CHORUS. Breathe low, low, The spell of the mighty Mistress now! The words which, like secret fire, shall flow SEMICHORUS I. Life may change, but it may fly not: SEMICHORUS II. Yet were life a charnel where Yet were truth a sacred lie; Love were lust SEMICHORUS I. If Liberty Lent not life its soul of light, Hope its iris of delight, Truth its prophet's robe to wear, Love its power to give and bear. CHORUS. In the great morning of the world, And all its banded anarchs fled, Caught, like mountains beacon-lighted, Like an eagle on a promontory. Its unwearied wings could fan The quenchless ashes of Milan. From age to age, from man to man, From the west swift Freedom came, Against the course of heaven and doom, A second sun arrayed in flame, To burn, to kindle, to illume. From far Atlantis its young beams Chased the shadows and the dreams. France, with all her sanguine steams, Hid, but quenched it not; again Scorns the embattled tempest's warning And in the naked lightnings Of truth they purge their dazzled eyes. Let Freedom leave,-where'er she flies, A desert, or a paradise; Let the beautiful and the brave Share her glory, or a grave! SEMICHORUS I. With the gifts of gladness SEMICHORUS II. With the tears of sadness SEMICHORUS I. With an orphan's affection SEMICHORUS II. And at thy resurrection SEMICHORUS I. If heaven should resume thee, SEMICHORUS II. If hell should entomb thee, SEMICHORUS I. If annihilation SEMICHORUS II. Dust let her glories be; And a name and a nation Be forgotten, Freedom, with thee! INDIAN. His brow grows darker-Breathe not-move not; Have awakened him at last. Mahmud [Starting from his sleep]. Man the Seraglio-guard! make fast the gate! What! from a cannonade of three short hours? 'Tis false! that breach towards the Bosphorus Cannot be practicable yet-Who stirs? Stand to the match; that, when the foe prevails, The conqueror and the conquered! Heave the tower Enter HASSAN. Ha! what! The truth of day lightens upon my dream, And I am Mahmud still. Hassan. Is strangely moved. Mahmud. Your Sublime Highness The times do cast strange shadows Lest they, being first in peril as in glory, Be whelmed in the fierce ebb:-and these are of them. As thus from sleep into the troubled day; It shakes me as the tempest shakes the sea, no matter. Thou didst say thou knewest A Jew whose spirit is a chronicle Of strange and secret and forgotten things. Hassan. The Jew of whom I spake is old-so old With light, and, to the soul that quickens them, To the winter wind: but from his eve looks forth The sage, in truth, by dreadful abstinence, Over those strong and secret things and thoughts Mahmud. I would talk With this old Jew. Thy will is even now Hassan. Made known to him where he dwells in a sea-cavern 'Than thou or God! He who would question him Through the soft twilight to the Bosphorus: The Jew appears. Few dare, and few who dare [A shout within. Mahmud. Evil, doubtless; like all human sounds, That shout again Will be here Mahmud. When the omnipotent hour to which are yoked He, I, and all things, shall compel-enough. Silence those mutineers-that drunken crew That crowd about the pilot in the storm. Ay, strike the foremost shorter by a head. They weary me, and I have need of rest. Kings are like stars-they rise and set, they have The worship of the world, but no repose. CHORUS. Worlds on worlds are rolling ever Like the bubbles on a river, Sparkling, bursting, borne away. [Exeunt severally. Who, through birth's orient portal And death's dark chasm hurrying to and fro, In the brief dust and light Gathered around their chariots as they go; Bright or dim are they, as the robes they last On Death's bare ribs had cast. A Power from the unknown God, The thorns of death and shame. Which the orient planet animates with light. Like bloodhounds mild and tame, Noreved until their Lord had taken flight. Arose, and it shall set: While, blazoned as on heaven's immortal noon, Swift as the radiant shapes of sleep From one whose dreams are Paradise The Powers of Earth and Air Fled from the folding-star of Bethlehem: And even Olympian Jove, Grew weak, for killing Truth had glared on them. Their waters turned to blood, their dew to tears, Enter MAHMUD, HASSAN, DAOOD, and others. Mahmud. More gold? Our ancestors bought gold with victory And shall I sell it for defeat? Daood. Clamour for pay. Mahmud. The Janizars Go bid them pay themselves With Christian blood! Are there no Grecian virgins Whose shrieks and spasms and tears they may enjoy? No hoary priests after that Patriarch Who bent the curse against his country's heart, Daood. And yet the harvest to the sicklemen Is as a grain to each. Mahmud. It has been sown, Then take this signet: Unlock the seventh chamber, in which lie The treasures of victorious Solyman. An empire's spoils stored for a day of ruin; O spirit of my sires! is it not come? [Exit DAOOD The prey-birds and the wolves are gorged and sleep; |