PART ONE.
THE DIVINE TRAGEDY THE FIRST PASSOVER I VOX CLAMANTIS JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Repent! repent! repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand, And all the land Full of the knowledge of the Lord shall be As the waters cover the sea, And encircle the continent! Repent! repent! repent! For lo, the hour appointed, The hour so long foretold By the Prophets of old, Of the coming of the Anointed, The Messiah, the Paraclete, The Desire of the Nations, is nigh! He shall not strive nor cry, Nor his voice be heard in the street; Nor the bruised reed shall He break, Nor quench the smoking flax; And many of them that sleep In the dust of earth shall awake, On that great and terrible day, And the wicked shall wail and weep, And be blown like a smoke away, And be melted away like wax.
Repent! repent! repent! O Priest, and Pharisee, Who hath warned you to flee From the wrath that is to be?
From the coming anguish and ire?
The axe is laid at the root Of the trees, and every tree That bringeth not forth good fruit Is hewn down and cast into the fire! Ye Scribes, why come ye hither?
In the hour that is uncertain, In the day of anguish and trouble, He that stretcheth the heavens as a curtain And spreadeth them out as a tent, Shall blow upon you, and ye shall wither, And the whirlwind shall take you away as stubble! Repent! repent! repent! PRIEST.
Who art thou, O man of prayer! In raiment of camel's hair, Begirt with leathern thong, That here in the wilderness, With a cry as of one in distress, Preachest unto this throng?
Art thou the Christ?
JOHN.
Priest of Jerusalem, In meekness and humbleness, I deny not, I confess I am not the Christ! PRIEST.
What shall we say unto them That sent us here?
Reveal Thy name, and naught conceal! Art thou Elias?
JOHN.
No! PRIEST.
Art thou that Prophet, then, Of lamentation and woe, Who, as a symbol and sign Of impending wrath divine Upon unbelieving men, Shattered the vessel of clay In the Valley of Slaughter?
JOHN.
Nay.
I am not he thou namest! PRIEST.
Who art thou, and what is the word That here thou proclaimest?
JOHN.
I am the voice of one Crying in the wilderness alone: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; Make his paths straight In the land that is desolate! PRIEST.
If thou be not the Christ, Nor yet Elias, nor he That, in sign of the things to be, Shattered the vessel of clay In the Valley of Slaughter, Then declare unto us, and say By what authority now Baptizest thou?
JOHN.
I indeed baptize you with water Unto repentance; but He, That cometh after me, Is mightier than I and higher; The latchet of whose shoes I an not worthy to unloose; He shall baptize you with fire, And with the Holy Ghost! Whose fan is in his hand; He will purge to the uttermost His floor, and garner his wheat, But will burn the chaff in the brand And fire of unquenchable heat! Repent! repent! repent! II MOUNT QUARANTANIA I LUCIFER.
Not in the lightning's flash, nor in the thunder, Not in the tempest, nor the cloudy storm, Will I array my form; But part invisible these boughs asunder, And move and murmur as the wind upheaves And whispers in the leaves.
Not as a terror and a desolation, Not in my natural shape, inspiring fear And dread, will I appear; But in soft tones of sweetness and persuasion, A sound as of the fall of mountain streams, Or voices heard in dreams.
He sitteth there in silence, worn and wasted With famine, and uplifts his hollow eyes To the unpitying skies; For forty days and nights he hath not tasted Of food or drink, his parted lips are pale, Surely his strength must fail.
Wherefore dost thou in penitential fasting Waste and consume the beauty of thy youth.
Ah, if thou be in truth The Son of the Unnamed, the Everlasting, Command these stones beneath thy feet to be Changed into bread for thee! CHRISTUS.
'T is written! Man shall not live by bread alone, But by each word that from God's mouth proceedeth! II LUCIFER.
Too weak, alas! too weak is the temptation For one whose soul to nobler things aspires Than sensual desires! Ah, could I, by some sudden aberration, Lend and delude to suicidal death This Christ of Nazareth! Unto the holy Temple on Moriah, With its resplendent domes, and manifold Bright pinnacles of gold, Where they await thy coming, O Messiah! Lo, I have brought thee! Let thy glory here Be manifest and clear.
Reveal thyself by royal act and gesture Descending with the bright triumphant host Of all the hithermost Archangels, and about thee as a vesture The shining clouds, and all thy splendors show Unto the world below! Cast thyself down, it is the hour appointed; And God hath given his angels charge and care To keep thee and upbear Upon their hands his only Son, the Anointed, Lest he should dash his foot against a stone And die, and be unknown.
CHRISTUS.
'T is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God! III LUCIFER.
I cannot thus delude him to perdition! But one temptation still remains untried, The trial of his pride, The thirst of power, the fever of ambition! Surely by these a humble peasant's son At last may be undone! Above the yawning chasms and deep abysses, Across the headlong torrents, I have brought Thy footsteps, swift as thought; And from the highest of these precipices, The Kingdoms of the world thine eyes behold.
Like a great map unrolled.
From far-off Lebanon, with cedars crested, To where the waters of the Asphalt Lake On its white pebbles break, And the vast desert, silent, sand-invested, These kingdoms all are mine, and thine shall be, If thou wilt worship me! CHRISTUS.
Get thee behind me, Satan! thou shalt worship The Lord thy God; Him only shalt thou serve! ANGELS MINISTRANT.
The sun goes down; the evening shadows lengthen, The fever and the struggle of the day Abate and pass away; Thine Angels Miniatrant, we come to strengthen And comfort thee, and crown thee with the palm, The silence and the calm.
III THE MARRIAGE IN CANA THE MUSICIANS.
Rise up, my love, my fair one, Rise up, and come away, For lo! the winter is past, The rain is over and gone, The flowers appear on the earth, The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
THE BRIDEGROOM.
Sweetly the minstrels sing the Song of Songs! My heart runs forward with it, and I say: Oh set me as a seal upon thine heart, And set me as a seal upon thine arm; For love is strong as life, and strong as death, And cruel as the grave is jealousy! THE MUSICIANS.
I sleep, but my heart awaketh; 'T is the voice of my beloved Who knocketh, saying: Open to me, My sister, my love, my dove, For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night! THE BRIDE.
Ah yes, I sleep, and yet my heart awaketh.
It is the voice of my beloved who knocks.
THE BRIDEGROOM.
O beautiful as Rebecca at the fountain, O beautiful as Ruth among the sheaves! O fairest among women! O undefiled! Thou art all fair, my love, there's no spot in thee! THE MUSICIANS.
My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand His locks are black as a raven, His eyes are the eyes of doves, Of doves by the rivers of water, His lips are like unto lilies, Dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.
ARCHITRICLINUS.
Who is that youth with the dark azure eyes, And hair, in color like unto the wine, Parted upon his forehead, and behind Falling in flowing locks?
PARANYMPHUS.
The Nazarene Who preacheth to the poor in field and village The coming of God's Kingdom.
ARCHITRICLINUS.
How serene His aspect is! manly yet womanly.
PARANYMPHUS.
Most beautiful among the sons of men! Oft known to weep, but never known to laugh.
ARCHITRICLINUS.
And tell me, she with eyes of olive tint, And skin as fair as wheat, and pale brown hair, The woman at his side?
PARANYMPHUS.
His mother, Mary.
ARCHITRICLINUS.
And the tall figure standing close behind them, Clad all in white, with lace and beard like ashes, As if he were Elias, the White Witness, Come from his cave on Carmel to foretell The end of all things?
PARANYMPHUS.
That is Manahem The Essenian, he who dwells among the palms Near the Dead Sea.
ARCHITRICLINUS.
He who foretold to Herod He should one day be King?
PARANYMPHUS.
The same.
ARCHITRICLINUS.
Then why Doth he come here to sadden with his presence Our marriage feast, belonging to a sect Haters of women, and that taste not wine?
THE MUSICIANS.
My undefiled is but one, The only one of her mother, The choice of her that bare her; The daughters saw her and blessed her; The queens and the concubines praised her; Saying, Lo! who is this That looketh forth as the morning?
MANAHEM aside.
The Ruler of the Feast is gazing at me, As if he asked, why is that old man here Among the revellers?
And thou, the Anointed! Why art thou here?
I see as in a vision A figure clothed in purple, crowned with thorns; I see a cross uplifted in the darkness, And hear a cry of agony, that shall echo Forever and forever through the world! ARCHITRICLINUS.
Give us more wine.

These goblets are all empty.
MARY to CHRISTUS.
They have no wine! CHRISTUS.
O woman, what have I To do with thee?
Mine hour is not yet come.
MARY to the servants.
Whatever he shall say to you, that do.
CHRISTUS.
Fill up these pots with water.
THE MUSICIANS.
Come, my beloved, Let us go forth into the field, Let us lodge in the villages; Let us get up early to the vineyards, Let us see if the vine flourish, Whether the tender grape appear, And the pomegranates bud forth.
CHRISTUS.
Draw out now And bear unto the Ruler of the Feast.
MANAHEM aside.
O thou, brought up among the Essenians, Nurtured in abstinence, taste not the wine! It is the poison of dragons from the vineyards Of Sodom, and the taste of death is in it! ARCHITRICLINUS to the BRIDEGROOM.
All men set forth good wine at the beginning, And when men have well drunk, that which is worse; But thou hast kept the good wine until now.
MANAHEM aside.
The things that have been and shall be no more, The things that are, and that hereafter shall he, The things that might have been, and yet were not, The fading twilight of great joys departed, The daybreak of great truths as yet unrisen, The intuition and the expectation Of something, which, when come, is not the same, But only like its forecast in men's dreams, The longing, the delay, and the delight, Sweeter for the delay; youth, hope, love, death, And disappointment which is also death, All these make up the sum of human life; A dream within a dream, a wind at night Howling across the desert in despair, Seeking for something lost it cannot find.
Fate or foreseeing, or whatever name Men call it, matters not; what is to be Hath been fore-written in the thought divine From the beginning.

None can hide from it, But it will find him out; nor run from it, But it o'ertaketh him! The Lord hath said it.
THE BRIDEGROOM to the BRIDE, on the balcony.
When Abraham went with Sarah into Egypt, The land was all illumined with her beauty; But thou dost make the very night itself Brighter than day! Behold, in glad procession, Crowding the threshold of the sky above us, The stars come forth to meet thee with their lamps; And the soft winds, the ambassadors of flowers, From neighboring gardens and from fields unseen, Come laden with odors unto thee, my Queen! THE MUSICIANS.
Awake, O north-wind, And come, thou wind of the South.
Blow, blow upon my garden, That the spices thereof may flow out.
IV IN THE CORNFIELDS PHILIP.
Onward through leagues of sun-illumined corn, As if through parted seas, the pathway runs, And crowned with sunshine as the Prince of Peace Walks the beloved Master, leading us, As Moses led our fathers in old times Out of the land of bondage! We have found Him of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph.
NATHANAEL.
Can any good come out of Nazareth?
Can this be the Messiah?
PHILIP.
Come and see.
NATHANAEL.
The summer sun grows hot: I am anhungered.
How cheerily the Sabbath-breaking quail Pipes in the corn, and bids us to his Feast Of Wheat Sheaves! How the bearded, ripening ears Toss in the roofless temple of the air; As if the unseen hand of some High-Priest Waved them before Mount Tabor as an altar! It were no harm, if we should pluck and eat.
PHILIP.
How wonderful it is to walk abroad With the Good Master! Since the miracle He wrought at Cana, at the marriage feast, His fame hath gone abroad through all the land, And when we come to Nazareth, thou shalt see How his own people will receive their Prophet, And hail him as Messiah! See, he turns And looks at thee.
CHRISTUS.
Behold an Israelite In whom there is no guile.
NATHANAEL.
Whence knowest thou me?
CHRISTUS.
Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast Under the fig-tree, I beheld thee.
NATHANAEL.
Rabbi! Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King Of Israel! CHRISTUS.
Because I said I saw thee Under the fig-tree, before Philip called thee, Believest thou?
Thou shalt see greater things.
Hereafter thou shalt see the heavens unclosed, The angels of God ascending and descending Upon the Son of Man! PHAIRISEES, passing.
Hail, Rabbi! CHRISTUS.
Hail! PHARISEES.
Behold how thy disciples do a thing Which is not lawful on the Sabbath-day, And thou forbiddest them not! CHRISTUS.
Have ye not read What David did when he anhungered was, And all they that were with him?
How he entered Into the house of God, and ate the shew-bread, Which was not lawful, saving for the priests?
Have ye not read, how on the Sabbath-days The priests profane the Sabbath in the Temple, And yet are blameless?
But I say to you, One in this place is greater than the Temple! And had ye known the meaning of the words, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, The guiltless ye would not condemn.

The Sabbath Was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
Passes on with the disciples.
PHARISEES.
This is, alas! some poor demoniac Wandering about the fields, and uttering His unintelligible blasphemies Among the common people, who receive As prophecies the words they comprehend not! Deluded folk! The incomprehensible Alone excites their wonder.

There is none So visionary, or so void of sense, But he will find a crowd to follow him! V NAZARETH CHRISTUS, reading in the Synagogue.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
He hath anointed me to preach good tidings Unto the poor; to heal the broken-hearted; To comfort those that mourn, and to throw open The prison doors of captives, and proclaim The Year Acceptable of the Lord, our God! He closes the book and sits down.
A PHARISEE.
Who is this youth?
He hath taken the Teacher's seat! Will he instruct the Elders?
A PRIEST.
Fifty years Have I been Priest here in the Synagogue, And never have I seen so young a man Sit in the Teacher's seat! CHRISTUS.
Behold, to-day This scripture is fulfilled.