BAYARD TAYLOR THE PROPHET A TRAGEDY. BY BAYARD TAYLOR, AUTHOR OF "LABS," "THE MASQUE OF THE GODS," ETC., ETC. BOSTON: JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, (LATE TICKNOK & FIELDS, ANT) FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.) 1874. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by BAYARD TAYLOR, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, BOSTON. ft f THE PROPHET. DRAMATIS PERSONS. DAVID STARR The Prophet ELKANAH His Father HANNAH His Mother KHODA Afterwards his Wife NIMROD KRAFT Afterwards High Priest LIVIA KOMNEY A Woman of the World SIMEON Members of the Council of Twelve MORDECAI HUGH JONAS SARAH Wife of Jonas PETER An Orphan, the Prophet s Serving-Man COLONEL HYDE Sheriff HIRAM A Member of the Church A Preacher. People of David s neighborhood. Members of the church. Women. Colonel Hyde s followers. Time, 18. The scene of Act I. is a New-England State; of the four following Acts, a Western State. Between Acts I. and II. there is an interval of two years; between Acts II. and III., an interval of one year. THE PROPHET. ACT I. SCENE I. The porch, front-yard, and garden of a farm-house. Late afternoon. ELKANAH Tis a good ending of the harvest. Now We may be sure that every sheaf is stacked Ere rain can spoil it. "One load more, I think," Said David. But the farther side is low, A deeper soil, bears well : he may be wrong, If on the right side of the estimate. I always counted less than likely seemed ; Tried to surprise myself, as it might be, 10 THE PllOPHET: And so increase my luck. He s over young For under-guessing ; takes the most at once, And discounts profit long- before it comes. The lad is not like me, or times are changed. I was my father over, he declared, And liked to say so ; but good stock improves ; Hey, Hannah? HANNAH Nay, I heard you : I must think, Whether I will or no, about the boy, As in the anxious time when he w T as born. Late fruit is best, they say, the only kind Keeps over winter ; but it may get ripe, Like pippins, when the orchard s bare of leaves. Your disappointment and your discontent You do forget ; but I remember all, Bearing the blame : and when he came, at last, I said within my heart, Because of that A TRAGEDY. 11 The Lord means something. Now I plague myself, Thinking I see, and straightway seeing not, The sign thereof revealed in David s life. ELKANAH You could not help such fancies, I suppose, While he was on the way. i HANNAH I know your thought : You ve the same right to seek yourself in him, But will .not find it : he is most of me. Why, forty years have you and I been wed ; And four and twenty has he been with us. I cannot say beforehand, thus and so Will speak my husband, or decide, or act; But I must wait : yet, if a woman were By some strange miracle become a man, Then I should be our David s very self In feeling and in purpose. Something moves 12 THE PBOPHETs His mind beyond our daily round of work: I know not what it is, and dare not ask, Lest prying words, before the proper time, Breed mischief. ELKANAH Wife, the boy is all a man : He ll soon spy out what s wanting. HANNAH Ah, not that! PETER (Singing at a distance.) Sing, blow the wind o mornings ! Sing, blow the wind, igh O ! Sing, brush away the morning dew, Sing, blow, blow, blow! ELKANAH The last load: otherwise, would Peter sing Not quite so loudly. They have built it broad, Mayhap, and high, to save another. Well, A TRAGEDY. 13 Whether it show good luck or management Makes odds in the end. There be two ways of work ; And one is doing it because you must, And one because you like. Look when it s done, You ll see small difference, as the case is now; And I misdoubt me sorely which it is. DAVID (Singing, distant at first, but gradually drawing nearer.) If one to yonder mountain saith, Be cast into the sea ! And doubteth not, so filled with faith, The mount removed shall be. Though love is first, yet faith is chief : Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief ! Behold, He granteth prophecy, And gift of tongues, to all: His fullest bounty waits for me, Though I delay to call. The measure of our days is brief : Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief ! 14 THE PROPHET: [RnoDA, approaching the house from the opposite side, pauses at the gate, and listens. She begins to sing, at first in a low voice, then louder to the close ; when DAVID appears. ] DAVID I thought of you, and straightway find you here. Was that your prayer, as well? I ll not believe You utter words, as one lets pebbles drop, To splash in water: you ve a healthful soul, I think, to make another s faith more firm By just believing, Ehoda? KHODA What I am Can I declare? DAVID Then I will set you forth. I ll say that love in you is one with faith: A TRAGEDY. 15 The trust you give means an eternal term, And following through good and ill report, And with strong heart sustaining where the mind Would stop and question. These were woman s gifts When she beheld the Master, and obeyed ; And they are yours : if I supposed you false, I should be most unhappy. RIIODA No, not false ! Believe me, David, any thing but that ! [ They pass into the garden. HANNAH They both forget us ! Even his face is strange, Most strange and beautiful with serious thought ; While hers is troubled, yet has nought of pain. I do not understand it. She s a child, 16 THE PROPHET: Is Rhoda still ; and wise she never seemed. Can one give counsel, comprehending not The doubtful matter? Surely unto her He cannot show what he keeps back from me ! Men seek clear notions, whether fair or foul, When they have pondered any thing so long As he with this. They take the orchard-path. The fruit will hardly be their chief concern, Yet gives fair ground that I ma}^ follow them. [Exit. ELKANAH (Laughing to himself.} Ha, ha ! I see no mystery in the thing. A practised tongue has Hannah, takes her way And justifies it, past my argument ; Yet now and then, like one in too much haste, Her notions trip, and throw her flat on mine. A TRAGEDY. 17 Because the lad was moony, she, forsooth, Must think him like a Samuel, set apart For this or t other ; but it s nothing new. He goes the way of flesh and blood, that first Knows hardly what the natural ailment is, Till each finds out, and then the other heals. Yes, yes, these women ! Best to give them line, And let them pry a while among the clouds For what their very noses touch. She kept Him close, and preached upon and coddled him, As if a root of wilder oats is killed When you keep down the top. The girl, tis true, Might have a bigger dowry : let that pass ! High time it is to settle him afresh ; And Hannah has no call to interfere. [Exit. 18 THE PROPHET : [HANNAH, DAVID, and RHODA return."] DAVID Neither to you nor Rhoda, mother. Both Must wait what cometh ; for, if I could say, Then I should know. HANNAH And each of you is sure You love the other? I have seen no signs. Even neighbors children do not change so much, But there is seeking, doubt, and bashfulness, Which will betray them. DAVID None of these are ours : I did not seek what was already found ; And truth in me prohibits doubt of her. If what concerneth life was once ordained A TKAGEDY. 19 For others, there must be direction still. The nearest heart is ever easiest read : So, reading Rhoda s by the light of mine And that above, as one may hold pure glass Before the least of stars, nor make it dim, I saw that each was chosen. Rhoda, speak, And tell me once again your heart is mine ! RHODA You know it, even if I answered Nay. SCENE II. A CAMP-MEETING. A grove of large, scattered oak-trees. Against two, which stand near together, a platform is built, supporting a pulpit of rough timber. In front of the platform are benches of planks, upon which several hundred persons are seated, DAVID, RHODA, and PETER among them. Tents are pitched under the borders of the grove. Many persons kneeling at the front benches, weeping and shouting. 20 THE PKOPHET: HYMN. There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Imruanuel s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains. THE PREACHER (Resuming his exhortation, ichich was interrupted ly the hymn. ) Oh, there are more among 3-6 shall be plucked As brands from out the burning ! By the hair I ll seize you, even by the single hair That holds you from the pit ! My hands are singed With loosening the Devil s grip on souls ; And 3 ou, who should strike out with fists and feet, Leave me the fight, the cowards that you are ! You think the Lord can t see you : even so The ostrich sticketh in the sand her head To save her gay tail-feathers: pull them out, A TEAGEDY. 21 And cast them from you ! Though you hide yourselves Under the mountains, it will not be long ; He ll send jou wriggling forth, as mean as mice : And, though you dive down in the deepest sea, He ll haul you to the surface like a whale, Harpooned, and spouting blood. [Cries and groans among the people."] Yes, gnash and roar Like lions on the hills of Havilum ; But, all the same, He ll ask full price of you. Come up, ye publicans and sinners ! Kneel, Pray hard, mourn with the mourners, and be saved ! Strike off the crusted brimstone from your feet, And swap the Devil s fire for water of life ! Oh! don t I know you? This one s pride of mind, And that one s wretched fear of what folks say, 22 THE PROPHET: And t other s cold "morality," as if An ice-house better than an oven baked, Oh! don t I know? I had them all myself: I was a scurvy sheep, distempered, bad With foot and mouth disease : He picked me up, And, as it were, greased me with oil of grace, And washed my spotted fleece until it shone. You think you re clean already ; but He sees Eed under broadcloth, silk, and calico, Only your livers white ! [Several more come forward to the front benches, and kneel down with loud cries.~] Two, three, four, five ! Each one as nine and ninety righteous men : Why, these alone outweigh the rest of you ! You give a serpent when he asks for fish; And He upsets, as men their wagons tilt, His four-horse loads of mercies and of gifts, A TRAGEDY. 23 And buries with them all that say, "I need." [His eyes meet those of DAVID, who leans forward in Ms seat with a fixed, abstracted gaze. ] I see another sinner! He s afraid: It may be that he magnifies his sin. But, don t you know, the bigger load you bear, The greater comfort when you cast it off ? Oh ! you ll be pardoned fully, not a doubt : He likes to pardon. Trembling brother, come! You will not? Say, then, do you love the Lord? DAVID (Rising, as if with a struggle, and speaking slowly.) Whether I love Him, and how well, He knows. PETER (Aside to his neighbor.) Not quite the answer he expected. 24 THE PROPHET: THE PREACHER Yes, He knoweth. Do you seek a hole in the net, Caught by the gills already? Yes, He knows: These mourners cry to Him because of that. DAVID Let Him be Judge of me ! THE PREACHER He is your Judge Without your letting. These are Devil s tricks, This playing pitch-and-toss with holy words, To gain a little time. Come up, choose sides ! The Lord means business. Where a gnat s enough For others, must you have an elephant, And all His promises rammed down your throat, Before you know their taste? A TRAGEDY. 25 DAVID (Eagerly.} His promises? The power of miracle and prophecy, And gift of tongues ? He promised them to all ; And Paul confirmed it. Tell me, then, the signs ! The heart within me aches from stress of faith : I have no need to pray, except for power, Which is the seal and covenant for them "Whom He has chosen. [Movements and exclamations among the people, THE PREACHER So take hold on hell The proud of spirit. What ! the gift of tongues, The power of miracle and prophecy, You ask, without repentance, prayer, and grace? 26 THE PEOPHET : DAVID For what should I repent? Why pray as these Who cry from secret consciousness of sin? I never let a fault against me stand For day of settlement, then balanced all By pleading bankrupt, only to begin A fresh account. Acceptance, yea, and faith, Are mine already, tenfold more than yours, Who neither ask, nor know what ye should ask. THE PREACHER We choose His simple way. You would mislead Be silent ! CRIES AMONG THE PEOPLE Out ! A very infidel ! No sinner? Never prays? Why, Antichrist Could say no more ! To face the preacher so ! Away with him! A TKAGEDY. 27 PETER (Turning suddenly, witTi clinched fats.) The preacher drew him on, And got no worse than he deserved. I say, Touch him, it won t be " Glory ! " that you ll shout, After a sore repentance. DAVID If I shake This dust from off my feet, I do no more Than was commanded. Have you privilege To darken counsel with your cloud of words? To teach the lesser part, reject the whole, And mutilate His glory unto men? Woe to the Pharisees and hypocrites, Even here as there, even in these latter days, As when upon the paths of Galilee His feet were beautiful! My words are said. [He leaves the place amid a great outcry and confusion. 28 THE PKOPHET: SCENE III. A lonely lane, evening. DAVID (Solus.) Cast out? By them that think they do believe, Cursed for believing? God! what, then, is truth? Why, here Thy minted gold is worn with use, Sweated in handling, till the head thereon Is quite rubbed out, the superscription dim. I did but offer it as freshly coined, With all its glorious promise legible, And they cry, Counterfeit ! " Ten talents given, Nine have they buried, and a single one Divide among the people, who are blind, And blindly led: shall I not therefore see? [He pauses, and looks upwards."] How reach the faith so perfect and assured That every gift must follow? I have tried, A TRAGEDY. 29 Sought evidence in lightest, easiest ways : Nothing obeyed. So I have not the faith, Or O my God! there is no faith, no power, Nor miracle ; and never can have been. But this is madness ! This makes truth a lie, Makes life an emptiness far worse than death, Peoples the world with devils, drives men mad, And substitutes [Another pause.] I had not thought of that. Times changed, conditions changed : hence spe cial need Of worthiness through trial, harder now Than when all understood what meant belief, And perfect faith was natural to them. How can I measure mine by other men s? I saw not right: I claimed the highest power, Unpurchased. What apostle shall declare, 30 THE PROPHET: As then, the fealty of a human soul? Not he; not he! And are not all alike, Giving their husks of doctrine for His bread? The ground we stand on is too far apart : Whom seek ? Why, none ! A hand is on my head, A finger points the way. PETER (Coming up.) I meant to leave When you did ; but, because I cannot swear As properly as they, and just let fly Hard lumps of words like stones to hit and hurt, They cursed me roundly, in a holy way ; And one, with hand upon my collar, cried, "Down, sinner, and repent!" I answered him Between the eyes ; then dashed the rest apart, And so got headway. Let us hurry on : They re after us. A TRAGEDY. 31 DAVID And if they were? My right Is greater. Did you understand my words? PETER As much as his. He did not answer you : That I could understand. DAVID If unto you So much was manifest, and to the rest, They only want authority and sign, Which I must purchase. Peter, I believe All men are brethren when they see the truth. PETER You never called me "brother;" yet you did Even as a brother. 32 THE PROPHET : DAVID Did I so, indeed? I thought not of it. \Tliey walk forwards. ] PETER Why should you not preach? There always must be preachers in the world. We re used to them ; and people say that things Would go to wrack without them ; but I wish They d yell and bang and thunder less. Somehow The text. is friendly, smooth, and innocent As seems a flint ; yet soon they knock from it Thick sparks of hell-fire ; and the sulphur-stink Goes to men s heads, and sets them raving wild. You d preach some comfort, now. DAVID Would you believe? A TRAGEDY. 33 PETER Why not? Something we must believe, they say. What I can t understand I take on trust. It s getting late : the hogs and cattle know There s earlier feeding-time when Sunday comes. \_IIe hastens on. DAVID The world is peaceful. There should be no sin : There need not be, or misery, any more. Yon blue is loftier than the changing wind, And spreads serenely back of cloud and storm To show us what we might be. Wherefore strive? Faith puts contention quietly aside, Smiles, and is master. \_PJwda overtakes liirn. ] I have need of you, My Rhoda. Sooner than the signs announced, 3 34 THE PROPHET: The time draws nigh. Here, walk beside me now At the beginning, as it were the end. RHODA I was not frightened. All you said was true. I thought you answered as one having power ; And so did many others. DAVID Rhoda, look ! How yonder little cloud is all afire, As if a rose unshrivelled so could burn, That was so gray and dull ! Even such am I. I cannot help the color, nor escape The light that shines upon me. You will be Yon other cloud, that mingles with the first While now we gaze ; and let the multitude Spread as the clammy meadow-mists below, That never saw the sunset. A TRAGEDY. 35 RHODA And I feared That you might be disquieted in soul. Your peace and strength leave all the trouble mine. I can but take whatever light is yours, That is not wasted from a nobler use. I will not speak of mine unworthiness ; For that were thankless censure of your heart, Which finds me worthy. DAVID Proven so again! You are a glass wherein I see myself Reflected as I change, now clear, now dim, And soon (or else, I think, the earth shall cease) Clothed on with brightness, as a lamp with flame. 36 THE PEOPHET: RHODA I pray that I may read what you intend. It must be so: how, otherwise, give help? DAVID Will help be needed? RHODA Will not trouble come? I have the feeling that foretells a storm When not a cloud has gathered, sultry, strange. And full of restlessness which is not fear. This is of me alone : untouched are you By that which you regard not. DAVID Let me be ! Stand off, keep silence, wait and hope ! One step Gives me the pathway ; but my lifted foot Feels in the dark, conjectures an abyss A TRAGEDY. 37 Where one bold thrust might touch the solid base. My peace and strength, you said? There s seem ing peace When hope, desire, and prayer have done their most, And wait in agony the answer. Come ! I hardly feel the earth that bears me up. The sky is blazing ; all the air is gold ; And every hill- top is a step to heaven. [They pass on. SCENE IV. The sitting-room of the farm-house, dusk. HANNAH seated in an old arm-chair at the window. HANNAH If half of Peter s story be the truth, The thing will make disturbance. Not of that, As him affecting, should I be afraid, Were not the place, and manner of his words, 33 THE PROPHET : Weapons against him. Brooding men are rash When forced or cozened to declare themselves ; And he has made, if more his thought includes, Unwise beginning. Whither will it lead? He angers me, who, in my younger days, Was often hotly angered with myself Without such bitter cause ; and, having led In love so long, I now must lead by blame. It is a pestilent business, and for nought ! I did not sa} T a word against his choice, Though higher he a man so proper, she As hundreds are he had the right to look. And now this useless, nighty piece of work ! ELKANAH (Entering.) Oh, yes ! you ve heard. Although I hardly see Your face, I know you know it. Well, this once I think we shall agree. A TRAGEDY. 39 HANNAH First speak your mind. ELKANAH My mind is yours. I always thought } T OU wise As w r omen may be : therefore there s no cause To make this that, when all is clear as day. My name and standing in the neighborhood, And yours, are likely to be touched ; for none Will side with him. HANNAH How? None? Suppose him right, Not rash or nighty, as the thing may seem, But wise and well-considered, shall he bear Unjust abuse, and we take no concern? Then were our name and standing touched in deed ! 40 THE PROPHET : ELKANAH (Lifting up his hands.) Why, wedded forty years (the words are yours), I cannot say beforehand, thus and so Will speak rny wife, when wisdom, reason sense, Have but one language. Did I call you wise? I knew not what I said. The moon-struck boy First cracks the egg-shell of his addled brain ; And yours, to please him, then begins to split. HANNAH Elkanah. hush ! But, nay ! speak as you list, And let your anger breathe itself on me. Though I be sore confounded, I withhold Untimely chiding, which confirms the fault Not felt as such by him ; and, if the thing Be verily justified, avoid a sin. Be gentle with your first and only born. A TRAGEDY. 41 DAVID (Entering hastily.) Father ! Mother ! HANNAH Behold us here, my son ! DAVID I will not call you any other names, Though all be granted. ELKANAH As a favor, then? Say more, or less, and let jour riddles drop. My wits are dumb. DAVID This must be the command. [Exit. ELKANAH If ever ! Did you mark his lordly air ? Let us be thankful, that, because he made 42 THE PROPHET: A strange disturbance in a godly place, He still acknowledges he is our son. HANNAH (Rising.) Oh, spare me any more ! Twas not in pride He spake. He scarcely thought of us : his soul Is moved by madness, or a mighty truth, Or both in battle. All my blood grew cold : My limbs are trembling still. [She lights a lamp. } I fear the dusk. There was a bat before the window brushed, A hoot-owl cried. Well, call me any thing- Mistaken, silly, weak when this is past; But now be kind. [DAVID comes back. He pauses in the centre of the room, with a strange, rapt expression of face.~\ A TRAGEDY. 43 Will you not speak to us, My son? Declare so much as may be told. We listen. DAVID (As if speaking to himself.) Quarantania ! HANNAH (After a pause.") Nay, nay, nay, This is no answer: do not frighten us! Whatever purpose so disturbs your brain You cannot speak it, neither shape its form Clearly unto yourself, give words, but words : Silence is poison. DAVID (Louder than before.} Quarantania ! [He passes out the door. 44 THE PROPHET: HANNAH Ah, He s lost ! My husband, help ! the world is dark. [She falls in a swoon. SCENE Y. A wild, rocky valley between hills covered with forests; on the left an overhanging cliff; a small brook in the foreground. DAVID (Solus.) The second day is sinking to its end, How slowly! These eternities of thought Wherein I grope, and strive to lose myself, Spin to a weary length the glaring hours. I would the night were come ; for I am faint ; And from my hold the things I pray to reach Seem weakly slipping. Night will give them back, When every star shines comfort, and the air A TRAGEDY. 45 Is crossed all ways by print of noiseless feet That on mysterious errands come and go. Could I recall my vision ! All is clear Save that my bed of leaves beneath the rock ; The doubt if. I were still indeed myself, And any thing was what it seemed ; until Came languid peace, then awe and shuddering Without a cause, a frost in every vein, And the heart hammered, as to burst mine ears : Something slid past me, cold and serpent-like : The trees were filled with whispers ; and afar Called voices not of man : and then my soul Went forth from me, and spread and grew aloft Through darting lights His arrows here and there Shot down on earth. But now my knowledge fades : What followed, keener, mightier, than a dream, My hope interprets. Only this I know, 46 THE PROPHET : The dark, invisible pillars of the sky Breathed like deep organ-pipes of awful sound : A myriad myriad tongues the choral sang; And drowned in it, stunned with excess of power, My soul sank down, and sleep my body touched. [He pauses, and looks around.] The shadows will not lengthen. All my throat Seems choked with dust. I never knew before How beautiful may be a little brook. I cannot leave it, cannot turn mine eyes, So tempting and so innocent it runs. If I might drink ! The dry blood else may breed Fever and flightiness. I must be sound, Or soon [He stoops suddenly, dips up the water in his hand, and drinks.] Oh, sweet as C ana s wedding-wine ! Did He not offer it? Such sudden bliss, A TPwYGEDY 47 Born of the body, penetrates my brain ! I doubt no more : the vision will return. {There is a rustling among the leaves. A snake thrusts its head forth from under a bush, and gazes at him. } Temptation, was it? and the tempter, thou, In thy first shape? I will not be afeared. If thou hast power, come forth: if I, depart! I dare the fascination of thine eyes. Look thou, lest mine subdue thee. Is it so? He veils the glittering, bead-like sparks, and turns, Startled, and winds in sinuous escape. Why, this is fresh fulfilment of the Word ! Faint not, my soul : the rest will surely come. \_He walks slowly away, {After a little space enters) NIMKOD KRAFT Yon must be he they seek : he is the same I also seek ; but let me not be rash. 48 THE PROPHET : If, by the spirit driven that bade him speak, He hides for meditation, or is verily daft, As they whose minds take up too sore a load, He must be humored. I will watch him close Until some act or gesture give me hint, And then approach discreetly. \He follows. (Enter RHODA and PETER.) PETER Shall I call (He knows my whoop), or sing the hymn he made? [Sings, but not loudly.] "If one to yonder mountain saith, Be cast into the sea!" ] There ! I forget the rest. RHODA Nay, now; keep still! I ve but a guess to guide me ; and it says A TKAGEDY. 49 He will not see us. Sure, that word betrayed His thought. But can this be the place? or where ? Ah, while we wait, perhaps he s lying dead ! Foolish ! I know he lives. Some lives are safe, Because they are not meant for pleasant paths : Some wits keep sound, to work for other minds. I must not fear; he would not have me fear: If he discover us, I must be shamed, Showing so little faith. PETER And so much care ! If this goes on, I ll shortly preach myself. I ll give you sparrows for example, toads, And stupid owls : no one goes off alone, And t other fears to look for t ! Did the Lord Put such a powerful pressure on his head, 4 50 THE PROPHET: To leave him, sudden, like a will-o -the-wisp, The work unfinished? Then twas not the Lord. RHODA You ve spoken wiselier, Peter, than you think. PETER So wisdom s cheap ! I never valued much My random notions : what they call horse-sense I always had; and that sometimes will serve Even folks that prance so high above our heads. Now, here s the question: Is he like to starve? You think he means to try it. Well and good ! And we must search, but not find openly; Feed him, without his knowledge ; watch his ways, And not be noticed. So I ve nought to do But look for tracks, and leave the provender: The risk is yours. [He goes slowly up the brook, with a basket on his arm. A TRAGEDY. 51 RHODA (Solus.) I try to force my soul To follow his, and question not the way. Within this valley called the Wilderness He must be hidden, if I understand, To win, in solitude, the faith and power. T s pleasant, now : the shadows of the hills Soothe the hot leaves with dreams of coming dew ; The crannies of the serpent-haunted rocks No longer threaten ; and the water here Runs onward with a soft, contented sound. I will believe him safe. And what is night But as a darksome cloth that covers us? Nothing can harm him, for he did no harm ; And that for which he goes apart from all Will be vouchsafed, or prayer is fruitless breath. 52 THE PROPHET : PETER (Returning.} I found his track! beside yon biggest rock, On the flat sand, a little water-soaked, And made so freshly, that I stooped. You said He must not see us. RHODA " And you left him food? PETER Upon a shelf that jutted from the rock, Smooth as a platter. There s no other place, Up stream or down, but briery thickets grow; And, if he pass before the fowls o the air Spy out his supper RHODA Come, it is enough! So glad am I at having guessed aright, A TRAGEDY. 53 I crave no more, lest, pressing on too close, I spoil the certainty of what remains. [Exeunt. SCENE VI. Another part of the valley; NIMROD KRAFT near some lushes; DAVID at a little distance. NIMROD Behind these bushes I can watch at will. He thinks himself alone ; nay, not of that Thinks he at all : his gaze is bent aloft, Or falls, and roots itself before his feet. So young ! Yet even here he bears himself As one commissioned, who but waits the brief, With seal and clear subscription, ere he act. Why not? Has God been sleeping all this while, Or only men? They stand afar and strange, And count their generations Gentile still. Of Christian parents Christian children come, 54 THE PROPHET: Baptized before begotten, then at birth Set back to ancient heathendom, and spoiled Of all their hoarded heritage. Not such Is he : he claims his birthright, will possess, And may restore to others, bringing back The old, forgotten forces of the Church, Whose right hand is Authority, whose left Obedience. But, however he may build, My coarser strength must hew and set the stones. If but my purpose can be squared with his ! Since he has entered in this open tract His spirit wavers : I can see his lips Move, as do such that know not if they speak. There is no better moment : I will go. \_He steps forth, and approaches DAVID.] The soul within me hither turns my feet, And calls upon you. Guide me, help ; forgive If that my haste offend ! I come as he, A TRAGEDY. 55 Lame from his birth, that shouted, leapt, and ran, When once the gentle touch had made him whole. DAVID (After a pause.) I healed you, then, not knowing. NIMROD Marvel not! There s too much virtue in a perfect faith To take the measure of itself. You ARE ; And what you are, not knowing, is the power. DAVID Nay, there ! What I invoke I cannot be. How know you aught of me? NIMROD Yourself did make The revelation. When I saw your face Rise from the crowd, I said within my heart, 56 THE PROPHET : "There s one will sign his own free covenant! He reaches high : my arms are short and strong ; But they may touch the gifts within his hand." You spake. I stood afar ; but in my mouth Came a sweet savor, though their husks and stones Still harsh and heavy on my stomach sat. It needs no thousand words to make acquaint: There s something runs in souls rno re close than blood Of them that issue from the selfsame womb ; And so in yours. I will not guess your prayer. But its fulfilment surely is at hand. DAVID (Hastily. ) Make no conjecture ! Speak no further word ! There was a veil within the Temple : grant I may have lifted up its awful folds, And stand, not blasted yet, nor consecrate. A TKAGEDY. 57 NIMROD So think of me as one that waits without, Silent, and homing much. But, ere I go, [Kneels.] I pray you lay your hands upon my head, And bless me, wishing that to my belief Be added understanding ; to my will, The power to serve ; to mine obedience, Some gracious gift. DAVID (Aside.} How, then? Without the power Assume the office? Yet a blessing dwells Within the heart of him that calls it down ; Or else he dare not. [To NIMROD.] As thou askest, so May it be given ! From laying here my hands Expect no unction more than I possess. 58 THE PROPHET: NIMROD. (Rising.*) But more than I arn worthy to receive Is even that, so filled am I with light! And they, dumb souls, who for a single ray Shout " Glory!" and are saved, how could they bear The flood that enters me from you ? Farewell ! A part is granted: you have forced the gate, And stand with dazzled eyesight. When you see, Come back to men. [Exit. DAVID A powerful soul ! and yet Acknowledges authority in me. Why was I faint or doubtful? Have I reached Too high, perchance, or dreamed commissioned power A TRAGEDY. 59 Should be by signs and wonders heralded, Not as the simple consequence of faith? Faith is as beauty is : no maiden feels Through inner sense the glory of her face ; But it shines back on her from who perceives. "With dazzled eyesight"? Darkness comes of that; And on the finished shrine He sank in cloud. If power unconsciously be held, I climb The while I seem to beat a weary round ; Possess authority beyond my sense ; Am blinded, yea, because so near the light ; And weak, since even now my shoulders bear The unwonted burden. Let the vision come ! It cannot fail: the first and largest star Already glimmers from the expanding vault ; And millions wait behind. So sure as they Shall pierce the veil when thickest, even so The first faint lamp within a seeking soul Foretells the revelations crowding on. 60 THE PKOPHET: SCENE VII. A room in the farm-house ; ELKANAH, HANNAH, DAVID, RHODA. HANNAH I try to understand you : if I fail, The heart your baby head found comfort on Is not to blame. ELKANAH It s all a waste of words ! You look for duty, and it s asked of you : Command, or wish, or plead, one answer comes, He has "authority:" so much I ve learned. When once a man says that, you might as soon Prevail upon a tortoise in the shell : No words go through it. I have said my say. DAVID If I had given you grief of heart ere this, Sinned unrepenting, disobeyed your will, A TRAGEDY. 61 What I have done would bring rejoicing now. There s no perversity in whole desire, Or the receiving of the gifts unused Because unclaimed. I could not help but reach ; Then, plucking back my hand, I found it filled. What said you, mother, all my years of youth, But "Seek, and ye shall find" ? HANNAH I did, my son. That you have sought, I know: that you have found, I will believe. But if a healthy tree, Grafted with apple, bearing apple-flowers, Should after yield a fruit we never saw, What man would taste until he knew it safe? Thus from the hope I nursed springs all at once A something strange, sheer wonderment to me That gave your nature most. How can I say 62 THE PROPHET: " Go on!" not knowing whither, or, " Come back ! " Haply from good ? RHODA Say nothing, then, but wait: The way is fixed. I know not how I feel His purpose ; yet I feel, and follow him. DAVID Caught out of darkness, shall I turn my back Against the light? or, spent from wildering ways, Refuse the path that makes my feet secure? I did not seek my struggle : it was there. Why, men whose souls but burrow in their flesh To feed, like worms in apples early ripe, May say to mine : Be fat, and be content ! But me God sent the butterfly instead ; And it must flutter in the sun, or die. A TRAGEDY. 63 PETER (Entering. ) A stranger stands outside. He s one of them, It seems, that you, that they But come yourself : Ten steps are easier than my telling it. DAVID \ What will he? , PETER Preaching. There, the word is out ! You ll guess the rest. [Exit DAVID. ELKANAH The business just goes on As I expected ! When was notion bred By mortal brain, that did not set the tongue In gear, to run full-tilt? He ll cackle, too, 64 THE PKOPHET: So long as folks find something in Ms egg; Then, maybe, when the thing s no longer fresh, There ll be an end. He sows religious oats A little heavier in the head, that s all ; But thorns and stony ground will waste the crop, Or Gospel words mean nothing. PETER (Aside to RHODA.) All the talk (So this man says) in our and other towns Is nought but David : there s no end of tales. The moral of it they don t rightly know, And bend their ear-flaps, like a restless horse, To catch some new particular. If, now, He has the call to preach, they have to hear. Twill come to that. [Exit. A TRAGEDY. 65 HANNAH I never thought of you As of a daughter, Ehoda ; yet I see That in your heart his ways are justified, As in his own yourself. Men love the will That bends to theirs ; and she who fain would guide Must seem to follow. I ve directed him Too long to make a new, obsequious change: The place is yours. But, my daughter (hence I ll call you so), remember, never man, Though gifted, raised, and made a power in the world, Sufficed unto himself! Else he were god; And she, the nearest, first, interpreting All womankind to him, he, men to her, Is called, as well, to claim her half of truth, So testing his. I may have borrowed care Where it was not intended: all that s come 66 THE PROPHET : Is what my natural sight had long foreseen, Were it not partial. I must needs unloose The precious bond of guidance, let him go, And pray far-off, where once I held him close, And breathed my heart in his believing ear. KHODA Grapes cannot come from thorns, but neither thorns From fruitful vines. It is his blossom-time, When storm or sudden chill may stint the fruit : He should be sheltered. But my speech is scant ; And what I say sounds other than I feel. So new the life is which he brings to mine, So strange, exalted, I forget myself; And, when he needs another s tongue, I fail. You love him, you will shortly understand. I will not take an atom that was yours In all his thought: what he bestows on me Is only love ungranted otherwise. A TRAGEDY. 67 SCENE VIII. The same as Scene V- Some of the thickets on loth sides of the brook have been roughly cleared away. A number of country-people, chiefly men, are gathered in the space thus made, some seated on scattered stones, and stumps of trees; others approaching by the foot path from below. Strong sunshine and heavy shadow alternately; an uncertain sky, portending storm. FIRST MAN Tis a fool s errand that we come, I fear. SECOND He ll keep his word. FIRST Perhaps ; but was it given ? THIRD Ay, given to me. I offered him a chance Open to use or let alone : he took 68 THE PBOPHET: As eagerly as one that in the road Sees a stray gold-piece. SECOND Be he cracked or sane, Four days, they say, he fasted hereabouts, Then, fresh and fair, went home. I d not believe, But for accounts of such and stranger things Before our time. FIRST He s nowise different From you or me. A little fresh conceit, Like 3^east, will puff a brain above its pan. THIRD It s more than that in him. He looked straight through The face I had, and saw what lay below, Namely, no faith, but some curiosity, A TRAGEDY. 69 A little fun withal ; I hardly know, And smiled, but in a queer, forgiving way, That hurt me afterwards. - SECOND Stay, there he comes! I mark no flighty or conceited airs, A plain young man, pale face, and shining eyes : He mounts the rock. See how the sun comes out, And strikes his head ! Be silent, you ! Sit down, Make no disturbance, let him speak his mind! DAVID (Standing upon the rock, sings : RHODA and PETER, below, join in the hymn.) Oh, praise the Lord the Giver! Kelieve His burdened hands! His miracles deliver The congregated lands: He poureth as a river, And we but take the sands. 70 THE PKOPHET: His fruitful boughs are shaken; His bounties fall as rain: We sit with souls mistaken, In penitence and pain: Awaken, world, awaken, And spread His feast again! SECOND MAN A gay beginning ! I could join in that With all my voice. FIRST They sing to lively tunes In many churches. THIRD Yes, but say, the while, They re stolen from the Devil. May be so ; But then the Devil must be a jolly soul, And angels doleful as Begone, dull car el A TKAGEDY. 71 % DAVID What come ye out to see? A reed in the wind? But if God s lips unto a reed be set, The dryest one that whistles in the marsh, There comes a music that can soothe the world. I make no claim: I tried to understand The many promises that rust unused ; And all I asked, was, Are they granted yet? Then, rising high as agony of prayer May lift a mortal, lo ! the answer came. Show me the term, or limit ! There is none : Eestore conditions, you restore the power; And He who waiteth for a thousand years Will manifest His wonders. They who teach, You say, are silent as to this? Why, then Let them make answer ! Gifts of many tongues, 72 THE PROPHET: Of healing, miracle, and prophecy, Given to His followers, by them to theirs, Are buried treasures for this drowsy race. He offering helmet, buckler, sword, and spear, Armor of proof, perchance a shepherd s staff We take, reluctant, mendicants where He Awaits the guests that know their welcome sure. So dust and cobwebs fill the temple ; so The cedarn beams are rotted in their place ; The trumps and timbrels crack, and wake no more The songs of Zion : all is desolate, As we were Israel that turned away! Tis time a mighty wind should whirl the chaff From idle threshing-floors : my breath is weak, A TEAGEDY. 73 So others not increase it, yet thou, Lord, Who knowest whether I deserve or no Thy signs of power, who, should I point, as now, My finger at the crest of yonder rock, And say, "Be thou removed!" [J. part of the rock crashes down with a great noise and reverberation. Cries of terror, and much con fusion among the people.] VOICES It falls ; it falls ! The world is coming to an end! He spake, And it obeyed! A prophet, yea, a prophet! 74 THE PEOPHET: DAVID (Who has remained quietly standing upon the rock, pale and rapt.} Be not afraid! The power that works within, If it but shiver down one crumbling edge Of old indifference, is mightier yet. Therefore, I take it from His open hand, Who made yon stones to fall. I hurl on you His arrows, and the shining of His spear : I bid believe, not me, but what, renewed, In me is manifest: I call you back From pools made muddy by the paddling feet Of darkened generations, to the fount He cleft, now gushing in a desert land. He waits, how long! His summons, day by day {Thunder and lightning.] A TRAGEDY. 75 VOICES We do believe you. Turn His wrath away! A Prophet, yea, a Prophet ! DAVID There He spake : Doubt not, as oft of old, but now attend The voice within you, which is He indeed. Oh ! spread Thy banners on the streaming wind; Come as the morning ; broaden as the day ; Fill the dark places with Thy healing light ; And, once Thy reign assured, cast me aside, So glorified in mine un worthiness, Because I saw when Thou didst touch mine eyes ! Come, now, in thunder and the clouds of heaven, 76 THE PKOPHET. And purifying cisterns of the rain, To wash Thy N world, and fit it for the sun! Thy day is near at hand: the glory shed With all Thy promises shall doubled be On all Thy gifts. [A storm arises, thunder, wind, and raw.] VOICES A Prophet, yea, a Prophet I ACT II. SCENE I. Afternoon. The crest of a rise, or swell, in a broad prairie. To the westward, in the distance, a line of timber, denoting the course of a stream; a train of emigrant-wagons scattered along the road thither. On the crest a solitary wagon, its canvas cover partly folded back. DAVID and RHODA, with a child in her lap, seated in it; PETER standing at the horses heads. RHODA YOU RE weary, husband : is it far to camp ? DAVID Two hours, to yonder smoky line of trees. The signs of heaven are fair: the earth believes In them, and, glad as any living thing, 77 78 THE PROPHET: Smiles far and wide. The sky is larger here, And brighter ; other life is in the winds ; The grass is lost beneath a waste of flowers: It is our promised land. RHODA At last! DAVID Ah, me ! This weight and perilous sinking of the heart, That ever looks before, or stubbornly Tastes the o ercome distresses of the past ! I gave the guidance of my mind away, To be uplifted : now, on lower things, On trial, parting, woe of ignorant love, I dwell, as were they shadows coming on. PETER (Sings.) We are swallows seeking the laud of spring: "We are faint, we have far to roam: A TRAGEDY. 79 When shall we fold the weary wing, Lord, in Thy promised home? Home ! We are bound for the promised home! DAVID How is it that I still upbear their souls? The land, the temple, and His coming reign, Through me, and their acceptance of my power, Fill and content them : I should be content, If human memories were not obstinate As human needs. Do you remember still The day that tried me most, and mother s words, "I cannot follow you, and dare not hold Farewell ! we shall not meet on earth again " ? What I obeyed expunged the seeming wrong, But not its lingering sense ; for while the wind Blows softly over these unpeopled plains, And in the middle watches of the night, And when the young birds cheep their wish for morn. 80 THE PROPHET: I hear her say, and see her tearless eyes, "I cannot follow you, and dare not hold: Farewell ! we shall not meet on earth again." RHODA (Bending over her child.) Sleep, baby, sleep ! The wind will blow the flowers, The trees will drop their berries, all for thee. PETER (Sings.) We will build the temple broad and high, And crowned with a golden dome ; For the day of the Lord is surely nigh, When we reach the promised home. * Home ! We shall dwell in the promised home ! DAVID They shame me, who have also left their all, Save, nurtured with an easier hope, they bear A TRAGEDY. 81 A lighter sorrow ; yet as day by day Their hosts increase, so mounts the sum of faith- There was a woman came, a week agone, To hear my message : on the outer edge Of those few gathered in the dusky hall She sat, and fixed me with her wondrous eyes. At first I said, Tis Mary Magdalen, Whose sin forgiven still left her virtue sad; But, kindled with my words, the while I drew A picture of the kingdom she became Queen Esther, as in Shushan s royal house She touched the sceptre, proud, obedient, Sure of the end. A power came forth from her, As if of wings companioning mine own. Can she believe, nor follow? RHODA Bather think On these your faithful flock. If she have power, 6 82 THE PKOPHET : Indeed, the greater sin of pride is hers, Whose gold and gay apparel are her gods. DAVID (Musingly.) The light of guidance never was so clear And then deceived : what instruments I have Rough hands of workmen, by whose awkward use The gifts almost become a mockery Still leave me helpless when the finer sense Would snatch from floating lines a plan supreme. There must be law, pure discipline of lives, Foundations set, and pleasant sheepfolds made In desolate places. Ah ! were only one But near me, bathed in equal bliss of faith, To see, where I am dazzled, and to say, "Build higher! here enlarge the pillared front, There push thy climbing pinnacles aloft!" Even light is lonely to a human soul. A TRAGEDY. 83 Two glories are there ; and but one they know, Save her who saw, then closed reluctant eyes. RHODA Can you be faint of spirit while by you We all are led? Then is the body weak, And rest will be your medicine. DAVID (To PETER) Go on! PETER (Driving onward, sings. ) The bolts of the Lord shall fall and burn On Babylon and on Rome ; But the chosen seed shall safe return, To dwell in His promised home. Home ! We have found His promised home ! 84 THE PROPHET : SCENE II. Night. A camp on the banks of a small stream. Men, women, and children grouped about fires under the trees. In the centre a tent, before ^vhich a pole, stuck in the earth, bears a blazing torch. Outside of the camp a guard is heard to challenge some one approaching. After the pass word, " Zion" enter NIMROD KRAFT. He dismounts from his horse, and draws near the tent. NIMROD Hail, Prophet David ! Grace and blessing be To all the chosen ! DAVID / Be the words fulfilled! You come beforehand, like the dove, to say The waters settle, and the olive-tree Puts forth new leaves. We shall possess the land. NIMROD We do possess it. On the highest bluff That overlooks full twenty miles of stream, A TRAGEDY. 85 Now stand a hundred cabins : we have staked The streets, first measured with the holy reed, And broken cornfields from the stubborn sod, And set young gardens round about the place, That much do flourish. Every work is blessed: Even the quarry-stones come loose in squares, As if they hastened to be lifted up, And made the temple. DAVID All! when once it stands, A visible sign, a shelter for our ark! NIMROD Even so we feel. They give their tithing-time In faith and in rejoicing : I have used The power you delegated to my hands, Sifted the wheat, and sent some chaff adrift, Fixed ordered rule, exacted industry, 86 THE PROPHET: And so blocked roughly out what you may shape To pure proportions : as my work below Grows up, may yours complete it from above ! DAVID Let all the frame-work needful for our flock, As shelter, or enclosing law, be raised, And quickly. I have given you the Twelve ; Yet they debate, methinks, or seek to know Who shall sit highest. NIMROD Thus it was of old. Your headship must remain ; for you alone Possess direct commission. Let them see They whom 3 our messengers found here and there, And, not beholding, none the less believe What power is yours. A little thing s enough. DAVID What mean you? A TBAGEDY. 87 NIMROD Well, I find it natural. Your coming will be made a holy day ; For all shall then be gathered as a brood Beneath your wings. And something they ex pect, Some sign, or show, as reconfirming faith ; Or revelation, such as ignorant souls Gape at and glory in. None promised this : But they believe ; and therefore they expect. DAVID When I was small, I planted once a tree, Then every second morning plucked it up To see if it were growing. Summer came ; And while the others, left alone, were green, Mine pined and perished. Give the flock, in stead, This parable. 83 THE PROPHET: NIMROD They would not understand. Transplanted faith (let me the rather say) Needs watering, shelter, all the gardener s care, Till it be rooted. Ponder this yourself. Put on your sandals ; leave the holier ground, And walk in dust among the multitude : So shall you feel their need. DAVID I never asked But what is offered freely unto all. There is no flame, it seems, that of itself Will burn in earthly air ; but, then, is flame, When fed from coarser aliment, less pure? Water pollutes itself from what is washed ; But fire takes up its own, and spurns the dross, If that were possible to me A TEAGEDY. 89 NIMROD Yourself Shall winnow, with a finer fan than ours, Whom we have gathered. All is ready, else. I will not keep your body from its rest. With Hugh and Jonas, members of the Twelve, I must consult, so portioning the homes, That none shall mark advantage of the rest. The flock is jealous : softly on the nose Must we pat every sheep, as well as feed. [Exit. DAVID (To RHODA, who has overheard the dialogue.) There goes a sense with which I cannot strive, So well it builds, and so obediently ; Yet power is lessened when it touches me. RHODA I did not like the man, when he I mean His hardness first repelled ; but now, perhaps, 90 THE PROPHET: He is the coarser fuel, you the flame ; And each may need the other. I, too, feel That they which follow, never having seen, Deserve a sign. DAVID If so, the Lord will send. [Exit into the lent. RHODA Not their belief, but who it is believes, Gives him support. That was a happy time, When we alone went wandering through the land ; For few could jeer, though many sore abused ; And ever here and there a soul was caught Out from the Gentiles, and was glad with us ; And Zion with its temple shone afar, More beautiful, I think, than now at hand. I must not murmur: we are verily blessed, A TRAGEDY. 91 Put past the reach of persecuting hands, And guided so, that this fair wilderness Already bears the roses as we pass. SCENE III. Another part of the camp. NIMROD, HUGH, and JONAS seated near a fire. HUGH He will not, think you? NIMROD Nay, I said not that. I only charge that nothing be proclaimed ; *. Then whatsoever come, if so it come, Will have more operation. See, the flock Is over-hungry for continual signs ; Which, could they be bespoken, would be nought But independence of the Lord. 92 THE PROPHET : JONAS Maj be. But I that chose the gift of healing, I That have obeyed in all things, I should heal ! If he must husband up his power to spend On higher miracles, enough is mine For lesser work : so strengthen, then, my hands, That they on whom I lay them shall be whole. NIMROD The wish may choose : possession comes by faith. Know surely that you have it, and you have. JONAS How know without a test? NIMROD Ah ! there you lack The last anointing ; there the prophet stands Transparent in his own internal light, A TRAGEDY. 93 While yours is cloudy still. When you foresee The healing of your hands, your hands will heal. HUGH So works the gift? But, if his foresight be Indeed so perfect, it were rude to say, As cheer to some, and guidance unto all, This member strays, that rises ; these receive, Or lose, that our authority be firm ; For such picked out for higher reach of faith Will stand, supporting us, above the rest. NIMROD First show them patience ! Gathered here and there, The dust of other life upon their shoes, The stagnant blood of other creeds not yet Purged from their veins, the Gentile taunt still loud In ear and memory, restless from the change 94 THE PROPHET : And long privation of the pilgrimage, They hear but half ly : we must give them rest, Fitting their shoulders to an easy yoke, Filling their cribs, and warmly bedding them, Till they will rather serve within our fold Than rule outside of it. JONAS Is all prepared For us who come? The people hear of those Who, first arriving, may be better placed. NIMROD I did not take my gift of prophecy In vain : so ye declare it unto all, Contentment waits for woman, man, and child ; But to yourselves I promise more belief. Go, hither bring the tally of your men : My work is yet unfinished. [Exit HUGH and JONAS.] A TRAGEDY. 95 All alike ! No one is certain that he has the power, Unless his neighbor says so. Tell them, then, They govern, governing myself the while. So far were eas} r : yet from him comes forth The fire that makes their dull cold metal bend ; And when to kindle it is in his will, Not mine. He has a look of weariness ; And out of languor comes no miracle. But oft, from very expectation, springs The thing expected, if a cooler skill Command the heat of others. What she plans If any thing, indeed I cannot guess ; Not even whether like or dislike looked From eyes that only seemed to hide her thought. Turn either way, I m poking in the dark. Well, well! the morrow is the clearer day. 96 THE PROPHET: SCENE IV. THE CITY. A street on a high, airy plateau, overlooking the course of a great river. In the centre stand the unfinished walls of the temple ; opposite to them a house larger than the others, its front hung with garlands, and an arch of green boughs spanning the entrance. The people, several hundred in number, are drawn up in lines on loth sides of the street, with branches in their hands. Shouts are heard in the distance, announcing the arrival of the train : then DAVID appears on horseback, a little in ad vance, bare-headed, and wearing a long white mantle: the people cast their branches before him. HYMN. "We have left the land of Egypt For the place of our desire: Fallen is the gated city; And the woe thereof is dire: The boughs of the tree are withered, And the women set them on fire! A TRAGEDY. 97 Lo! who is he that cometh In the name of the Holy One? The bearers of gladsome tidings Before his pathway run: He bringeth us out of darkness, As the star that brings the sun. [The women step forward on each side, and sing, LIVIA E.OMNEY, with a crown in her hand, standing in the midst. ,] Hail, all hail, to the prophet, "Whose reign begins to-day! "Who hath laid his firm foundations In the dust of the world s decay: He rnaketh the dry bough blossom; He gathers the sheep that stray. DAVID (Aside.} It is herself! How beautiful she stands, Forgetful of the stare of wondering eyes, And filled with promise of mysterious power ! She s Miriam now, and sings deliverance. 7 98 THE PROPHET: I breathe again : the weight falls off my soul, As poising rocks are started by a sound ; And I am glad and strong for what may come. LIVIA (Stepping forward.} Thrice hail, O Prophet ! Bow but once before Thy humble handmaid, not as honoring her, But that she reach thy consecrated brow. [David bends down his head : she places the crown upon it.-] Forgive me, that, when first I did believe, I failed to follow : thus it came to pass I went before to seal mine evidence, Lest that were vain which I would ask of thee. HUGH (To NlMEOD.) Who is the woman? A TRAGEDY. 99 NIMROD More than is her name I cannot say. Tis but four days ago She landed from the river. Worldly store She seems to have, and knowledge of the world, Notable cunning of the hand and eye, And influence with her sex perhaps with ours. Foremost in planning this array was she ; Went here and there ; was always first and last ; And therefore fell to her, by proper right, The place she wanted. DAVID (After a pause.} Thou art one of us. There is no high or low : each bows to each In whom the Spirit lives. I saw thy faith, And called thee : well it was that thou didst hear. Not they who yield when buffeted by words, 100 THE PROPHET: And shaken by the signs, bat they who feel, Like wandering birds, where lies the summer-land, And strike their way across the printless air, Build up the kingdom. Thine obedience Is as a soil for planting of the power. What is it thou wouldst ask? LIVIA The gift of tongues. DAVID (After looking in her face a moment, beckons. She comes nearer.} Take thou the gift, in measure as thy faith Shall justify, and even so exercise. LIVIA (Steps lack a pace, keeping her eyes fixed on DAVID. She rises to her full height, with uplifted head, and points towards the temple. ) Airo pametha loydor ondis abarka ! [Movements and murmurs among the people."] A TEAGEDY. 101 A MAN What tongue is that? A SECOND It must be ancient Greek, Or Hebrew, maybe, as Isaiah spoke. The sound is glorious. A THIRD Never did I hear Such mighty words. Our preacher once came down With u Armageddon, Pandemonium, Baal;" But they were nought to hers. THE FIRST. Tis prophecy! He understands: his face is like a flame. LIVIA Orathmedon adra, bannorim adra slavo ! 102 THE PROPHET: DAVID (Rapidly and eagerly) It shall arise ! The tempests of the world Shall not prevail against it ! Every stone Shall testify! From its completed towers A light go forth till darkened Edom sees ; And here, even here, where our Shechinah stands, When all mankind is gathered to our fold, Shall angels plant the ladder of the Lord For His descending. Be ye not as them That craved new signs, and were rebuked of Him ! Who feeleth not the presence of the power Above us, in us, moving in our works, And only sparing insomuch as saves From easy heart, slack will, and idle hand, Let him go forth ! CRIES OF THE PEOPLE Nay, nay, we will abide! A TBAGEDY. 103 DAVID Forget that 3-011 have ever lived ere now. As strips the serpent her uneasy skin, And comes forth new and shining, cast ye out Old hopes and hates, old passions and desires. Be as a fallow field that waits new seed : Take rain and sunshine in their times ; lie bare To the invisible influence of heaven ; And be assured from your warm breast shall spring The hoty harvest ! Ye have welcomed me With faithful hearts and voices : so, henceforth No more as one that in the wilderness Cries to the stocks and stones, shall I be heard, But as a father mid his children teach, And as a brother mid his brethren love, And as one chosen lead ye all to share An equal power and glory. THE PEOPLE Hail, all hail ! 104 THE PROPHET: NIMROD (Coming forward.) Here is your home : by her on whom the tongue Descended at your bidding, it was dressed. The humble house is like a bride that waits The bridegroom s coming : enter, and be blessed ! I, and my brethren of the Twelve, have charge That all, ere nightfall, shall be snugly housed, New brethren mixed with old, but in such peace And kindly fellowship, as, until now, Hath not been witnessed, to the world s disgrace ! THE WOMEN (At a sign from LIVIA, sing.) Make haste, Beloved of Zion! The porch and the chamber shine: We have gathered the rnyrrh and rnanna, And filled the flagons with wine: Now comfort the souls of thy daughters, As the Lord shall comfort thine. [DAVID waits, standing under the arch, while PETER assists RHODA to alight from the wagon.~\ A TRAGEDY. 105 PETER Well, here s the end ! Our Zion s rather bare, But makes a good beginning. RHODA (Giving him her child.} Carry him, But hold him gently : he is tired and scared. I, too, am wearier than I thought to be, And hardly happy in beholding home Till I possess it. David, come with me ! \Tliey enter the house. SCENE V. The council-room. Night. NIMROD KRAFT, HUGH, JONAS, SIMEON, and two other members of the Twelve. NIMROD All now are housed and sleeping : first their souls 106 THE PROPHET: Were satisfied, and then their bodies soothed. On this rock must we build. The arch of truth Requires abutments in the life of flesh: It cannot hang in air. See, therefore, 3-6, That these the weak foundations of our state Be firmer settled. Scourge the drones away; Over the labor needful unto each Be labor added for the sake of all. Let him whose lips are not anoint believe With hand and sinew ! JONAS If the hand should .doubt ? Equality of service and of power Was promised them ; and many bear the yoke As they that seem to stoop, and mean to spring. A TRAGEDY. 107 NIMROD Equality? Yes, were there equal faith. Not yet dare I to measure mine by his, The Prophet s, since the token lies in power. They sleep ; we watch for them : why, let them watch, And we will sleep. SIMEON Then wolves would rend the fold. The new life must begin: he spake the word. It will be hard; but we submit to him, And they not more so, in obeying us. JONAS How far will he concede? The government, Scarce framed as yet, will he alone direct, Uncounselled, or be led to side with them Who, standing nearest, easier prevail? Whence comes decision, when opinions clash? 108 THE PROPHET: NIMROD By revelation. SIMEON May it come at need! HUGH. We, the apostles of the wandering church, Should be, of right, foundations here. NIMROD He takes, Lifts up, or sets aside. You know my work, If it be good. I never thought to say, "Reward me!" but whatever implement, Scythe-blade, or sword, or knife that scullions use, His hand has need of, he will find me that! A TRAGEDY. 109 JONAS (Aside to HUGH.) When one is sword already, sharpened too, The offer s glibly made. NIMROD I say but this : It was my providence to know him first, To see descending on him, like a flame, The Spirit : near, because alone, I stood, But am less near than he w r ho more believes. What use of prying words? Tis signs we need, Accord of all. The temple- walls complete With roof and pinnacle, the shrine set up, Symbolic vessels, altar, veil, and ark, New psalms of praise, and joyf illness of hymns, All this made visible. Their faith is firm ; And their impatient thoughts, now floating loose In every wind, will settle, and have rest. [Exit HUGH, JONAS, and others. THE PROPHET: SIMEON You touched his secret sore, I name no names, Kept tender, as I guess, by discontent Of womankind. You ve seen the kind of wife That never wholly justifies the man, And, when he follows, straightway shifts her mind To make new disagreement : such is she. With brethren one must be considerate, As you have been ; but those whom now he makes Apostles should not wear a home-made bit. That I am widowed, nigh a blessing seems, Though mine respected me. NIMROD The words I spake Were but the Prophet s unpronouneed desires. I am the nearest yet, because I keep A TRAGEDY. Ill A circle round him clear and unprofaned, That so his soul be tempered to receive Continual revelations. They mistake Probation, preparation, for the end. But that which draws the few is not enough To sow infection in the blood of all, And overcome the world. Much more awaits, And grander : are you as the fallow earth ? SIMEON Yea, passive as a field the sower treads. NIMROD Tis well : till he shall order otherwise, Be led by me ! Go, now, and counterwork The small dissensions : I have other tasks. It was a wondrous sign that heralded The Prophet s coming : keep the wonder fresh In all, 3 r et raise not wild and over-wrought Expectancy of more. The woman s power 112 THE PROPHET: Renews another ancient virtue lost, Zion shall have its prophetess ! I go To give my homage, and to arm for us A Deborah, a chief tainess of the faith. SCENE VI. A room in the PROPHET S house. RHODA seated near the window, sewing ; the baby asleep in a cradle at her feet ; DAVID at a desk, looking over some papers. DAVID The man must have commission from the Lord, To plan such perfect s}*stem : not the bees Get wax and hone}*, build their brittle combs, And organize their kingdom of the hive, So faultlessly. My loss of power through him Was but a fancy bred of weariness ; For what he asked of my unwilling soul Came, half a marvel to nryself. A TRAGEDY. 113 RHODA I, too, Have thought him hard : he lacked your sweeter fire. Yet surely something kindly planned this home, Not chance, to give the dear familiar rooms We first were happy in. Young trees are set, Like children of the old ones following us, In the same places, by the southern porch ; And in the garden foolishly I cried To find the cushions of the mountain-pink And yellow-flags, and fragrant southern- wood. Can this again be taken? Will there come Aught to disturb us? DAVID Nay, it cannot be. We build too surely : we are set alone In a new land. Why should the Gentiles mock 114 THE PROPHET: The boasted precedent whereon they build, Their right of conscience, by molesting us? (Enter PETER.) PETER The town is ringing with the miracle. Whether twas Hebrew, or the sort of tongue That Adam spoke, they re not exactly sure; But twas a prophec} T , and will fulfil. Then, since it seems there s here and there a man Talks Dutch, or French, or maybe Cherokee, They re all as one to them that never learned, She understood em ! Twas a coming down Of tongues, they say, just like what happened once Away in Mesopotamia. DAVID Given at need ! By this I know the woman s lofty faith, A TRAGEDY. 115 And eminence of prayer. Why, save myself, Not one hath been so visited. New flames Circling mine own, kindled in souls like hers, Will help fend off the slow, devouring chill That from the fiend is blown. RHODA I thought her strange, Scarce one of us, so grand and beautiful And unabashed. I should be grateful, though, She drew away so many eyes that else Had stared in wonder I should be your wife. PETER They say, in getting up the welcome-home, And such pontificals, she steered the raft. Willing or not, or knowing things or not, All, somehow, lent a hand : she had a way To make them satisfied with what they did. 116 THE PROPHET: Talk of the well, it nearly slipped that time Of her, and she appears. [Exit, RHODA (Aside.) I cannot stir, Lest baby wake ; and sure my place is here ; Yet would that she were come and gone again ! [LiviA enters : she is simply but elegantly dressed in a black silk robe, and ivears a white veil upon her DAVID (Taking her hand.) Be welcome, sister ! If I thank you less For honor paid than for unstinted faith, I most am grateful. LIVIA What I fain had said Falls back upon my heart as hollow sound. A TRAGEDY. 117 Your soul hath read, and, reading, spares me words That only stammer when my own would sing. The marvellous light that entered me from you I cannot fathom, nay, nor merit it, Except in yielding, in receiving all, As woman may, in whom the sense is quick To conquer reason which resists in man. I was a harp-string, mute until you touched: If to your ear the sound be melody, Strike out of me the strong, full-handed chords To your exaltment. DAVID (Aside, as LIVIA goes forward to RnoDA.) When was ever such? The clear-eyed spirit, so superbly housed, The power that bends in soft subservience, The gift that beams on all except herself, 118 THE PKOPHET : Yea, she is chosen. Yea, from out her eyes, And from her hands, and breathing forth from her, Is promise. LIVIA (To RHODA.) You, whose blessed place it is To touch and warm the Prophet s weary hands, And, after shining visions, to restore The virtue of his dazzled eyes, be kind, I pray, and friendly! I would have your love, His confidence. My life was not as yours, Ah, me ! as simply innocent and pure ; And yet, methinks, for them that meet in truth, There s but a single gateway to the heart. RHODA (Slowly.) I think I never hated such as seemed A TRAGEDY. 119 Unfriendly: if I fail to love, when love Invites me first, I were not worthy it. LIVIA (Turning to DAVID.) My lines of life, as they draw near to you, Lie clearly traced; yet, as they backward tend, Lead to confusions which, ere knowing them, Your pardon touched. The spoiled child of the world Was I until I saw you ; born in wealth, And cradled mid the shows and vanities Religion covers with a modish cloak. Pride to the right, to left stood Piety : Each took a hand, and grimly led my life Along the pavement trod by feet of all. When I would wander free, as whoso feels Some independent right of soul, gave Pride A downright blow that stung ; but Piety 120 THE PROPHET : Pinched me in secret, while her leaky eyes Wept rivers, and her whining voice bewailed. Then I submitted, lived a ceaseless lie, Till death and changes had delivered me From all but wealth. But, ah ! my fettered limbs AYere dwarfed and shrunken : I w T as free to move, When motion was but pain. I saw the world As one beholds a casket, and the key Thereof is lost. I stood outside of life, Helpless to reach existence I desired, Disgusted with existence which I knew, Until you said, or through your soul I heard, " Daughter, arise ! " and I arose and came. DAVID Not I, but what in me was manifest. * LIVIA It is the same. By you alone I heard, Through you am satisfied. I hardly knew A TRAGEDY. 121 What gift to claim, till something iu your face Gave me the words. But now, farewell ! I go To cheer, perchance to help, the others. [Exit. DAVID Go! Delivered, thou, and crowned ! A woman s hand I had forgotten : yet it saved of old, And here may build, as well. KHODA Your lamp is lit You know whereat ; and theirs are lit from yours. DAVID Fire hath one being: tis the life that makes Obscure or luminous ; and hers, suppressed By darkening hands, breaks out in splendid blaze. She waited for me : I have bid her shine. ACT III. SCENE I. A room in the PROPHET S house. DAVID, NIMROD, and LIVIA seated at a table upon which lie papers and plans. RHODA at the window looking upon the garden, with some needlework in her hand. NIMROD IT means not failure. Still our armor shines, Our weapons cleave ; but they whose power we shake, The lazy priesthood of neglected law, Have clothed themselves with cunning, to evade Direct assault : so on their flanks exposed Must we surprise them. 122 A TRAGEDY. 123 DAVID Yet I would not haste. Even after goodly battle, here we sit Not quite secure ; for jealous} 7 of some, Unreasoning hopes that in denial end, And selfish fretting o er each needful curb, Still task our wisdom : hardly can we spare The fine, selected strength your purpose claims. NIMROD There is no virtue but fatigues itself. A sudden truth uplifts with violence The prostrate human soul ; but once exhaust The first impulsion, see how weak it stands ! So there s a crisis this side of success In highest things : our lot, this hour, is weighed With that of all neglected, powerless tribes, That h.ive no life but in the founder s name. If here we pause, we may become as they ; 124 THE PROPHET: But if, accepting every sign of power As loan, or test, until another come, \Ve lime new branches, and extend our nets To snare men s fluttering souls, we shall possess, In time, the world. LIVIA Surely no less will } T OU, Our prophet ; and no atom less will we. That few are gathered now, and halting minds Grow restless, casts no shadow on the truth ; For souls are verily but as frightened birds That beat themselves against the pane, and shun The hand that catches them to set them free. NIMROD Well spoken ! Nothing more have I proposed. DAVID I hoped direct, immediate influence The power that kindles, burns, and purifies A TRAGEDY. 125 Might be all-potent: yet, if men avoid The touch of healing, must be first constrained, Till health and gratitude together work To bring them here, I cannot but receive. NIMROD Then, if they come, why question how they come? The life delivered never faulty finds The manner of deliverance. I, once, When caught by drowning arms that would have drowned Me also, dealt a powerful blow that stunned And saved the man. LIVIA Deal out your blows to men, And welcome! Women claim a gentler touch. How many are there, discontented hearts That pine and wither, seeking sympathy 126 THE PROPHET: Their sex denies, and yours in half-contempt Neglects to give ! For virile souls are coarse And awkward, being selfish : the plain way To woman s fast dependence (which she thinks Dependence on her) you would seek in vain, Unless an Ariadne gave the clew. NIMROD Who, then, was she? A Gentile woman, sure, Whom Paul converted. LIVIA Tis enough that she Was woman, and enough that also I Am woman. Once I dwelt in Rome, it chanced ; And thither came a spinster whom I knew, Free of the world, indifferent to love, Secure and calm in high intelligence, Armed at all points ; yet soon the Church espied Beneath cold breasts the vulnerable sense. A TRAGEDY. 127 The haughty priests, whose passionless, thin lips So rarely, but with dangerous sweetness, smile, The dreamy youths, the rosy acolytes, Sang to her, gave their faith the form of love, Till with new passion, as in budding years, Her woman s heart, sore with long abstinence, Sent up narcotic heats that drugged the brain, And she was theirs. As easily were she ours ! There is no woman lives but in her soul Demands a bridegroom ; failing one of flesh, Then one of spirit. Learn to promise this In secret, visitations, nrystic signs, -Make truth seem love, and knowledge ecstasy, And you will lead our sex. RHODA (Rising hastily.} Who, then, are you? What mother nursed you on such milk as this? 128 THE PROPHET: I have but scanty words ; but in my heart The woman, from her simple whiteness torn, And dipped in scarlet, cries, "Not thus are we! Not thus the loneliness of maiden life, The lingering sorrow of frustrated love, And pure regret, and tender hope outlived, Seek compensation." Less than moveth man Gives woman peace. The aged, innocent lives Of childless widows and unwedded maids Softly enclose us, young, and keep from harm. Denied their own, they guard another s brood, So gathering bliss. But of what kind are those Who find no truth, save men, forbid to wed, Or wived already, offer it as love? LIVIA Your innocence takes false alarm : the old, The gentle, fixed in narrow circumstance, Good by tradition and temptation s lack, A TRAGEDY. 129 Resist us most. Who was it came to call Not righteous men, but sinners? Virtue lifts A front the braver after knowledge comes ; But is not knowledge first? I spake of that Whereof your ignorance is no reproach : The blessedness of life descends on you, But not on them you blame. DAVID Reject not such ! Twas so commanded : them the Devil traps It may be lawful that we snare in turn. We fight the Fiend, my wife : our triumph here Hath pricked him out of ancient confidence. NIMROD The power is given : the secret of its use Is left to us. The first light dazzles men ; And some reach forth, and grasp the guiding hand ; 130 THE PROPHET: Then others say, with pupils narrowed in, "There is no need: we see but as we saw." Here, husbanding the busy strength of all, And wasting nought, the comforts we can spare Invite a double number : let them come ! And if, through weakness captured, they receive The gift of power ; through greed, unselfishness ; Through vain delusions, knowledge of the truth, What fool will cast away the tested gold He gets, for promised copper? LIVIA Strange that men Who most do suffer must be driven to good ! They are as children bribed to take the draught That saves, even though the prophet s honeyed wine. Lo ! now the temple s gilded pinnacles The impatient sun hath kissed: across the land A TRAGEDY. 131 They sharply shine like arrows drawn to head, And heavenward aimed. The signs portend increase. Shall we alone be lean, while others burst With useless fatness? DAVID Call our messengers To learn a new commandment ! We must stay Their sinking hands, fill up their flickering lamps, And sting their souls with courage which o er- comes, Since it foresees. One weapon given to all Were scarcely wisdom : lend the shorter arm A longer blade, the less-enduring force Advantage of the ground. While they exist, The Gentile churches, must w T e spread or cease. I meant not idleness ; but, if so seems This pause of preparation, let us work 132 THE PROPHET: Amid the noises of the ringing steel, Heat with quick hammer-blows where fire may fail, And only rest when faint with victory. SCENE II. The council-room. DAVID seated in an arm-chair at the head of a long table ; NIMROD at the foot ; on each side, six members of the COUNCIL OF TWELVE. DAVID Not every leaf an equal bounty finds Of sap or sun ; yet rooted is our State To grow r , and not to wither. We must sweep The troubled waters of the world, henceforth, In wider circles, luring to our ark Them, chiefly, for the covenant who yearn, And would behold, distinct as graven words, The signs thereof in us. If any here, In view of such advantage, hath inquired, A TRAGEDY. 133 And finds a partial answer in his soul, Let him be heard ! NIMROD Some brethren, with myself (For scattered duties scarce allow, as yet, Full conference), have found accordant minds. We, least of all fore-grasping power reserved, Put forth projecting lines of present power To their conclusions in the future, reach This argument : We dare not mutilate Our restoration of neglected faith By preaching only : it must live in us Until the ancient days and ways He loved Shall draw Him near, not simply where the soul Trims her small chamber, or prophetic lips Burn from His fier3 T touch ; but call Him down, To make His very self endurable To human sense. A trance, mistook for death, 134 THE PROPHET : Thaws from the blood with struggle and with pang-, And still we feebly move the torpid limbs, See through a veil, and hear but muffled sounds : So you, whose hand upon us broke the spell, Give, pulse by pulse, the life revealed to }~ou, As we take strength to bear it. JONAS Not to me Was this imparted, nor to some I know. There may be times demanding cloudy speech ; But clearer now were welcomer. What pulse Shall first be felt? The prophet called on us, I thought ; and you direct us back to him. SIMEON Without conferring, unprepared as you, Yet do I comprehend. The cloud may be Inside of eyes that blame the sky for it. A TRAGEDY. 135 NIMROD Nay, Simeon ! He who speaks in images Oft sees the image taken for the thing. Hear, all ! We mean to purchase power disused, But never abrogated : on what rock, If not on this, have we been building here? And he who welds again the broken link Between the Lord and man, who summon us To twofold lives that speak our waxing faith, Ah ! once let morning rise, men soon forget Their hours of darkness, he awaits that we Obe} T his messages in soul and flesh. f HUGH Then what is past is sealed, our work approved And fresh apportioned? DAVID Is not all one piece, Past, present, future, as a youth in whom 136 THE PROPHET: The child expands, the man is possible? This restless ferment in the general mind Must not infect my own : the charge ye bear I gave, indeed ; but, save by constant guard And forceful lifting of the soul, I keep The separate gift, then were ye lost with me. What I anticipate I dare not speak, Until commanded. Voices heard from far, And shadows thrown, are stammering messen gers ; But when His will, in language and in form, Arrives, the time of conference is past. Speak, now, and freely : therefore I withdraw. [Exit. * HUGH His words hold promise : he was highly moved. Yet, if the revelation must forbid All further question, why confer we now? A TRAGEDY. 137 MOEDECAI In holy discipline. We, too, have felt The breathing of the Spirit ; and our souls Point, like the smallest flame, the way it draws : So, after him if now our light be cast, We lead the others. NIMROD Yea : what I declared Was but direction, not a single path. Who our accomplished work in truth accepts Will halt not here; but, bending yearning eyes Upon their lives, who owned the heritage From Dan and Hermon unto Hebron s oaks, Will scan each custom, pleasant to the Lord, And choose what fails us most. Let, therefore, each Go back in spirit, serve in Jacob s stead ; Behold the sons of Aaron with strange fire 138 THE PROPHET: Consumed, and stoned the son of Shelomith ; Tarry with Judah where the way goes up To Timnath ; find his feet, like Boaz, warm From her who stole beneath the garment s skirt ; Or, set in fruitful households, chant the psalms Of shepherd-kings, and Solomon s high song. All He allowed nay, so encouraged, then, He turned aside, and in the heat of day Did visit His elected must be ours, Ere we, with hands and meats no more un clean, Dare dress the board for Him. What first to choose Of new adornment for the mighty Guest Is now our task. JONAS You had not said so much, Save you had chosen. Let us know your choice. A TRAGEDY. 139 MOUDECAI. While we aspire, it seems you d fain provoke Dissension: rather to the records turn, Dead histories so long, but now brought near For pure example. SIMEON Why, what words are his? From our beginning we have trod one track NIMROD (Interrupting.} . Which leads straight forward, over cowardice, And half-belief, and forms of later law God never gave. What says the foolish world? That place and time and circumstance have changed : Still those were holy men. But what they did Makes us unholy. Oh! He loved them well, 140 THE PROPHET: Stepped down from heaven upon their herded hills, Talked face to face. So much priests bid us take, Then there they halt; and all emasculate law They teach, casts dirt on Israel of old. Of kings, or prophets, or apostles, none Forbids our following : every sign bestowed On our new eyes says, Conquer all by all! SIMEON (Aside to Hugh.) He waxes mighty. NIMROD Tis enough^ to-day ! The Prophet s words give guidance to our thoughts. Let each into the closet of his soul Retire a space, and there, alone, select Not what the weakening leaven of the past, And unabolished habit of the heart, A TRAGEDY. 141 Stir up within us ; but the thing he finds Chiefest in ancient lives, and lacking here. It may be we shall wander different ways ; But all lead forward, and will surely join. SCENE III. A garden in the rear of the PROPHET S house. PETER digging a led. PETER (Pausing in his work.) I hardly ought to say it; but you can t Turn one thing into t other. Leastways, some Have only changed their devils, not cast out, And, with the pick and choice of gifts they had, Are none the wiser. There my old horse-sense Said, just as plain, "See whether you can use;" And, if I d opened mouth, and shut my eyes, The Lord knows whether any thing had dropped. 142 THE PROPHET: I can t make out : there s going back and forth, Like candidates before election-time, When, with a little sleight-of-hand, a man May sell two votes. Here mine will hardly count. Our David s always safe, and Brother Kraft, And Sister Livia, each a regiment. She looked at me in such an asking way, This morning ! what the Zion could she want ? Maybe, the temple more pontificals: Whichever way you turn, when sundown comes, It s temple, temple, temple ! I was glad On their account ; but, now it s finished up, Both him and her go sideling round the house, As if forever hunting something lost. [Sings.] Oh! I ve a hundred acres of land, And a house to cover your head; And in the spring, when the dovey-doveys sing, They say it s the time to wed. A TRAGEDY. 143 Oh! I ve an eye tliat is blue and shy, And a mouth that is red, says she, And a heart at rest in my lily, lily breast; And why should I wed with thee? Oh! take your choice when the days are long, And be sure you never will rue. When I m safe from storm, and it s bonny, bonny warm, Say, what will become of you? Oh! I ll comb and curl your bright brown hair, On a Sunday morning gay; For a maid, I guess, "when she means yes, yes, Begins with a nay, nay, nay! NIMROD (Entering. ) When birds sing that way, it is time to build, Good-morrow, Peter ! PETER And good-day, high priest ! [Aside.] I have a vote, it seems. 144 THE PROPHET: NIMROD Your plants are trim And forward : that shows liking for the place. The Prophet told me, as an orphan boy You came to him. PETER Ay, twas my only home. NIMROD Your silent faith counts more than that of some Who make a loud profession. Modestly You choose no gift ; but you may highly serve The Church, by being fully what you are. PETER Preambles don t get through my head. NIMROD Find, then, A mate, and add a dozen to our flock. A TRAGEDY. 145 PETER Oho! That s good advice. But here s my fix: I stand half-way twixt Jane and Mary Ann (We ll say), both willing. Now, to choose for good, When, either took, you might find afterwards The t other was the better, there I stick ! I d let our Ehoda pick for me ; but then, She don t know both. NIMBOD (Lowering Ids voice.} If both were given to you, As in the days of old? PETER (Dropping his spade.} That s something new : You mean it? 10 146 THE PROPHET: i NIMROD What has been may be again. PET Eli Well, each is pleasant while she holds the chance, And would outbid the t other: make it law For all of us, the double check would last, And they d pull square, I guess. NIMROD What thus relieves Your own dilemma offers general peace. But guard your tongue: I ve no authority To promise this, or even so much as hint. You ve read your Bible : what the Lord himself Established for the fathers of the world Is justified to us. PETER And yet it s queer To live like folks a million years ago. A TRAGEDY. 147 NIMROD Ay, there you hit it ! But the Prophet s power Was lost as long. The hearts of men, you ve seen, Are like their stomachs, used to this or that, Shy of the best of food of other kind, And some half starve before they taste of it. Here you can aid : I need not tell you more : There s ways of finding how a man inclines, Without declaring much. PETER I understand. NIMROD The Prophet s soul is wrestling with his task. Guard him from useless trouble, keep him free From small disturbances ! Tis much for you To be a faithful watchman at his gates. [Exit. 148 THE PROPHET: PETER (After a prolonged whistle. ) It s half a pity such a man as that Is out of Congress ! When he means a thing, It s safe to bet the thing will happen soon. So that s the secret ; and they re flustered both, Misdoubting, doubtless, how the folks will take ! I m mighty cute, when I lay out to be, And here s good reason. Oh, I ll bait my hooks, And jerk men s thoughts out, fast as hungry pike ! I ll go ahead where David wants to walk, And cut a swath, then Jane and Mary Ann. SCENE IV. The Council-Room. NIMROD KRAFT and the TWELVE assembled. NIMROD Nine out of twelve thereto my voice the tenth Give clearest title : there s no room for doubt A TRAGEDY. 149 (Which, as we stand, means nothing else than fear) ; For each, in silent seeking, urged by none, By none persuaded, found the truth. We meet Against all secret understanding guard Declare in writing: speaks the Lord, or not? Who else hath made so many of one mind? And if the Prophet s light indeed be ours, Shed on the law he means to give us next, Tis as a chosen field should plough itself, So eager for the seed ! SIMEON Who are the three? HUGH The question tells where you belong, at least. NIMROD They know ; so shall the Prophet ; tis enough ! The temple s dedication, now at hand, 150 THE PROPHET: Demands relaying of a basis built Of what came nearest. Thin and crumbling stones Must be removed, and those of solid grain Replace them ; twas intended from the first. JONAS I make no secret of dissent. Your words Imply a threat : so speak it honestly ! NIMROD Dissent may live, while disobedience dies. I did not threaten : it may be myself Shall be rejected first. If you require The human logic of the call divine, To settle new misgivings, none will blame, So, afterwards, acceptance follows. MORDECAI Lord, Enlighten them that wander in the dark! A TRAGEDY. 151 SIMEON So near accordance, let us cease to strive ! The law we pray for gives new power to man, Takes old reproach from woman, multiplies Inheritors of truth, as born therein, And heals perversions that distress the world. Oh, may it come ! JONAS Yes ; come to tear down homes, And leave us tents instead, pitched wide apart ! NIMROD Even so the} T dwelt ; for Zion was their home ; And thereunto they gave what you. deny, The riches of their loins. Make end of talk : The Prophet waits. Go, Simeon, bid him here ! [Exit SIMEON. Immediately afterwards DAVID enters, and takes his seat at the head of tfie tabled] 152 THE PPtOPHET : DAVID If I foresaw the form of- your desire, I left you, none the less, uninfluenced prayer, And ample freedom. Whither tend your minds? NIMROD One here impeaches my sincerity : Let Mordecai declare ! MOEDECAI We ten are one. Three choose another sign, or ours distrust. We would restore that patriarchal home The Lord preferred, its fair, obedient wives, Its heritage of children ; as He gave, So giving now, that none be left alone Or fruitless : thus the chasms of Gentile life Wherein they fall, or pine on either side, Shall all be closed in us. A TRAGEDY. 153 DAVID This makes a chasm Impassable between us and the world. Have you considered? SIMEON They that follow you Already crossed, and hurled the bridges down. NIMROD Such test were all too eas} T . In our hearts, By long transmission of the narrower love Made shrunken, is the field of sacrifice. Who offers there, in cheerful company With her who for her sisters sake submits, And for the Lord s high pleasure, hath prevailed, Forgets that he has ever lived ere now (Thus you commanded), and is surety blessed, Save bankrupt be the treasury of Heaven. 154 THE PROPHET : DAVID Oh ! send us, Lord, Thy keenest tongues of fire To burn out reason, greed, and appetite, And leave clear gold, the knowledge of Thy will. There s truth in jour concurrence ; there is faith That loves a trial ; yea, so much as this Lies, as a tree, within our planted seed. But in His own good time ! What I declare Believe me, brethren ! comes through sore travail Of mind and spirit : I am set as one Beneath deep waves, who, looking for the da} , Sees watery lights, and ever-shifting gleams, Till, in a calm betwixt the billowy tides, The sun a moment pierces. Press not close : The purest counsel ma}* confuse us here. Look ye, how man} hearts are frozen yet, Which, until thawed, must be withheld from fire ! But if-- Nay, this is all. I charge 3*011, wait! On mine own soul I take the stress of yours, A TRAGEDY. 155 To climb therewith : a finger stretched to help May shake the balance: stand aside, and wait! SCENE V. A room in the PROPHET S house. DAVID (Walking up and down. ) I felt it come : within me and without The signs agreed. One influence said, "Post pone ! " But something else what was, what is it? cries, No cowardice ! the leaven of the world Works in thy nature." Yet the inner sense, So pure it seems, even set against His light, So simply strong, where old, insidious lust May otherwise find entrance, yea, it makes Me coward ! Here might woman offer help, Had she but reached that statelier modesty 156 THE PROPHET: Which takes all mysteries of love and life As God s enactments. RHODA (Entering. ) You have walked so long! Your face is vexed with thought. What is it fills The very air? I have forborne to ask, - Knowing the burden of the fate of all Weighing upon you ; yet, if those are right Who counsel most, so soon to be relieved. DAVID It is not that, or only in such wise As manifest direction of the past And present blessing may increase the load. For triumph makes afraid : it stings and stirs All sleeping evil to a new assault ; Yet flatters so the self-exalted soul, A TRAGEDY. 157 That what descended seems to dwell within. They hope a further message, and with right: The time is ripe; but whether purified As who accepts a truth re-making life, Or half with us, and half, unconsciously, Swayed by an ancient conscience [He pauses. RHODA. Dare the truth, As first } ou dared. I know no other law Than I have learned of you. DAVID There spoke my wife ! Yea, if all women were so sweetly strung To trust and follow us, the task were light. RHODA The women? How? you doubt their equal faith? 158 THE PROPHET: DAVID (Slowly, walking up and down, and closely watching RHODA.) Not equal faith, but equal shall I say Self-abnegation? Nay, the word escapes. Tis one to either sex, yet opposite ; For man accepts, without a harm to love, What unto woman seems its fatal hurt. Such were not those of old, the strong and proud, The stately mothers, favorites of the Lord. What wife was Rachel, when she Bilhah gave? Who now would yield, to multiply our tribe, And take reproach from others, nuptial right? RHODA I fear to understand. Who asks the "right" ? What men demand the license? Surely you Denied them? A TRAGEDY. 159 DAVID Wherefore use unseemly words? Faith is not license, save in nobler sense ; And prayerful questioning is no demand. Say "revelation," clear as any given: Should this confirm, what then? RHODA Twill not be given, To strike the life from all true women s hearts ! Nay, hear me, David ! Do not turn your face. You are so good ! They have misled your mind, Those two, themselves misled, who cannot reach Your purer height ; but this is not of 3*011. Were we alone, and some strange sacrifice Tis foolish, speaking thus ! Put me aside, But think of innocent wives, whose joy of life, So satisfied with trust in one man s truth, Sustains them in long weariness and fear, 160 THE PROPHET: That end in pangs, and endless, narrowing cares : No, no : you will not rob them ! DAVID Have I robbed All these of home, to leave them shelterless? Of ignorant faith, to send no power instead? If care be less for each, yet love remain Enough for all, I give, not take away. To set her delicate heart in common breasts, And so interpret, is a woman s way: "Were all as you are Nay, there s little good Conjecturing thus : I have a single path. Shall He desert me, after glorious signs Given from the first ? Why, that undoes my work ! Who was it sent me to the wilderness, Unsealed mine ears until the distant voice Drew nearer, and a vision of the night So seized and shook my helpless human soul, A TRAGEDY. 161 That breath forsook me? Yea, almost I brake The spider s thread dividing earth and heaven ; But such was not His will. When morning came, And, lapped in faint indifference to life I lay, the barren rock before mine eyes Was as a table, spread by angel-hands ! He gave me food : I ate, and I was saved. As well refuse the food he offers now, And let faith, starving, die ! RHODA (Eayerly.} Who saved you then May save again ! Tis nought to offer food ; But I obeyed a voice, this moment clear, And charged, I feel, with all the Lord s high will In woman manifest. I pra} T you, take, Even from my hands, which then were hid from you, Now, openly, my evidence from Him ! 11 162 THE PROPHET: DAVID What double sense is in your words? I hear, Not comprehending. RHODA How could I refrain? Two days had passed : I dared not interrupt Your solitude of soul, and prayers that fed Upon the life of your forgotten frame ; But, guided near you, oh, thank Him for that! I left the food - DAVID You ? you ! RHODA As was His will, What ails you, David? [Aside.] He is deadly pale ; A TRAGEDY. 163 There s something fierce and strange within his eyes: He frightens me. DAVID You brought me food? RHODA I did. DAVID What else ? What more have you in secret done ? Who taught you so to counterfeit the Lord? Woman ! to burrow underneath my feet, And make a hollowness where rock should be ! How dared you cheat me? RHODA Slay me with your hand, Not with such face and words ! If I but saved (You say it saved you), how could love refrain? 164 THE PROPHET: I have obeyed, believed all else in you, As I believe and worship still : forgive ! [She falls on her knees before him. DAVID Not unto me, your husband, David, man; But, if I be a Prophet of the Lord, Yes, if! It seems to you a little thing : Rise up ! I cannot answer now : the house Rocks to and fro, the temple s pinnacles Dance in the air like devils shuttlecocks : There s nothing stable. Rise, I say again ! [She rises to her feet. ] Now take your seat, and sew ! I ve heard it said Women think better when the hand s employed : If tis so, think ! [He moves towards the door. RHODA David ! A TRAGEDY. 165 DAVID I go to pray. [Exit. RHODA Come back ! He s gone. O God ! what have I done? SCENE VI. Midnight. The interior of the temple : a row of columns, on either side of the nave, throws the side aisles into shadow. A huge baptismal font of stone, resting on four rudely-sculptured figures, a lion, an ox, a griffin, and a ram, rises from the Jloor : behind, on a platform of stone, an altar bearing the ark, on each side of which lights are burning in seven-branched candlesticks. A veil, partly lifted on one side, conceals a semicircular chancel, which is the Holy of Holies. DAVID (Slowly pacing along the nave.) And this complete, a house to give Him joy ! So near, so great, the triumph, and the dread 166 THE PROPHET: Forerunning it ! But, while I feared a bolt From heaven, the earth, without a warning, heaved. She cannot see the harm, nor I translate : O doubt of soul, so often trampled down ! O highest faith, as oft renewed in pain ! Why comes your fiercest battle now? She fed; An accident upset the toppling rock ; The vision was a dream: the flock I lead Is fooled by me, as I have fooled myself! Howe er I turn, I stand as girt by fire; And all in me which seemed divinely good Is changed to poison, made a scorpion-sting, To pierce my soul with death. Oh, hearken, Lord ! {He buries his face in his hands. A shadow glides swiftly from pillar to pillar, and pauses opposite to him. ] LIVIA (Aside, in a whisper.) He s nigh despair : I know there s but one source A TRAGEDY. 167 Whence comes it. Fail me not, my woman s heart, Or he and I are lost. DAVID (Lifting his head.) He will not speak! Doth He not know how terrible it is To ask, and not be answered? Why, one soul, For sin so tortured, would make justice weep ; But this is good, this seek a million souls. What, then, is He? Hold, hold! There lies a gulf Whose awful darkness frightens worse than flame. The thought s a serpent, coiled round heart and throat, And crushing life, save one dull spark that burns In suffering only. [He staggers to one side, and leans against a column. 168 THE PROPHET : LIVIA (Aside.} This is deepest woe Of doubt, that vibrates back to faith again, Can I but loose the string. He must not see, Nor hear, as yet ; but, stay ! one chance remains. [She steals forward, and vanishes in the darkness. DAVID Thus all accomplished crumbles, slides away ! Power lost, authority s a puff of smoke ; Respect becomes its angry opposite ; For each an insult in my failure feels, Spying a cold intention where I gave In self-forgetting faith. This dare not be: Am I set back, to seek His face again? Through heat and haste of youth, too ardent hope Of large acceptance, was confusion born, A TRAGEDY. 169 And still I stray? Even for the sake of men, Should I appear as I believed I was? One line of light, one little entering thread, As through a worm-hole in a shutter probes A darkened chamber, that would save my power. \The bass-pipes of the organ begin to sound, scarcely audible at first, but gradually increasing in volume ; then, after a few simple, alternating chords, a faint, flute-like stop is added. ] Is this an answer, out of weary sense Awakened, to delude me as before? Not so ! I cannot dream such harmonies : That shuddering of the air, that far-off sweep Of myriad voices, hiding what they sing, I feel, I hear again ! Come near, and speak ! Fold up your fluttering wings, that shake the sound, Or soothe my passion, loosened through the ej es, Till I distinguish. Oh ! some pity breathes 1 70 THE PROPHET : In your celestial sweetness, melting me To such self-sorrow, I can bear no more. [He covers his face, and weeps: the music gradu ally ceases.] My soul is quieted, and yet so sad ! It seems to wait, not all disclothed of hope, But passive, like the silence of a child Shut up alone, whom love may soon release. But I, will love release me? LIVIA (Stepping noiselessly forward: in a low voice. ) Prophet, yea ! DAVID (Starting.} Ah! What is this? How came you here? LIVIA He called. A TRAGEDY. 171 DAVID He called? What said He? LIVIA First, "Prepare a chant, Meet for the dedication of My house." I rose, came hither; and the organ-stops Compelled my fingers to the strain you heard. As in a dream, the solemn, breathing chords Filled all of space beneath the hollow sky, Above a valley ; trees and rocky crests I seemed to see ; and one awaiting soul Was there, and listening. DAVID Livia ! This you saw ? LIVIA Dimly, and far away ; but you were near. Within the temple something wild and strange, 172 THE PROPHET: A sense of agon} T , a dread appeal, So pierced my soul, I wept. I felt whence came The subtile influence, felt, and yielded all Receptive tablets of magnetic sense Which woman keeps, the substitute for power ; Till what, unconsciously, } ou wrote the^on Brought me to you. DAVID I wrote? and you know all? Twere miracle ! and yet, within your eyes I read the knowledge. LIVIA Also that my faith Finds surer triumph, planted in your doubt? This is the prophet-nature : such were they Whose lips became live coals of kindled truth, Dipped in the hell of an uncertain mind, A TRAGEDY. 173 To fit them for the bliss of certainty. What you esteem more keenly, dreading loss, You will attain : your very fears are hopes ; For, if the signs of power be accidents, Then accident is greater miracle! DAVID Ha! LIVIA Thus, each side, your feet are firmly set. DAVID And what I ponder, is it known to jou? LIVIA Ay, known and pondered, as a woman weighs Her share in law, her half of destiny ; Not coldly, but with warm, impressive mind, That shapes its living features. Would you see Their form in mine? 174 THE PROPHET: DAVID I feel it, ere you speak; And yet I would behold. LIVIA Within my heart Truth purer is, than educated shame. Unteach this last in woman, she will love Not selfishly, as now, possessing less By claiming more, but with a proud content In yielding home and honor to the rest. [She speaks in a lower tone. ] Here might I help : my heart suggests a way It shrinks from, save extremity of need Demand all sacrifice. If I confess One timid prayer, and justify the law Through my desire, I do but shut the door On its fulfilment. A TRAGEDY. 175 DAVID Livia ! . LIVIA Bid me speak, And by obedience other bliss may come. DAVID Livia! fulfilment of your prayer, and mine! So many hearts, as birds in mating-time, Draw near each other perched on hedge and spray ; But ours, like skylarks, met above the cloud! When first I saw you, there was touch of wings, Far up in loftier solitudes of air A warm companionship. You cannot sink Below our partnered light, nor I, alone, Aspire beyond it. Come, and be yourself The law, the revelation ! [He stretches out Ms arms : LIVIA throws herself upon his breast. ] 176 THE PEOPHET : LIVIA David ! now My Prophet and my love ! [Kissing him. ] Oh ! nevermore Shall I, thus beckoned, falter on the way ; But when your weary spirit leans on mine, And draws such life as once, from hers he gave, The Roman father, I am all fulfilled. This is the place, the purpose, and the power For me ordained : be not less bold to take Than I to give ! DAVID (Returning her kisses.) This sign shall triumph. Lo ! The Enemy but made his last assault : My power comes back : the temple stands complete ! A TRAGEDY. 177 SCENE VII. Midnight. A bed-chamber in the PROPHET S house. RHODA seated near a small table, upon which is a shaded lamp ; the New Testament in her lap ; the child asleep in a crib near her. RHODA (Closing the volume.) It is not there ; or else my troubled mind Fails to detect it. All the precious words, All, all, I find ; that, like a mother s kiss And healing breath upon her baby s hurt, Make the poor heart forget its bruise, all, all ! The sweetness of the Life that loved the world, So hallowing human love ; the promises That keep a nobler justice still alive Beneath each wrong ; the nearness of the Lord, As of a wing that covers and defends, They shine upon me. Only this unsaid? 12 178 THE PROPHET: He must have said it: they forgot to write. It was so small a thing for Him, ten words To help all women, 3^ea, enough were three ! A single breathing from His lips divine, And we were saved; for, though he meant so much, Not thus commanding, men will dare deny ! I saw the text so clearly in my soul, Already marked, and laid the open book On David s desk. He could not help but see, And then the power within him would be firm, I prayed, to conquer other counsel. Ah! What course remains? My tongue deceives my heart ; I speak but foolishness, and vex him more. But hers makes beautiful a darkened thought, Makes purity a secret selfishness, And holy love an evil. Oh, tis false! A TRAGEDY. 179 Why, what did he declare me at the first ? That faith and love are one ! Give me a line, Clear, pointed, piercing, from the armory here, And I will use it as a sword. I reach, But they are hung too high, or over-weight My hand ; and I am helpless to contend, As if the Lord opposed me. [The child moves restlessly in his sleep."] You are safe, My baby, even from the world s reproach, Of love begotten, ere its nature strayed. What waits for } ou and me? Confusion comes When that which in the universal heart Alone is holy finds no reverence. \TJie child wakens, and begins to cry. She takes him from the crib, folds him warmly in the bed-clothes, and rocks him upon her breast. ] Hush, darling, hush ! If that thy mother s woe Hath pierced thine innocent, unconscious rest, 180 THE PROPHET: And wakened thee in witless trouble, hush! Thou art too young for any thing but joy, Too dear for shadowed pain ; and some old song Must cheat my sorrow till thou sleep st again. [Sings.] " My baby smiles, at last awake : The curtains let me draw, And on my happy bosom take The child he never saw. " He ll come to-night : the wind s at rest, The moon is full and fair ; I wear the dress that pleased him best, A ribbon in my hair. " So lately wed, so long away! But, oh ! between is joy : He left a wife; he ll find to-day A mother and a boy. " Be still, my heart ! the sound I hear Is not the step I know ; Biit hope so perfect turns to fear, And bliss is nigh to woe. A TRAGEDY. 181 What voices now delay Ms tread, Or plan a sweet surprise? Come, bate ! and we shall wake, instead, The rapture of his eyes." The moonlight, through the open door, TJpon her forehead smiled. Still feet and frozen heart they bore : He never saw his child ! [She breaks into a passion of weeping. ACT IV. SCENE I. THE TEMPLE. Grand ceremony of dedication : (he main aisle is thronged with people, men, women, and children. The baptismal font is filed with water, and decorated with garlands. Lights are burning in the seven-branched candlesticks : a Jlat brazier, containing live coals, stands upon the altar. The Holy of Holies is concealed by a dark purple veil. Upon the platform, in the centre, on the right hand of the altar, stands DAVID, in robes of white, embroidered with gold; on the left hand, NIMROD KRAFT, as high-priest, in robes of violet, embroidered with silver, and a tall silver mitre upon his head; behind them ten members of the COUNCIL OF TWELVE, in robes of pale green, bordered with crimson: they bear symbols, representing the gifts and attributes of the Church. Four boys, standing below, in front of the altar, hold censers in their hands. 182 A TRAGEDY. 183 DAVID THIS having heard, commanded to receive, By Him who speaks through me, do you possess As somewhat, unto them whose hearts are strong To plant His service in devoted lives, Permitted ; not as ordered unto all. The sword of Truth is only terrible Against defiant wills : whoso obeys In spirit, though his human reason fail, Shall yet perceive in spirit, and be glad. It is the highest faith that tramples down Rebellious intellect: while this is blind, That sees ; and even where the softer heart May tremble, in its delicate habit jarred By harmonies of love that first disturb, Tis Faith that soothes our bosom s frightened bird, And says, "The nestlings and the nest are safe." Remember this ; and still exalt } our souls To light that purifies, while fancied warmth 184 THE PROPHET : May stream from darkness. That revealed, I give ; Not that expected, or of men preferred. And Thou who gavest, symbol of whose truth These living coals upon Thine altar glow, Take, from the hands of the anointed priest, Our first burnt-offering ! As it melts in flame, And radiance out of darkened dross is born, So melt from us, in this Thy holy house, All understanding, feeling, thought, and love Not meet for Thee, till every soul, refined, Burn in an upward glory. NIMROD If strange fire, Hated of Thee, the food of heathen gods, Come forth from what we offer, quench the flame, Or turn it back, consuming these my hands ! [With both hands he casts something upon the coals. A clear, rose-colored flame arises, steadily increasing A TRAGEDY. 185 in brilliancy, until all the interior of the temple is tinted by its radiance. The boys swing their censers; and the clouds of perfumed smoke are illuminated as they rise. ] CHANT (With full organ accompaniment.) Hosanna ! harp and song Proclaim the consummation : Homeless on earth so long, Thou hast an habitation! As was of old Thy bid, Thine holy place is hid: Descend, and dwell amid Thy chosen nation! Hark to the voice of Thy welcome, Jehovah! Make this Thy city proud, And this Thy sacred river! Guard us with fire and cloud, And arrows from Thy quiver! Increase us where we stand, That we possess the land; And from our enemy s hand With might deliver! Dwell in the house we have builded, Jehovah! 186 THE PROPHET: JONAS (Among the congregation, to HUGH.) The most are caught. I marvel at myself, Like one, who, entering on a company Filled with deceitful wine, tongues thawed and hearts, Feels an unfriendly soberness of blood, Until their folly rights him. This alone Were harmless luxury for stinted souls, Save for its rootage in their homely lives. The evil waxes strong. HUGH And weak, thereby, Our chances. Note the women s faces, here ! At first I thought them troubled : now the bait, Self-sacrifice, upon the hook of faith, But gently frightens : they already feel Consent approach, and shyly play with it, To gulp more perfectly at last. A TRAGEDY. 187 JONAS Be still! The priest, through all his haze of sanctity, Fails not to watch us : meet me three days hence. NIMROD (Addressing the people.) Even as He charged, sojourning in the coasts Of Gadara, tell no man this ye saw. Who came to us must their belief attest, Ere they be worthy of the signs. Dull ears Misread the revelations : clouded eyes Behold them darkly. Wherefore, you" that know, Be as enclosed gardens to the world. The highway is no Tabor, meet for saints ; The market-place is no Gethsemane. Keep the exceeding nearness of the Lord, This day, and when again in voice and flame He visits us, like secret holiness 188 THE PROPHET: We share as brethren, but none else than we. I gave you once the Prophet s parable, Here verified : the tender roots of faith, That feed such glorious summer-leaves of life, Lie deep below, and wither when laid bare. A happy bond, indeed, is speech of that Which moves the heart; but holier, sweeter far, The bond of silence, guarding truth revealed! MORDECAI (To SIMEON.) Wise words, and most devout ! But wherefore now Adds he this law, when, publishing the first, We gather thousands? V SIMEON. Not to any one May I declare, even that I know his mind. I say not that I know it: be assured, No less, that also wisdom orders here. A TRAGEDY. 189 DAVID (To the people.} Once more my mouth is opened ere ye go. In every house the fatness of our land Prepares your feast ; the shawms and sackbuts wait, With lighter measures, for rejoicing feet ; The day is made a glory, far and wide, On shore and river. Issuing forth to these, Let not your perfect exaltation sink Even to the gladsome level of the time. Behold in all, as out of nothing wrought, What here the soul commanded, and the hand, A willing slave, fulfilled ! As it hath been, So, with increasing forces, let it be ; And, from the loins of us that humbly serve, Shall start the lineage of millennial kings ! [Sound of the organ. The PROPHET, HIGH-PRIEST, and members of the TWELVE come forward to the front of the platform, and lift their hands, while the people gradually disperse.] 190 THE PKOPHET: SCENE II. A room -in the house of JONAS. Night. A small lamp burning upon the table; the shutters closed. JONAS, his wife SARAH, HUGH, and HIRAM, a member of the Church. SARAH Walls hear, tis said; but they ve no tongues to blab. Up street and down, so far as I can see, Tis lonely as a graveyard: use your chance, And well, and quickly ! JONAS Many more are ripe For what we may determine : all they need Is certainty of equal power opposed ; And this, within the compass of our flock, They see not, neither is it found: so strong, So as with Devil s wisdom skilled to work, A TRAGEDY. 191 Is Nimrod Kraft. But one thing hath he taught Whereby we profit, to keep counsel close, Direction in a single pair of hands, And move, when ready, backed by secret force. Why, such a man profanes conspiracy, So using it! His weapons, in our hands, Scoured by the better purpose, are made sure. HUGH The hands are yours that shape the counter-plan ; And mine are idle till you bid them do. Whence comes the equal power? SARAH If men are weak, Then women easily may foil the law. It were the rarest show, good faith! to see The battle left to us ; our recompense, To own their weakness whole, which, but for us, Would be divided. 192 THE PROPHET: JONAS T , you haste too much. Already half the leaven of discontent Is kneaded up in their submissive clay ; And that which drew us, and we still accept, Grows one with what we loathe. Thus open war Were vainly ventured : leaving them, we lose Possession and its chances. What remains? The help abiding in the outer law, A hand still stretched, to smite where it forbids, As this, yet spare whatever else we hold. HUGH Then, as I guess, you guide the Gentile law To his confusion only? Can you stay Its meddling there, nor open other pleas, Which, in the end, may set us where we stood At the beginning? A TRAGEDY. 193 JONAS There my secret lies. The world is pressing on us : right and left New colonies have passed the prairie lands, To settle on the river-bluffs, and build Some cabin-city they believe shall be A centre of the world. The chief of one, And potent in their county government, Is kin of mine ; and messages have passed. That half the plot, and most of danger, falls To them who work outside, not seeming leagued, Demands advantage. What were ours to give, After success, and what were fair to give, So that the leadership secures to us, Needs final parley: time and place are fixed. HIRAM As here and now declared : this day I bore Your message and its answer. Colonel Hyde 13 194 THE PROPHET: Sees lighter work in leading on his men Than holding back : the excitement grows apace. Give evidence to make pretence of law A legal movement, should the law inquire : He asks no more. HUGH The revelation, say? JONAS Just that ! With all the priest s freemasonry To keep the usage secret, here and there Are leaky souls : the raftsmen, as they pass The landing ; firemen, wooding up their boats ; Or peddling agents, prowling through the land, Catch hints of it, and bear disfigured forth. Thus interference threatens either way ; But we avert a ruin possible, And seat ourselves in power, to change and save, By pointing the attack. A TRAGEDY. 195 HUGH And yet I ve heard How one, that, in the guns against him fired, Had rammed blank cartridges, forgot a ball. Your plan is perfect, if the guidance holds - SARAH (Interrupting him. ) What man are you, to fear the lesser risk? The thing is coming. Standing now to us, You lose no more, though interference fail, And gain by any change. JONAS The fact of kin In him whose hands must grapple with the priest Is my security. Full match is he, As you shall know. We meet, to settle all, Beyond the river-bend, just where the bluff 196 THE PBOPHET: Turns inland, and the little brook comes down. Tis thickly wooded : there the Indians made Their final stand ; and rows of bleaching ribs Shine, like the fangs of steel-traps, from the grass. Even border hunters, bold to hug a bear, Avoid it after nightfall : we are safe From even suspicion s ear, conferring there. Will you go with me? HUGH Coward am I not, Though cautious, as befits a man full-grown. But woman s virtue caution never was : Only the rash are brave to her. I ll go! A TRAGEDY. 197 SCENE III. Night. A street in the city. HUGH (Walking slowly homewards.} Were he alone, he might conspire alone, And welcome ! This is shrewdly done, if his ; The more, if hers. I thought her not so wise. If interference menaces indeed, And one might make conditions, then, why, then Comes chajice to seize o erthrown authority, No matter whose, and let it stick to me. So much there is of wisdom in the plan : We lose by quiet, and we can but gain By new disturbance. Had he promised aught But tis the same! What as an offer fails, Can I exact : which side goes up or down, One moment both are balanced evenly, And then a hand decides. The man s a fool 198 THE PROPHET : Who thinks to cheapen revolution s cost, And feed enthusiasm upon itself, Without the hope of benefit: go to! I may be made a cat s-paw, but sharp-eyed To grab one chestnut, let me see it first! NIMROD (Suddenly appearing at his side.) I ll show you! What! you meditate escape? Stand still ! I will not touch you, since you must. How left you Jonas? HUGH In his usual mood; Dissenting, yet not disobedient. NIMROD And yours the same? Should I repeat his words, While every tone is in your ears alive, A TRAGEDY. 199 You would deny them : so I waste no breath. I would have suffered you to take the lead To that fair quicksand-scum you think is turf, And said, " Good riddance ! " save that you can serve ; And that you will, is truth, when I declare You shall not serve unpaid. HUGH A Devil s brain Is yours ! NIMROD A brain that once he owned, perhaps ; Now by the Lord, to his discomfiture, Tuned otherwise. HUGH (Aside.) Why, even here, to me, With both hands full of treachery and bribes, 200 THE PEOPHET: He says such things! That s genius, on my soul! [Aloud.] The Lord directs you? well, then, also me, If I should do your will. NIMROD My instrument Is surely His, in spite of halting faith. HUGH What would you have me do? NIMROD Stay what you are, A traitor! plot and plan our overthrow, With him and others : only, as a spout Collects, from every shingle on the roof, What rain it sheds, to fill the thirsty tank, Convey to me your knowledge, me alone ! A TRAGEDY. 201 HUGH The Lord commands at will what He forbids, It seems, or you. interpret loosety : be it so ! I ll grant His purpose better know to you, And let you patch the breakage in His law ; But, if the open virtue earns reward, This claims a higher payment ! NIMROD In } T our work Will soon be shown the form of your desire, Which, being seen, I ll make reality. Though partly known to me, I dare not speak The Prophet s mind, but bid you ponder this : If you were set aside, not faithless charged, Nor any virtue lacking, but for use, As one unjustly to conspiracy Compelled, by justice to be beckoned back, And crowned by honor when the plot is crushed, How then? 202 THE PHOPHET: HUGH. (Aside.) This is a touch beyond me ! Driven, While will and purpose wholly seemed my own, To do the thing he wanted, can it be? (Aloud.) "How then?" Tis just another miracle. There have been men whose tongues or hands obeyed Some dark, mysterious force, and did the things Their souls resisted : am I one of such ? NIMROD It well may be : the working of the power, Itself is mystery. Weary not your mind, As if to your account were aught set down, Even seeming treachery. So much we know, Source, pretext, object, chance, and means of aid, A TKAGEDY. 203 That, had your virtue yielded, we were safe; But time is gained since you endure the test, And labor lessened. Here your service lies. First, come with me, and state the very truth, Mindful that, if you swerve, my knowledge waits To prop your memory. This rehearsal made, And duty fixed in what concerns us next, We ll talk of your exaltment and reward. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. LIVIA S house. DAVID seated in a cushioned arm chair : LIVIA on a low stool beside him. DAVID The restlessness that stirs in feet and limbs, The dull confusions that besiege the brain, The strange uncertainties of heart, pass off When you are near me : overhead in blue The sun comes out ; and life is like a land 204 THE PEOPHET: Where tempered winds kiss buds, and make them flowers. What is your magic? Nay, it it is yourself! LIVIA It is that I, who follow and believe, So spared the high anxieties of soul In you that cleave your passage to the truth, Am ever fresh, a little way beneath, To stay your weariness from further fall. The light }-our being brings transfuses mine With strength and gladness ever to uphold Myself, upholding you. DAVID The gift of tongues If I bestowed, jet scarce the gift of song. Whence come your hymns, as eloquent of faith As Miriam sang, between the sea and Shur, A TRAGEDY. 205 Rejoicing strains, that suit our cheerful laws, And shame the Gentiles wailing psalmody? LIVIA Tis consecration of a skill profane Wherein my soul found foolish peace. I sang, In that dark time before I saw your eyes, Of knightly harps, and willow- wearing maids, Of jewelled crowns* red swords, and evening stars, And lonely tombs, and ghosts that wept and went. One burden beat through all. Such songs betrayed The lack of that which sweeter is than song, Now found ; but raptures of believing bliss Seek the same passage, and the single voice, Chanting in them, becomes the speech of all ! Stay, would you hear a ditty which yourself, As one whose arm may brush accordant strings, Nor mark in passing, did awake in me? A secret, else, and dumb for other ears. 206 THE PROPHET : DAVID Oh, sing ! Though David s craft you exercise In being silent, yet my soul demands. LIVIA (Takes a guitar from a table, tunes the strings, and after a soft, subduing prelude, sings.) Let words be faint, and song refuse To frame the speech divine : Look on me, love, and all they lose Your eyes shall sing to mine ! I ask no voice to breathe my bliss, Or bid its answer come ; For lips are silent when they kiss, And meeting hearts are dumb. A wave that slides to clasp a wave, On mine your being flows ; The pang you took, the peace you gave, Must wed in such repose. So, love, your eyes alone shall tell What else were unconfessed ; And, if too fondly mine compel, Oh, hide them on your breast ! A TRAGEDY. 207 DAVID Livia ! What are yon ? What triumphant force Flows out from you, and knits my blood with 3 r ours? How is it that the liquid dark of eyes I gaze on grows a broadening sphere of light, Enclosing me forever? touching so Your hand, that suddenly a warmer world Beckons and wooes as if it might be mine ? That in your cheek the blossom-tender flesh, As it were spirit, sanctifies my lips? Oh! you are beautiful. LIVIA Because I love ! All happiness prints beauty on the face. I cannot keep it like a bridal-dress, Laid in a drawer, with fragrant orris-root, And wear my working-gowns again. I m bold, And proud of boldness, glad because of pride, 208 THE PROPHET : And love the more for gladness ! Thus my heart Beats in a ring, beginning as it ends, A magic circle, and you dwell therein! DAVID My love ! LI VI A. You say it, and I echo back. What more is freedom to a beaten slave, Than this to me? Oh ! I could sit, as now, And study all the beauty of your eyes, Where nameless color brightens here to blue, And there turns brown, until the dusk should leave Their sparkle only. I could part your locks, And from my fingers shake their wandering gloss, To seize again, and soothe with creeping thrills, Till you should dip in slumber ere you knew. I am as one that scarcelv can believe A TRAGEDY. 209 Past poverty is o er, but ever spends, To teach himself his hands are verily gold. If you have feared, lest shame and danger wait To blight the second marriage of your heart, Leave me to meet them, and to tread them down. DAVID I fear no more ; I wait no longer : come ! SCENE V. The Council-Room. DAVID, XIMROD, SIMEON, and MOKDECAI in secret conference. DAVID The danger s real : shut within our camp, Would perfidy, in time, consume itself; But thus, in league with outer ignorance That easily breeds hate, it threatens harm. Have you assured yourself how much of truth 14 210 THE PROPHET : In this alliance lies? with how much power It arms itself? NIMROD Last night my messengers Came back from close espial of the land. With tongues disguised to speak the Gentile mind, They won so much as Colonel Hyde sees fit To let his followers know ; and strangely shows Our Church s image in their looking-glass! Hereof they speak : a faction needing help Among us ; hints of strange, unholy rites To be suppressed ; and promised evidence (For he, considerate of future place, V First means to lift the banner of the law) ; Then, last of all, his godless crew expects Plunder and ravage! They would snatch away, With unclean hands, the Lord s high heritage, They careful of the faith ! The Devil laughs, Methinks, to see such Christian volunteers A TRAGEDY. 211 Assail our industry with hands of theft, Our laws with sinful bodies, and our prayers With tongues that cast defilement when they speak. MORDEGAI Oh, sons of Belial ! But the Lord shall raise His hand to smite, as at the gates of Ai. NIMROD What have we done that should alarm their law? Lo ! strife and murder in this border land It scarcely chides, is patient of free lust, Yet makes a culprit of the sanctioned love That broadens home. It waits for evidence. I would not counsel rashness : let it wait, And not receive ! DAVID Then is their pretext vain ; For we, appealing to the selfsame source, 212 THE mOPHET : Possess law s shield, to hold against its sword Wherewith they threaten. That were best of all ; But how prevent the tales, if true or false, Which may be carried? NIMROD (After a pause. ) He who governs us Once smote directly : will He do so now ? The liar once fell dead ; the enemy Was slaughtered, and no child of all his seed Renewed the race : even mercy was reproach, And Moses felt the anger of the Lord, When human plea persuaded him to spare. How much the more than what was punished thus Doth Jonas purpose ! Why delays the bolt ? Wiry rusts the blade in God s closed armory? Or, waits He for our call? means He to test What zeal and courage guard His holy place? A TRAGEDY. 213 Then, cry aloud ! As it was said of old, They were not, for the Lord had taken them, So in your soul command, Let him not be ! SIMEON Ay ! that were shortest passage to the end : Let him not be ! MORDECAI Who from the Anakim His hosts delivered, over Arnon led, And gave the men of Heshbon to their hands, "Will, from exceeding smallness of this prayer, Be merry in His mind ! No giants here Oppose our path, but one malicious dwarf, Whose pointed tongue may verily stab to hurt: Let him not be ! DAVID If some mysterious ail, Even while we speak, should palsy all his frame, 214 THE PKOPHET: Yea, stop with sudden check the wheels of life, The thing were good ; but thus to stretch a hand, And beckon, consciously, the fate on watch Why should it seem so different? What sense Makes us so thoughtless when we plant a life, Knowing the awful sanctity it holds, When we would take away? Yet, if life serve, Fulfilling as it may His will in man, Then why not death? \_Hepauses, looks upwards with an expression of profound abstraction, and continues, as if speaking to himself. ~] I see the poor beast s eyes, And that tremendous question hid in them, I tried to answer. Like a human life I loved the dog s ; but when the other came, With certain madness in his slavering jaws, And sprang upon and bit and tumbled him, A TRAGEDY. 215 Then staggered forward, seeking where to die, My hands were armed with pitying cruelty ; And he, so doomed , v forefeeling all his doom, Crouched down, and, whimpering, read some fatal change Set in my face: .the liquid, lustrous eyes, So sad with yearning after human speech, With love that never can declare itself, So tender, now so wild with dumb despair, Implored in vain : it was a tragedy, O God ! and I the unrelenting fate. Twas kindness, in the shape of monstrous guilt Disguised ; and, for his sake and mine, I prayed That, through continuous being, he might know And pardon. Even so doth God prevent? Is moral madness, some implanted seed Of harm to all, thus hindered in our lives, 21Q THE PROPHET : Though by the imcomprehended blow should bleed A thousand loving hearts? I thought so then. It seems not much, when such an aim demands : Let him not be ! " The words themselves seduce With seeming innocence, and each a stab : "Let him not be!" \_Nimrod makes a sign to Simeon and Mordecai, who steal quietly out of the Council-Room, ] I shrink from asking that Which in my secret soul I hope may come : Why should I shrink? The days wherein we live Allow no Moses-nature ; but for him The Lord descended, counselled face to face, And hallowed slaughter with direct command. Arn I so far from ancient holiness, I dare not pray His hand should touch the man Who plots my ruin? How bring, otherwise, A TilAGEDY. Conditions which make sure the covenant? Here lies a must: it calls roe to subdue My frightened fancy, and forget the heart Which tries to make itself accomplice : yes, I Avill implore His vengeance, but no more. NIMKOD And should He answer, as my faith expects, The prayer is justified unto your soul. Your dread is but the birth-pang of the law Reborn in 3 ou ; and when in living flesh It smiles, and waxes strong, you will forget All save the glory. DAVID Be your w r ords fulfilled ! The thing you counselled is already done. What in the soul one fleeting moment stands Is asked beyond recall : let us go hence ! [Exeunt. 218 THE P11OPHET : SCENE VI. A narrow, wooded ravine between bluffs crowned with rock. Late twilight. JONAS and HUGH under a tree. HUGH {Aside, looking around him,} A pokerish place ! There s something in the air Breeds thoughts of murder; and I m cold with creeps That pinched my flesh, from stepping on a spine, Wherefrom the skull, so loosened, rolled away. Were but the business done ! (Aloud.} He s in no haste, Or we too hasty : he outstays the time. Once more reflect upon the thing you do : Is it well done? A TRAGEDY. 219 JONAS I settled that at first. There s safety in surprise : if Nimrod guessed The range of popular impatience, then, I grant you, were some hazard to be met. But he is idle, seeks additional wives, And feels as certain of the power he holds As doth a man of money in his fist, While at his back the robber s club is raised To stretch him dumb. .* HUGH A strong comparison! JONAS It suits his case. You think I underrate The man s intelligence ; why, not a^ whit ! Our lucky chance is his security, Which we must use before a breath disturb. 220 THE PROPHET: [A low whistle is heard. ~\ The Colonel s signal ! [He whistles in answer. ~\ Mark you, when he comes, How perfectly he understands his work, And sets all parts together till they fit ! That s where the lawyer tells. COLONEL HYDE (Approaching.} Good even to both ! Your friend this, Cousin Jonas? Here s my hand; And now, to business ! Something must be done, If done at all, before the week is out, That is, as }*ou and I, and this your friend, Desire to happen : something else is sure. The excitement grows ; and soon j-our priest, fore warned, Will organize resistance ; then comes war A TRAGEDY. 221 To waste the property we want to save. Have you the evidence? A document Were best ; but witnesses will answer here. JONAS The written revelation which he read Was laid within the ark: that you must seize, And bear away ; resistance then will stop. Our witness must be forced, unwillingly, After arrest : I bring yon here the names Of them who can be driven to testif}^ You understand? COLONEL HYDE If they the practice prove ! The revelation shows intent, no more, And violates no law. JONAS To all of these The fact is patent : where you need one case, We give you five. 222 THE PROPHET: COLONEL HYDE As fingers of a hand That soon shall clutch them ! Tis enough for law, Which started, many accidents may chance Before the process finds a legal stop. And now, conditions ! You demand the power ; I, its equivalent, a part secured, A part reserved for possible future need, So you gain influence JONAS And you assure The chance of power! Neither can promise all. HUGH (Aside:) Where two so bargain, there s not margin left To hold a third. A THAGEDY. 223 COLONEL HYDE The time for huckstering s gone. JONAS Missing my aim, comes little ; winning, all ! COLONEL HYDE Then here s an end of parley : let us go ! This is no place for pleasure. JONAS So, farewell! Your stipulations hang on my success. [Exit COLONEL HYDE.] Come, Hugh ! the night is cloudy : I must seek, More with my feet than eyes, the ticklish path. \_He moves away. HUGH Go on, but slowly. I have dropped my knife. And look for t with my hands. Before you reach 224 THE PROPHET: The slippery corner where we climb the bluff, I ll overtake you. [JONAS disappears in the gloom. ] Shall I overtake Indeed? I m not so sure: yes, Colonel Hyde, An accident, if prayed for, might occur ! They told me nothing ; but the gift of guess Kemains to me ; and, ugh ! tis horrible. I ll neither see nor know ! The skull I kicked, Used as a pillow, would not breed such dreams. \_He moves onward, cautiously.] Ha! what was that? Along the darkened path Something, still darker, moves ! I hear no sound, And yet the silence seems a piercing cry ! I feel the lifting of my hair : I ll stop Both ears, shut e} T es, and think of any thing, Till I can count ten thousand, then, go on ! A TRAGEDY. 225 SCENE VII. A room in the PROPHET S house. DAVID No, you are not the same ! The simple trust Which found content in what I was and this Includes whatever more I am become Hath left your 63^68 : your tongue is silenter : You speak but matters which compel 3~our speech, And in your waj-s make hints of things unsaid. I say not this in blame : 3^011 cannot be More than you are, or other : I had hoped - There were a force in faith, a warmth in love, To hold your nature side by side with mine, And take a larger property in me Through that which only seems to lessen it. My hope is vain. 15 226 THE PROPHET: RHODA Oh! wait a little while, My husband, as you still and ever are. I vexed you sore in what I thought was good, And that seems evil which 3-011 ask of me : It was not so at first. I lean on you With all my weight ; when you would rest, in turn, I ve nothing but my simple, loving heart, To stay your weariness. I cannot urge Your spirit forward on its loftier ways ; Nor did }xm ask it, save my faith be aid, When first we loved. Take what another brings : You will not find me selfish : take so much, But keep jour heart for me. DAiTID Why, it is yours, No less than then ! A very ghost of change A TRAGEDY. 227 Is what you fancy. Shut your eyes, and call My face into your memory : tis the same. RHODA Ah, David, David! I would shut their sight Forever, could you in my ears again So live. There s something in a woman s heart, I think, so delicate, so soft a force, That it will cling like steel, nor feel a bruise; Yet, loose one fibre, it may bleed to death. DAVID I have not loosed, nor will ! Nay, I have grieved, Bent down to human sympathy with you, And hoarded tenderness you have not claimed, To soothe you till you see. What can I more? Take back the revelation and the law? Reverse the advancing work, and, step by step, Make all things as they were? I see your eyes 228 THE PROPHET: Lighten at this, as they had nigh forgot To shine : I do believe you wish so much ! RHODA (Slowly.} No, no! Not if your happiness depends, Not less of power, not all the work undone Oh, understand me, David ! DAVID Patience, first! Suspend your feeling till around us springs The newer life, then judge if it be false. But if, indeed, arises primitive peace, And all that in the patriarchal years Made manhood pure, and womanhood content, Then I, by others, not of mine own faith, Am justified to } ou. A TRAGEDY. 229 SARAH (Entering.*) Where have you put Jonas, my husband? Give him back to me, Or I will raise a tumult in the land ! DAVID Your husband? SARAH Ay, and I m his only wife. You have him hidden : set him free, I say ! DAVID Wild words are these. I know no more of him Than those report who hear his discontent. He hath not sought me ; nor should I receive, Unless he came with penitence. 230 THE PROPHET: SAKAH You Jcnoiv, I ll not believe you ! Since he held to me, Nor with strange women would pollute my house, You mean his ruin ! Help me, Prophet s wife ! Although, perverted by his tongue, you take Your rival home [RnoDA starts, and turns away her face.~\ yet you are woman still, And my distress may somewhat touch your heart. Find out what they have done with him, give back, And we will go ! [She weeps. DAVID (Aside} It is no acted fear: Has he been taken? Is the answer come To what I prayed, come swiftly back to me A TRAGEDY. 231 With all its helpless woe of consequence, To make the wish a terror? RHODA In my heart I feel your grief, and pity, and will help, Can you but show the way. DAVID But I declare Mine ignorance ! I speak no further word, Since you believe not. SARAH Nay, I will believe ! His fear was less of you than Nimrod Kraft, Whose tongue but that might anger if I spake : I know not what to do ! 232 THE PROPHET: DAVID Wh} T , go to him Whom most you fear ! But, stay ! no evidence Of evil in jour frightened clamor lies. Come with me, and confess the things 3-011 know. [Exit with her. RHODA (Solus.) Already? My prophetic heart declared, Then called itself a liar! Not dare tell? Such cowardice conceals a little love ! The winter sun, that for a distant land Makes summer, cannot turn all warmth away, And slowly comes again : let me not be A frozen field, but gather every beam He may allow me ! Oh ! I ll prove my right By life or death ; but now, on this alone, I dare not brood. That woman, wild with fear, A TRAGEDY. 233 And charged with reason for it, which alarms Because unspoken something lurks behind, A further outrage to be sanctified, A guilt thrust under David s innocence ! The thought confuses me : I only feel The danger closing round us like a mist, Cold, formless, chilling to the very bone ; And he is helpless, save I love him still. ACT V. SCENE I. The street in front of the PROPHET S house. PETER at the gate, talking with two citizens. FIRST MAN IT S floating loose, as one might say : it comes From everywhere and nowhere. SECOND MAN That s the way To make things happen. Say they ll surely be, And all the causes of them set to work. FIRST MAN I d check ; you d let alone : which starts a cause, Or hinders it ? There s talk because there s fear. What says the Prophet? 234 A TRAGEDY. 235 PETER Nothing! If I asked, And he should answer, something would be said; But that we neither do. SECOND MAN Until he calls, Confessing danger, in your pockets sheathe Your restless hands, and whistle back your faith ! Their name is not yet Legion. [Exit. FIRST MAN No, nor yours A watchman of the Lord! There are no signs Of Jonas yet ; but people think him fled, And. plotting mischief in the enemy s camp. The Twelve hold council : knowing these reports, Which make alarm, they have not silenced them ; And thus suspicion grows. 236 THE PROPHET: PETEK I see it does. FIRST MAN You keep close-mouthed : I do believe you re primed With far more knowledge than you let leak out. PETER I m honest only: ignorance need not talk. FIRST MAN As I do, you would say? [Exit. PETER He s in a huff, But can t help counting me the wiser man. Why, shut your mouth, and shrewdly move your head, A TRAGEDY. 237 And stare right hard at him who speaks to you ; And, when he says, "It is so!" answer, " H rn, Is it, indeed?" and there s your capital For thriving business in the wholesale trade Of leading people. If I d half a gift To save from awkward usage of their minds, I d make them think me great. RHODA (Coming from the house. ) What have you heard? This is no time for keeping back the truth. There s danger somewhere. PETER One was sure of that, The t other not ; but all I know is this, Some say the Gentiles mean to interfere, Upset the Prophet s law, and him, the head. 238 THE PKOPHET: Make chargeable for what the others do. But that they can t : we re drifting on one raft ; And none but fools would ever try to take The helmsman prisoner, till they smashed the crew. RHODA And all are faithful? PETER Well they think they are. RHODA This was my fear: you mean that all are not? PETER It comes of management: the priest, and her Each is alone a match for any law ; And, if the} 7 work together A TRAGEDY. 239 RHODA Nay, they must! You are worse troubled than you care to show ; But I ll not question more. One way to help - The hardest way that ever woman walked Is set before me, and I take it now! [Exit. PETER I don t know as I m gladder that she went, Or sorrier that she seemed to think my wits Of small account. Here s one that, as I guess, She means to pump as deeply as he ll let. He comes this way; he s got a blunted axe, And I must turn the grindstone. NIMROD (Entering.} Have you seen Sarah, the wife of Jonas, pass this way? 240 THE PKOPHET: PETER Not I. NIMROD She still may come. Wait not for me, Or any officer, but hold her fast! PETER There must be two of me, to do so much. NI-MROD Large-boned, and strong of arm, she is, in fact. You ll find a watchman yonder by the wood ; But scatter, lest she take another path! PETER Why, what s the row? NIMROD No more than you have heard. Put what you know, and what you think might be, A TRAGEDY. 241 Together, and you ll find disturbance comes Through her alone, and she can silence it. The Prophet and the Twelve have that to ask, Which, having answered, she disarmes herself. [Exit. PETER No use of pumping there ! The water comes Just even with the spout, and then it stops. SCENE II. A room in LIVIA S house. LIVIA (Slowly pacing the floor, with a letter in her hand). Renounced, and half forgotten, still the world Has power to hurt ! I know the mirror false Which makes a grim distortion of my face, And yet it pains me while I look. What creed Is theirs, to whom my love gives more offence, 16 242 THE PROPHET: Man s habit broken, than hath done my faith, To them a fatal heresy of soul ! Those Pagans, to their monstrous idol bowed, Once Moloch named, but now Society, Defile, when turned to their forgotten Lord, His altars with false fire. Ah ! had I found One pure male soul among them, not ashamed To seek, believe, aspire, and overcome, With love s white heat to clarify my own, And dear dependence on my differing force, I had remained ! But thus, forbade to seek, Insulted by insipid tenderness, That into weakness fain would coddle power, That shuts men s brains lest ours should be con fused, And hides strong aberrations of the sex, Which, knowing, we might guide to purity, Wiry, what was left me but a fierce escape? Thank Heaven, the line is passed ! I ve not to do A TRAGEDY. 243 With threatened shame, or vain self-questioning, more ; I give my being for a large return. [Enter RHODA : both stand for a moment, looking a> each other, in silence.] Forgive me, Rhoda, if I show surprise ; Forgive me, also, that my doubt deterred The due approach, which now your coming here So gently chides ! RHODA Do not mistake my heart, Or set it lower, for the thing I do. Save you perceive me as I verily am, I cannot speak my message, or may mar. I come, by sore necessity constrained, Or I had never come. 244 THE PKOPHET : % LI VI A (Aside,) Her words awake A new surprise : is this the fond, weak wife I thought her, petulant instead of proud, And simply sulking over fancied loss? (Aloud.) Your speech is bitterer, surely, than you mean ; But, seeming in the w r rong, I must endure. RHODA Be not offended ! I must needs suppose Some curious resemblance in our hearts, Else yet it must be said ! you had not loved. Let there be more, in this, that, loving him, You know no better service of your life Than guarding his. A TRAGEDY. 245 LIVIA There read me by yourself! I ll not explain my passion, since the words Might sting with needless pangs. I thought you weak, And find you strong : thus silence is enough. You come because of him ; forget the rest, For partnership or rivalry in us Has here one aim. EHODA I feel before I see, And that which shakes me with continual dread Dissolves when I would closelier scan its form. The missing man, his wife s most real alarm, The Gentile rumors, threatening David s place, If not his freedom, and the ruin of all, These have a link which must be found and cleft. Help me, therein: I am not quick of thought, 246 THE PBOPHET: But I will follow, letting you direct. You cannot, surely, unobservant be Of each least danger, when you watch for him ! LIVIA Less I may see, because I fear it less Than you do. He must triumph as a chief, Ere love can peacefully possess his life. Unhelping there, love in its duty fails, And all too anxiously may guard itself; For opportunity wears danger s face When first it comes ; and now it may be so. What you declare, I knew : I muse thereon, To save, if the occasion shrinks to that; But, if it broaden, to exalt as well ! RHODA And you dela}^ ? to gain I know not what ! How can you thus so coldly, proudly talk A TEAGEDY. 247 Of triumph won by risk? Ah! yes, I see My heart s distress is folly unto yours : I am a woman, and you know me not. I show you all I dread ; I give you chance To set yourself above me in desert, And on the remnant of my bliss to feed, And you seek " opportunity " ! [5/te turns to leave. LIVIA Not yet, You do mistake ! and I should only wound By picking words more nicely : all are edged Which we two use. Twice have you made re proach, Perhaps not meaning ; I will let it pass, And answer, since I pity your alarm, With offered help : you may accept or leave. How much of faith in Nimrod, the high-priest, Do you preserve? 248 THE PROPHET: RHODA (After a pause.} If one s right hand could be Unfaithful to the will? for so it seems. But service, then, would measure treachery; And that s too monstrous ! (Aside.} Ah ! what have I said ? Her words provoked the doubt I should conceal, And this may do a mischief. LIVIA Tis enough. I know the thought, that, frightened, hides its face Even from itself; but I will look on mine. Tis well you came to me : some sheltered plants First note the distant changes of the air, And here the thing is possible : I thought A TRAGEDY. 249 It might be later Ha ! if it be now, I must to work ! RHODA Give me a little part When you have found it ! so much is my right. LIVIA Ay, ay ! I promise : now, I pray you, go ! For Ms sake, then ! [Exit RHODA.] Oh ! she may have her share ; But I, that dare and save and win and crown, Shall sit by him as Zion s rightful queen ! 250 THE PROPHET: SCENE III. The Council-Room. NIMROD, SIMEON, and MORDECAI present. SIMEON I find them more disturbed than timorous ; Still in good heart, the most: but that we keep Continued silence, while the threats increase, Bewilders them. NIMROD Tis time, indeed, to act ; For our intent must be conveyed to all, Or we shall fail in secret unit} . The Prophet halts : I ve purposelj 7 left free His spirit, praying for a path revealed Where we, between, the waves on either hand, Dry-shod may walk : the revelation lags. If unto me, less gifted, were transferred A TRAGEDY. 251 The leader s office, I should exercise With human wit, perchance, but also will To wring success from stubborn circumstance. .,- SIMEON Oh ! were it so transferred ! Can you not claim, If we sustain you? NIMROD No, I will not claim ! What my devotion and obedience earn Should I receive. [J. knock is heard: MORDECAI goes to the door. As he opens it, LIVIA is seen.~\ (Aside.} But to invite the trust, So that the giver thinks he gives unasked, 252 THE PROPHET: Is always lawful. What she seeks is plain : I ve marked her keen ambition, and can use. (Aloud.) Admit the sister. [LiviA comes forward to the table."] Opportunely come ! And hence the rules of council we suspend. If you have knowledge, or } our woman s wit Works, with result, for our deliverance, Be welcome, speak, and we shall gladly hear! LIVIA My knowledge is not more, my zeal not less, Than yours ; my skill to work with minor arts Which must prevail with individual wills, Ere, as a bod} T , all are moved one way, Perchance as great: so much is known to you. This is no time for testing special power, When any weapon, be it wielded well, A TRAGEDY. 253 Becomes a rightful arm. Our danger lies In suffering our young order to be jarred Too suddenly, or slowly undermined By such defence as leaves the end a doubt. Between the two we need steer carefully. You have the rudder ; give an oar to me. NIMROD You apprehend the crisis, and have guessed Why, measuring it, we have not spoken yet. Tis purposeless extremity of fear Begets submission : what were best to do, Too soon declared, is lightly criticised ; But, now they cry for guidance, we present Calm fronts of unperturbed authority. We crave to act: the Prophet only fails In revelation, which may be denied, If human craft suffice : or, unto you Hath he declared his will? 254 THB PROPHET: LIVIA Not unto me, Surety, ungifted with commissioned power. NIMROD Yet that pretence of law which threatens us Concerns you most. Our body is not yet The giant it shall be : the covenant, Now made an accusation, must be kept By secret truth, the evidence held back, So, nothing proven, all their charges fail. We best oppose by seeming to submit. Unaided, they examine : not a tongue Profanes the mysteries of Zion s house ; And, once so foiled, our skill and industry, Our peace and order, only, noised abroad, They will not haste to court a second blame. SIMEON The wisdom of the serpent speaks in that ! A TRAGEDY. 255 LIVIA (Aside.) And leaves the serpent s slime ! (Aloud.) You, then, accept Their whole procedure, law, and court, and judge, And twelve such fools as never heard of us, Arrest, and trial? First, of course, they seize The Prophet! NIMROD Me, instead ! I will so lead Suspicion from its present course in them. My craft of brain, that cannot reach his gift Of prayer and vision, hath its office here : It will exalt my soul with holy joy To triumph o er the Gentiles ! 256 THE PROPHET: LIVIA Prophecy Is that : the power awakes in you : I thought Your gift was "craft of brain." Why, tis- a scheme Where every wheel must with a hundred ifs Be cogged, or none of them will bite ! The law Takes any shape it likes : by prejudice It moves the eleven, and wearies out the one Within whose brain some dream of justice lives. Yes, were our danger, law ! But, while you wait Your own arrest in all decorous form, Whose hand shall stay the ruffian horde behind From force and outrage? NIMROD Woman s brain is quick To make a part the whole, and for her wits Work easy triumph. I but told you part. A TRAGEDY. 257 LIVIA (Aside.) Too quick, indeed! I should have cheated him By feigned acceptance, till I learned the whole. He may cajole by truth, as others do By falsehood. (Aloud.) Nay, if hastily I spake, The cause lay deeper than my woman s brain. NIMROD (Smiling.) I saw it beating, faster than your words. I but consider, not decide : the plan Waits for the sanction of our Church s head, Which he, in strange uncertainty, withholds. If to the movement of his mind your own May give direction, bid him not delay ; 17 258 THE PROPHET: Or, still irresolute, set free my hands, To work for him. MORDECAI The Twelve are as one man, SIMEON The priest speaks for us. NIMROD And the people wait. Decide to help, where all is known and weighed ; Or, knowing little, work your random will, And bring us ruin ! LIVIA You would weigh me down With much capacity. If you believed My power, you would not threaten such result, But coax and flatter me to shift my part. A TRAGEDY. 259 Deal fairly, priest, and you shall have my aid ! You re certain of success : 3^011 only need Unhindered leadership (the Prophet s place Transferred, in seeming, that he scape the risk), And then, submissive where they look for strife, You will confound the Gentiles ! Far too bold For any brain but yours ! Were not your blood So passionless, your keen intelligence So coldly watchful, I should doubt the end ; But now I go to do the work you set! [Exit. MORDECAI That s a beginning ! SIMEON How you bent her will ! I never saw the like. NIMROD Ay, ay ! The power Sometimes is with me : may it oftener come ! 260 THE PROPHET : (Aside.) The work I set? She ll do the opposite, Or else her tying candor lies again. " So passionless ! " ha ! ha ! The time may come When she shall say of me, "Too passionate!" I think I ve striven to turn away the storm ; But, if they will not see, so let it burst ! They re all mistaken : tis no thunder-cloud That rattles half an hour, and rolls away ; But something that will tear us from our roots, And sweep us far into the wilderness. My own device might gain a little grace To dull the blow: yet our prosperity Tempts, as upon a counter scattered gold ; . And, though the first wave strike us harmlessly, A second one will follow. Better now Set matters where they needs must terminate! I ve learned to rale, even while obeying most ; And I shall surely learn to bind and seal By revelation, as my gifts increase. A TRAGEDY. 261 SCENE IV. In front of the temple. A number of people collected; DAVID, NIMROD, and various members of the TWELVE, among them. LIVIA moves from one to another of the restless, excited groups. A MAN They should have armed us first! A SECOND The priest is shrewd To keep his knowledge till it s time to use. He has something ready : mark his quick gray eye ! , A THIRD . The secrecy they lay upon us means That we may be examined : more than that It s hard to guess. 262 THE PKOPHET: LIVIA ( Whispering. ) Keep you the peace, unless They would arrest the Prophet, then resist ! [She passes on. A MESSENGER (To DAVID.) There are but four: their head is Sheriff Hyde. Our watchmen stopped them at the wood below, And now are leading hither: they would speak With you, and with the Twelve. DAVID Go, bid them come ! NIMROD Have you considered our united mind? Here is it urgent that a single voice Declare the answer. A TRAGEDY. 263 DAVID First must come demand, Which, save its words and full intent were known, We cannot meet beforehand. I will wait. NIMKOD This only, let me speak! Exact delay For consultation, when demand is made : They are but four ; yet each doth represent A hundred more in ambush ! DAVID Are you sure Of Hugh s fidelity? NIMKOD As of his life ! And whether Jonas did escape to them, Or by the Lord was silenced, either way 264 THE PROPHET : He served us first: so far have we been helped To their discomfiture ! [Movement in the crowd. The people fall back, and COLONEL HYDE, toith three companions, guarded on each side by the watchmen of Zion, come forward.] COLONEL HYDE Which man of 3 T ou Calls himself Prophet? DAVID Chosen of the Lord Am I, and Prophet called by these, my flock. COLONEL HYDE You re he I seek. The law, that freedom gives To manifold belief, now takes alarm At vicious usages, by you proclaimed As holy. You are called to meet the charge Of wilful crime, with others, whom to this You have persuaded. [Murmurs among the people.] A TRAGEDY. 265 DAVID And should I resist Such intermeddling with permitted faith? COLONEL HYDE Though loud report of your licentious lives Commands my action, we are armed with proof, And here resistance would be added crime. Will 3 ou submit? or shall I raise my voice, And call the County s power? [Tumultuous movement among the people. ] * VOICES Go back ! go back ! We guard the Prophet ! Touch him if you dare ! NIMROD Be quiet, brethren ! Law should not be rash To hasten conflicts which she might allay. 266 THE PROPHET You, Colonel Hyde, have spoken : we demand . A space for counsel ere we make reply. Come three days hence COLONEL HYDE One day, no more ! [Struggle and confusion on the outskirts of the crowd : mingled voices and cries."] SARAH Let go ! I have done nothing! Let me free, I say! DAVID Hold, hold! COLONEL HYDE My cousin s wife! A TRAGEDY. 267 SARAH (Rushing forward wildly, her hair streaming over her shoulders.) You have not seen Jonas ? No need to answer that : he s dead ! Oh, save me ! take me with you ! NIMROD (Aside.) Cursed luck! I thought she had escaped, but this is worse. COLONEL HYDE What means your terror? SARAH Jonas never came From you ! I thought him held, at first, and made Vain outcries ; then I feared for mine own life, And hid till now. Upon my way to you 268 THE PBOPHET: Came two, and held me fast with violent hands, The Prophet s serving-man Peter? DAVID It cannot be ! SARAH and one the high-priest often calls To do his secret work. NIMROD I ordered them. The woman s grief, the Prophet s sympathy Therewith, gave me desire to question her. If thus our kindness frightens, let her go, And you may test the value of the tongue That speaks such folly! A TKAGEDY. 269 COLONEL HYDE Sarah, come with us ! (To DAVID.) To-morrow, at this hour, expect me here ! [Exit with SARAH, his companions, and the watchmen. NIMROD (Aside.} There go the Gentile torches, all ablaze, Which shall consume the temple ! DAVID Peter, here If still you owe me service ! [Exit. LIVIA So, high-priest, The court is opened, and the jury called; Only the culprits have not reached the bar! 270 THE PROPHET: NIMROD Some walls are built with clear design to stand For ages ; but the finger of a child May pick a stone out ere the mortar dries, And leave a crevice for the wedge of frost To slowly split the fabric. You exult As such a child might do. LIVIA (Aside.) He frightens me! SCENE V. Sunset. An outer street of the city. A number of men assembled: PETER in the midst. SEVERAL VOICES We will not yield ! A TRAGEDY. 271 A MAN The Lord should send a sign, If ever, now, when to His flock dismayed The wolf comes howling ! PETER Tisn t just the howl. He means to pounce upon our leader-ram, Then lazily bite our throats from day to day. The priest says, "Let him!" But you run down hill To law, and up steep rocks climb out again. VOICES Ay, that is truth ! PETER And he, to boot, mistakes Through over-sharpness. Doing what he bade, 272 THE PEOPHET : I harmed the Prophet in the sheriff s eyes ; And that wild woman will improve the tale, Until they see the Lord knows what in him. I m bound to make my blunder good. LIVIA {Approaching.) You are ! I ll show you how : there s little time to lose. How many here have arms? VOICES I have ! And I ! LIVIA And, had you not the hearts of fighting men, You would not answer thus. They think us weak Or timorous : let them come in that conceit ! One sharp repulse will so confuse their plan A TKAGEDY. 273 That time is gained; and what protection lies In martial garrisons the nation plants, For need, along the lawless, wild frontier, May come to aid us, or to stand between. VOICES That s to the point ! Such talk we understand. LIVIA Shall we submit to scarce the name of law, Much less its substance? Who are they that shake The sword of justice, which would pierce them selves If they let go the hilt? What! suffer them To seize at will, until our strength is shorn, And Zion s riches to their hands lie bare? Not you ! I know } ou ! 18 274 THE PROPHET: VOICES No, we ll fight them first! LIVIA You will ! And, if no man dares lead you forth, I ll be your captain : there are Jaels yet ! Let each his neighbor summon ; scour your guns, Run even your clock- weights into bullet-moulds, And tell your wives that milk from manly veins Looks worse than blood ! \_SJie beckons to one of the men following her, who comes forward, and unrolls a banner, with a golden lion on a red ground.] Behold our banner spread, Yours and the Prophet s ! See that first it float Amid the smoke, which, when it drifts away, Leaves victory behind ! You want a song, To set the courage of your hearts in words, A TEAGEDY. 275 And bid it ring beneath the echoing heaven. Hear, then ! I ve made it for you, and will sing ! [She sings. ] Children of Zion, Crouch as a lion, Eager to fly on Foes that deride ! Rise for the Prophet ! Arm for the Prophet ! - Fight for the Prophet ! Fling his banner wide ! ALL (Enthusiastically repeating the last lines, as chorus.) Fight for the Prophet ! Fling his banner wide ! [The men gradually disperse."] LIVIA (Solus.) I live at last ! Twas more than love inspired This counter-plot, though love like mine were more 276 THE PROPHET : Than cause and needful spur. I live and move, Bid others live and play the parts I set, Concentrate petty forces to one end Which grandly must succeed, or grandly fail, But, either way, I act ! The top of life, Methinks, is action, when the field is broad ; For power of nature cannot truly be, Till it is proved on others. Ah, he comes ! My dream was that I work for him alone : Why, since both power and passion wed, I do ! [DAVID approaches. ,] Lift up your front, my Prophet! Tis the eve Of strength secured : the test, the hostile charge, Draw near the moment when they sink in dust ; And, after one dim bar of cloud, your sun Will hold the sky ! A TRAGEDY. 277 DAVID Tis dusk : the sun is down. Old habit says the day will dawn again After a certain darkness : have you thought, What if it should not dawn? Tis possible. LIVIA Yes, when no triumph calls the daylight up ; When human souls, in all God s world, are dumb ; When hope is choked, and, like neglected fire, The spark of prayer dies out, and even love Awaits no morrow sweeter than to-day, Then, then, twere possible ! DAVID Can light be drawn Even from the spirit, as the warmth from blood? You seem to shine, as 3^011 possessed the glow I thought was mine: you see where I am dark; 278 THE PROPHET: And, where I walk confounded, you rejoice. Whence comes your confidence ? What near success Fore-glorifies you? LIVIA Pardon, if to you I still keep silent ! Faith, no less than love, May have its budded secret, soon to bloom. For some few rapid hours endur^ }^>ur place, As now, while others work, I least, perhaps, Though most in will : the lower necessity Is ours to meet, yea, ours to overcome. DAVID They wait my word. LIVIA I know it. They best learn Now, when- their minds are sore perturbed, to wait. Can you bestow on clouded eyes and brains A TRAGEDY. 279 Your perfect gift? or justify each step, Greater than Moses, to the murmuring throng? The human with the godlike essence strives In you ; and, when your soul would sanction straight, The heart stands up in protest : heed it not, While others can be merely man ! DAVID Go, then ! I cannot meet your words, and will not ask What hope sheds brightness on your face. Fare well ! LIVIA. Farewell ! [Exit DAVID.] And for the last time, half-apart And half-acknowledged, do I say, Farewell ! 280 THE PROPHET: SCENE VI. Night. A room in the PROPHET S house. DAVID, seated at a desk, with his back towards RHODA. He opens papers, looks at them mechanically, lays them aside, and at last rests his head upon his hand. RHODA sits in another part of the room, with her hands clasped in her lap. Once or twice she lifts her head, looks at DAVID, and seems about to speak. DAVID (Turning suddenly. ) You re watching me ! RHODA Nay, waiting, and, besides, Wishing that 3-011 would speak. To-day s affairs Leave me in doubt of what the morrow brings. There s something in a charge that frightens me, Though vilely made : I never dreamed that crime, Even as a painted threat, could be so flung Into our faces. A TRAGEDY. 281 DAVID Into mine, not yours ! RHODA It is the same : the threat, the impossible fact, One like the other, at my honor strikes. I do not think of that. Oh, were the day, And all its horrible aspects, safely o er ! Were you a nameless servant of the Lord, Somewhere with me and with our helpless child, A taper burning calmly, not, as now, A bonfire whirled and beaten by the winds, What peace were mine ! VOICES (Outside, singing in passing.") Fight for the Prophet ! Fling his banner wide ! 282 THE PROPHET: RHODA But, no ! you dare not fly, Though yet the chance is free. The frightened flock, In its devoted faith, appeals to you, Who, having led to this, must lead beyond. An hour s enough : the river s middle stops Pursuit and summons ; but, were you and I This moment seated on the farther shore, We needs must cross again. DAVID. Do you say that? Do you set duty higher than our lives? Why, she could say no more! RHODA (In a low voice. ) Ah, spare me, David ! [A long silence. } A TEAGEDY. 283 DAVID (.Musingly.) Were we together, Rhoda? yes, we were! One day in June ; long, long ago it was : Wild strawberries along the clearing s edge Were thick that year ; but we grew tired at last ; And I, stretched flat among the fragrant vines, Looked at the sky : I saw no other thing. The blue retreated as my vision reached ; And as a pebble slowly deeper, deeper sinks In still, dark water, up and upward sank My soul, and sank, and still there was no end. Somewhere, at last, beyond the invisible stars, A hoary brightness gathered from the void, And from the midst there looked a single Eye, Compact of all ineffable light, His eye ! And did not blind me. 284 THE PROPHET: RHODA David! and I cried: You would not speak: I thought you vexed, unkind ! I could not know, till now. DAVID We came from school One day, when, from a rising arch of cloud, The tempest strained the black-oak on the hill. You feared to pass : I shouted, through the roar, "You will not hurt us, God!" and then a bolt Split with red fire the surging firmament. But you were pale with terror ; on my breast You hid your eyes; while I, in solemn joy, Chanted aloud, and waved my arms aloft, And felt strange fingers pluck my beaten hair, As one may tease in fondness. Say, do you Remember, Rhoda? A TRAGEDY. 285 RHODA (Weeping.) Oh, I do! DAVID How now, You cry for memory of it? Ah! I see, Your memory wears another hue than mine. You tremble: I exult! RHODA Upon us sweeps - A blacker tempest now. DAVID Go you to rest; If struggle come, so gather strength for it. Fret not for me : my body must be as dead Before my soul is verily alive. 286 THE PROPHET: {Exit RHODA, slowly. A pause.] They look to me: if I, in turn, look up, What help is certain? Yea, but first to look! I urge my thought; but, swerving from its aim, It backward speeds, and paints anew the past In colors which confound me. Tis not doubt ; Tis no renewal of old agonies : But something cold, that wears the shape of Truth, Treads down with heavy step, along my path, The springing harvest, and with fateful hand Makes sign, " Go on: I follow ! * Get you gone, Device of Satan! To His law a lie? He made the covenant a perfect chain, Which, link by link, am I restoring, soon A TRAGEDY. 287 To girt us round about, a lesser world Where He may reign : one flaw, and all must go! One flaw? There is no torture known in hell Enough for such malevolence, if so! I ll put Thee to the test : our strait is sore ; Thine intervention, since the world began, Never so needed : do Thy miracle ! Or stand aloof, and let Thy thunders growl In leash, Thy lightnings flash a distant threat; But breathe one word of counsel, give my soul, Passive before Thee, one victorious thought! \_He paces the room for some minutes in great excite ment, then suddenly stops. ] My prayers rebound, as from a solid wall ; My brain refuses to anticipate The coming problem ; and my very hope Strains, like an eye in darkness, foiled of use ! 288 THE PROPHET : What palsy thus disorders every sense Wherein the spirit live? I cannot see A hand s-breadth forward, na}~, nor fancy aught: The light burns backward over what has been ; And its last glimmer, fading at my feet, Leaves all the future darkness ! Oh, my God! The mortal anguish of a life at bay, Escape cut off, the certainty of doom, All that is visited upon the flesh, Methinks were easy. Mine is death in life ; The sinews severed, arid the strength as dead ; No power to reach, not even knowledge left Of how or whither, but the soul a corpse ! I ll strive no more ; I ll neither think nor pray : Let accident become my deity ! A TRAGEDY. 289 SCENE VII. The interior of the Temple. Men, women, and children gathered in groups. NIMROD, on the platform in front of the Holy of Holies, trims the lights burning in the seven-branched candlesticks. SIMEON and MORDECAI, near the door, conferring with two messengers. FIRST MESSENGER I counted them as they came o er the rise, And nigh two hundred were they. SIMEON Did you mark Some in advance ? signs of a summons first, Preceding force? FIRST MESSENGER Their march was orderly. 19 290 THE PKOPHET: SIMEON (To MORDECAI.) Then it would seem he has them well in hand ; And, whether violence be done, depends Chiefly on him. But who went forth from us? SECOND MESSENGER This side the border brook, I saw go out Three Members of the Twelve : John surely was The first, Elisha and Zerubbabel I thought the others. MORpECAI (To SIMEON.) By the Prophet sent? SIMEON By him allowed ; for neither Yea nor Nay He answered them or me. His gifts grow weak A TRAGEDY. 291 When most we need them ; but the day may cast The power in stronger hands, and save us all ! [Sound of drums and trumpets outside. Voices singing. ] Fight for the Prophet ! Fling his banner wide ! SIMEON Hark, there! Who leads them? Follow, bring report ! [Exit Messengers. NIMROD (Coming down from the altar.} My hands are tied : all ye who hear me note ! Bear witness, that, if blood be shed this day, My garments are not stained. I would have given Myself as pledge, so using human craft (Which, for His glory, sanctifies the Lord) To foil the Gentiles ; now it seems too late ; 292 THE PROPHET : But, when all other virtue is outworn, Then turn to me. WOMEN Go forth, and hold them back ! NIMROD Though driven to ruin s edge, I still obey: Heed ye the lesson! [Enter DAVID pale and troubled: RHODA follows Mm, bearing the child in her arms."] DAVID (Looking on the frightened groups.) Save all these, high-priest! I give them to your hands : take boat, and cross Beyond the reach of this authority Which smites them with disorderly alarm. Twill soon be settled whether you return, Or we must join you. A TRAGEDY. 293 NIMROD Suffer me to wait, While aught of peril menaces yourself! [Sounds of firing in the distance : cries and confusion among the peopled] A MAN (Rushing in.) Thej^ re firing, by the wood! Theirs, on the plain ; Ours, covered by the timber: some were down Before the smoke got thick! DAYID (To MORDECAI.) It must not be ! Quick! something white ! Within the chancel, there, My prophet-mantle, as the sign of truce ! [While MORDECAI obeys this command, the sound of firing draws nearer.] 294 THE PEOPIIET: PETEE (Enters, wounded in the am.) First, give me water. [It is brought from the baptismal font. He drinks."] Scarce there s time to tell: Get over the river ! that was what she said DAVID Who brought this on? PETER They wanted you, no less Would answer : we refused to give you up, And blocked their marching nearer ; then they fired! Our volleys tore and scattered them a bit, But they re too many. She went here and there, Put heart in all, and like a general led, A TRAGEDY. 295 And not a bullet touched her: then, when I Was hit in turn, she sent me posting here. We re falling back, but slowly, facing them : Don t lose a minute ugh! the thing s no fun: My arm feels ugly. \He faints. ] DAVID Rhoda, look to him ! My place is at the front : tis me alone They seek, and they may have me! [Exit. RHODA (Giving her child to one of the women.} Lift his head, Undo his collar! There! I ve bound his arm, And bathed his brow with water from the font: 296 THE PROPHET: He soon will breathe again. I pray 3-011, give My child your tenderness, if I should die! [Exit, following DAVID. NIMROD You heard? He gave you to my hands : I charge, By him commissioned, that your fears be still ! If there be traitors here, let flame from Heaven Their tongues make cinder, that they cannot speak ! We will submit, in all external forms, Even to the Gentiles ; then in secret pass The river, bearing our, most precious goods Beyond their reach : our spies have gone abroad, And found another Eshcol in the West. Within our hands lies all we builded here, And they, upheld by faith, shall build again! This is no time for lamentation : hope As ye have never hoped, have confidence Ye never felt, await triumphant signs Reserved for 3-011, His people ! A TRAGEDY. 297 VOICES Yea, we will ! [Scattered musket-shots outside the temple: wild, pier cing cries are lieard. Immediately afterwards the chancel-door is torn open, and a number of armed men, some of them u-ounded, enter the temple. Then DAVID appears, shot through the breast, and held up by RHODA and LIVIA, supporting him on either side. Cries and lamentations among the people gathered in the temple. ] DAVID Forward! to the altar, to the altar! CRIES Lord! Save him, Thy Prophet, for Thyself and us ! [DAVID, supported ly RHODA and LIVIA, totters forwards, and is upheld by them, leaning against the altar.] 298 THE PROPHET: DAVID Oh for a little life ! it fades so fast ! Hear me, my brethren ! I will only speak Words needful : not too late, the shadow falls That veiled mine eyes : confusion has an end. NIMROD (Aside.) What means he? (Aloud, to the people.) Silence, all ! The Prophet speaks, In this extremity, to you ! DAVID (With difficulty. ) Be still! Each word you utter steals a word of mine, And few are left me : let me but begin ! I see so much at once ! all things are clear ; A TRAGEDY. 299 But speech grows weak. Ah, hearken, brethren mine ! How say it all? I pray you, bid your souls Rise quickly up, and save me half! O God, It is for Thee ! Leave me one moment here ! See, I am dying ! On the edge of life, Truth s lightning flashes backward and beyond : So hear! First Hold me firm, I slide away! Lord, Lord, be merciful ! no time is left ! I see no more but, yes ! one blessed face : Tis yours! you re with me, Rhoda ! you, my love! [He turns towards RHODA as he speaks, and falls upon tier breast, ivith his arms hanging over her shoulders. ] LIVIA Help ! Lift him up ! he faints. 300 THE PROPHET. RHODA Nay, he is dead! Leave us ! You have no more a part in him : He is all mine at last ! [Clasping DAVID to her breast, she sinks slowly down at the foot of the altar. ~\ NIMROD So death cuts short The weakness which has nigh betrayed us all ! His gift and power become our heritage ; And Zion lives, and shall be strong, through me ! [COLONEL HYDE and his men force an entrance into the portal of the temple. A wild scene of confu sion among the people. NIMROD KRAFT snatches the ark from the altar, and escapes through the chancel-door. ] THE CURTAIN FALLS. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. 31 SSOctl I PI R6 1956 U! JAN 14 1959 (UNS V a THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY I