Selected Poems (91 page)

To my own desolation.

FIFTH SPIRIT
:Dost thou dare

Refuse to Arimanes on his throne

What the whole earth accords, beholding not

45

The terror of his Glory? – Crouch! I say.

MANFRED
: Bid
him
bow down to that which is above him,

The overruling Infinite – the Maker

Who made him not for worship – let him kneel,

And we will kneel together.

THE SPIRITS
:Crush the worm!

50

Tear him in pieces! –

FIRST DESTINY
:Hence! Avaunt! – he’s mine.

Prince of the Powers invisible! This man

Is of no common order, as his port

And presence here denote; his sufferings

Have been of an immortal nature, like

55

Our own; his knowledge, and his powers and will,

As far as is compatible with clay,

Which clogs the ethereal essence, have been such

As clay hath seldom borne; his aspirations

Have been beyond the dwellers of the earth,

60

And they have only taught him what we know –

That knowledge is not happiness, and science

But an exchange of ignorance for that

Which is another kind of ignorance.

This is not all – the passions, attributes

65

Of earth and heaven, from which no power, nor being,

Nor breath from the worm upwards is exempt,

Have pierced his heart; and in their consequence

Made him a thing, which I, who pity not,

Yet pardon those who pity. He is mine,

70

And thine, it may be – be it so, or not,

No other Spirit in this region hath

A soul like his – or power upon his soul.

NEMESIS
: What doth he here then?

FIRST DESTINY
:Let him answer that.

MANFRED
: Ye know what I have known; and without power

75

I could not be amongst ye: but there are

Powers deeper still beyond – I come in quest

Of such, to answer unto what I seek.

NEMESIS
: What would’st thou?

MANFRED
: Thou canst not reply to me.

Call up the dead – my question is for them.

80

NEMESIS
: Great Arimanes, doth thy will avouch

The wishes of this mortal?

ARIMANES
:Yea.

NEMESIS
:Whom would’st thou Uncharnel?

MANFRED
: One without a tomb — call up Astarte.

NEMESIS

Shadow! or Spirit!

85

Whatever thou art,

Which still doth inherit

The whole or a part

Of the form of thy birth,

Of the mould of thy clay,

90

Which return’d to the earth,

Re-appear to the day!

Bear what thou borest,

The heart and the form,

And the aspect thou worest

95

Redeem from the worm.

Appear! – Appear! – Appear!

Who sent thee there requires thee here!

[
The Phantom of
A
STARTE
rises and stands in the midst
.]

MANFRED
: Can this be death? there’s bloom upon her cheek;

But now I see it is no living hue,

100

But a strange hectic – like the unnatural red

Which Autumn plants upon the perish’d leaf.

It is the same! Oh, God! that I should dread

To look upon the same — Astarte! — No,

I cannot speak to her – but bid her speak –

105

Forgive me or condemn me.

NEMESIS

By the power which hath broken

The grace which enthrall’d thee,

Speak to him who hath spoken,

Or those who have call’d thee!

110

MANFRED
:She is silent,

And in that silence I am more than answer’d.

NEMESIS
: My power extends no further. Prince of air!

It rests with thee alone – command her voice.

ARIMANES
: Spirit – obey this sceptre!

NEMESIS
:Silent still!

115

She is not of our order, but belongs

To the other powers. Mortal! thy quest is vain,

And we are baffled also.

MANFRED
:Hear me, hear me –

Astarte! my beloved! speak to me:

I have so much endured – so much endure –

120

Look on me! the grave hath not changed thee more

Than I am changed for thee. Thou lovedst me

Too much, as I loved thee: we were not made

To torture thus each other, though it were

The deadliest sin to love as we have loved.

125

Say that thou loath’st me not – that I do bear

This punishment for both – that thou wilt be

One of the blessed – and that I shall die;

For hitherto all hateful things conspire

To bind me in existence — in a life

130

Which makes me shrink from immortality –

A future like the past. I cannot rest.

I know not what I ask, nor what I seek:

I feel but what thou art – and what I am;

And I would hear yet once before I perish

135

The voice which was my music – Speak to me!

For I have call’d on thee in the still night,

Startled the slumbering birds from the hush’d boughs,

And woke the mountain wolves, and made the caves

Acquainted with thy vainly echoed name,

140

Which answer’d me – many things answer’d me –

Spirits and men — but thou wert silent all.

Yet speak to me! I have outwatch’d the stars,

And gazed o’er heaven in vain in search of thee.

Speak to me! I have wander’d o’er the earth,

145

And never found thy likeness — Speak to me!

Look on the fiends around – they feel for me!

I fear them not, and feel for thee alone –

Speak to me! though it be in wrath; – but say –

I reck not what – but let me hear thee once –

150

This once – once more!

PHANTOM OF ASTARTE
: Manfred!

MANFRED
: Say on, say on –

I live but in the sound — it is thy voice!

PHANTOM
: Manfred! To-morrow ends thine earthly ills. Farewell!

MANFRED
: Yet one word more – am I forgiven?

PHANTOM
: Farewell!

MANFRED
:Say, shall we meet again?

155

PHANTOM
:Farewell!

MANFRED
: One word for mercy! Say, thou lovest me.

PHANTOM
: Manfred!

[
The Spirit of
ASTARTE
disappears
.]

NEMESIS
:She’s gone, and will not be recall’d;

Her words will be fulfill’d. Return to the earth.

A SPIRIT
: He is convulsed – This is to be a mortal

160

And seek the things beyond mortality.

ANOTHER SPIRIT
: Yet, see, he mastereth himself, and makes

His torture tributary to his will.

Had he been one of us, he would have made

An awful spirit.

NEMESIS
:Hast thou further question

165

Of our great sovereign, or his worshippers?

MANFRED
: None.

NEMESIS
: Then for a time farewell.

MANFRED
:We meet then –

Where? On the earth?

NEMESIS
: That will be seen hereafter.

MANFRED
: Even as thou wilt: and for the grace accorded

I now depart a debtor. Fare ye well!

[
Exit
MANFRED
.]

[
Scene closes
]

Act III

SCENE
I

A Hall in the Castle of Manfred.

[
MANFRED
and
HERMAN
.]

MANFRED
: What is the hour?

HERMAN
:It wants but one till sunset,

And promises a lovely twilight.

MANFRED
:Say,

Are all things so disposed of in the tower

As I directed?

HERMAN
:All, my lord, are ready: