 

Just as he ceased he rests for aye⁠—his scythe, + 

Still wet out of its bloody swathe, one hand + 

Tottering sustains; the other strikes the cold + 

Drops from his bony brow: his mouldy breath + 

Tainteth all air. + 

Festus + 

I dread him now no more, + 

Not hate. He is a vanquished enemy. + 

Archangel + 

Listen! he speaks. + 

Death + 

To you, ye sons of God, + 

My latest words I utter. Unto him + 

Who ever lives, and hath for aye destroyed + 

Me and my reign, give ye this crown usurped, + 

And lay it at His feet; and this dulled dart + 

Which was my sceptre. To the conqueror + 

Belong these trophies. All the progeny + 

Of time will soon cease. Lo! the end’s at hand. + 

Archangel + 

Thus shall it be, O Death! and thus it is. + 

Festus + 

And who are these gigantic awful shades + 

Which fill the midst⁠—the present of the place? + 

Archangel + 

These are the mighty nothings man of old + 

Made; the dread unrealities by whom + 

He swore, to whom he prayed, and at whose shrines + 

He sacrificed a thousand times a day:⁠— + 

His brother falsehoods these, men like himself, + 

Which mere imagination changed to gods, + 

Some for their good deeds, others for their bad: + 

Bel, Odin, Bramh and Zeus, the Lords of death + 

And fire, and judgment, waiting here their death + 

And fiery judgment⁠—Time and Titan⁠—war⁠— + 

Beauty, and strength, and Light, and the long roll + 

Of creatural powers and passions Deified;⁠— + 

Who gave their names to stars which still roam round + 

The skies, all worshipless, even from climes + 

Where their own altars once topped every hill. + 

Jove + 

Before the Christian cross and Muslim mosque + 

My marble fanes have fallen, and my shrines + 

Shrunk like a withered hand ages ago. + 

But now all signs and sacred domes for gods + 

To dwell in are extinct. The world is all + 

One Temple of the Truth. + 

Bramh + 

The ages feigned + 

That made Time groan to think how old he was, + 

And Deities in millions are no more. + 

Ageless eternity and God the sole, + 

The royalty of Heaven, is at hand. + 

Boodh + 

All things that are shall nothing be at last, + 

Save what’s resolvable in Deity. + 

Festus + 

And all these lesser shades, which move like moons, + 

Half-darkened by the greater⁠—half-illumed⁠— + 

Are priests and prophets of the mightier ones? + 

Archangel + 

They are;⁠—and further round thine eye can mark, + 

The myriads of adorers of each god, + 

Confused and prostrate, as their souls awake + 

To the demoniac madness of their creeds. + 

Behold! they kneel to those they hailed on earth + 

As makers⁠—as omnipotent⁠—eterne⁠— + 

And cry for help, for comfort; none have they + 

To give to others or themselves. The false, + 

The base, the brutish Deities give way, + 

And all their sacred follies in their train, + 

Before the earthquake truth, engulphing all. + 

Woe to the false gods, woe! to prophet, priest, + 

And worshipper, all woe! + 

Festus + 

Hark! round the earth + 

Each soul hath found a tongue and uttereth woe. + 

Lo! from their thrones the man-made gods descend, + 

And rend their robes and trample on their crowns, + 

And hurl away their sceptres. Woe to all + 

The gods and idols of the heart of man! + 

Their sun is set for ever in the night + 

Which was ere Light was. Surely it is more + 

To be true man or woman than false god + 

And falser prophet. God alone the true, + 

The God of Heaven, shall be witnessed to + 

And worshipped. + 

Archangel + 

Witnessed, worshipped, too, + 

By all: the faithful and the faithless⁠—saint + 

And sinner. + 

Festus + 

Lo! the nations of the dead, + 

Which do outnumber all earth races, rise, + 

And high in sumless myriads over head + 

Sweep past us in a cloud, as ’twere the skirts + 

Of the Eternal passing. + 

A Voice + 

Souls, arise + 

To deathless life! + 

Archangel + 

’Tis God speaks. Let us hence. + 

The general judgment is in hand⁠—God’s hand. + 

The souls of those whom God loves circle us. + 

For thee, thy lot thou knowest. As a seed + 

Buried in earth doth multiply itself + 

Full fifty fold, so will thy nature when + 

Changed, it lifts head in the air divine of Heaven. + 

Festus + 

Out of the depths of earth and the world’s womb + 

Thine unborn angels seek thee, God, all Love! + 

Now is Thine hour for which all hours were made, + 

All life created, all things else ordained; + 

Be it the hour of mercy, Lord! to all, + 

For Thy Son’s sake, who, for the sake of man, + 

Came down from Heaven into the pit of earth, + 

And lived as one of us and died;⁠—He died + 

The death of all at once of every age; + 

The world’s accumulated weight of woe, + 

From its first life unto its last, which none + 

But the Omnipotent could bear⁠—He bore; + 

And all for us. God became man that man + 

Might become God. Oh, favour infinite! + 

Now reap the righteous, righteous but in Him + 

Any, their guerdon. Evil to repay + 

With good was Christs command, and earth with Heaven + 

Is thus the great example of His word. + 

Enough for sinners this, for all which live. + 

Do Thou, Lord! be with us. In Thee we live; + 

Our treasure, trust and triumph is in Thee. + 

Behold the day of our salvation come + 

Unto the countless all Thou hast redeemed! + 

The ages sweep around me with their wings + 

Like angered eagles cheated of their prey, + 

The ages of all time: the glowing Heavens + 

Are rushing to receive us. Oh, rejoice + 

All ye that are immortal⁠—and whate’er + 

Hath been predestined to eternal end, + 

The day determined ere all time was dawns! + 