HEAVEN AND EARTH;

A MYSTERY.

FOUNDED ON THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE IN GENESIS, CHAP. VI.

"And it came to pass.... that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose."

"And woman wailing for her demon lover."-COLERIDGE.

Chorus of Spirits of the Earth. - Chorus of Mortals.

Anah. OUR father sleeps: it is the hour when they
Who love us are accustom'd to descend

Through the deep clouds o'er rocky Ararat :

How my heart beats!

Aho.

Our invocation.

Anah.

Let us proceed upon

But the stars are hidden.

What was I going to say? my heart grows impious.
Aho. And where is the impiety of loving
Celestial natures?

I love our God less since his angel loved me:

This cannot be of good; and though I know not
That I do wrong, I feel a thousand fears

Which are not ominous of right.

Aho.

Then wed thee

Unto some son of clay, and toil and spin!

There's Japhet loves thee well, hath loved thee long:
Marry, and bring forth dust!

Anah.

I should have loved

Azaziel not less were he mortal; yet
I am glad he is not. I can not outlive him.
And when I think that his immortal wings

Will one day hover o'er the sepulchre

Of the poor child of clay which so adored him,
As he adores the Highest, death becomes
Less terrible; but yet I pity him :

His grief will be of ages, or at least

Mine would be such for him, were I the seraph,
And he the perishable.

Aho.

Rather say,

That he will single forth some other daughter
Of Earth, and love her as he once loved Anah.

Anah. And if it should be so, and she loved him,
Better thus than that he should weep for me.

Aho. If I thought thus of Samiasa's love, All seraph as he is, I'd spurn him from me. But to our invocation!-T is the hour.

Anah.

Seraph!

From thy sphere!

Whatever star contain thy glory,
In the eternal depths of heaven

Albeit thou watchest with the "seven,'
Though through space infinite and hoary
Before thy bright wings worlds be driven,
Yet hear!

Oh! think of her who holds thee dear!
And though she nothing is to thee,
Yet think that thou art all to her.
Thou canst not tell,—and never be
Such pangs decreed to aught save me,―
The bitterness of tears.
Eternity is in thine years,

Unborn, undying beauty in thine eyes;
With me thou canst not sympathise,
Except in love, and there thou must
Acknowledge that more loving dust
Ne'er wept beneath the skies.

Thou walk'st thy many worlds, thou see'st
The face of him who made thee great,
As he hath made me of the least

Of those cast out from Eden's gate:
Yet, Seraph dear!

Oh hear !

For thou hast loved me, and I would not die
Until I know what I must die in knowing,

That thou forget'st in thine eternity

Her whose heart death could not keep from o'erflowing

*The archangels, said to be seven in number.

For thee, immortal essence as thou art!

Great is their love who love in sin and fear:
And such, I feel, are waging in my heart
A war unworthy to an Adamite

Forgive, my Seraph! that such thoughts appear,
For sorrow is our element;

Delight

An Eden kept afar from sight,

Though sometimes with our visions blent.
The hour is near

Which tells me we are not abandon'd quite.—
Appear! Appear!
Seraph!

Aho.

My own Azaziel! be but here,
And leave the stars to their own light.

Or warring with the spirits who may dare
Dispute with him

Who made all empires, empire; or recalling
Some wandering star, which shoots through the abyss,
Whose tenants dying, while their world is falling,
Share the dim destiny of clay in this;
Or joining with the inferior cherubim,
Thou deignest to partake their hymn
Samiasa!

I call thee, I await thee, and I love thee.
Many may worship thee, that will I not:
If that thy spirit down to mine may move thee,
Descend and share my lot!

Though I be form'd of clay,
And thou of beams

More bright than those of day
On Eden's streams,

Thine immortality can not repay
With love more warm than mine

My love. There is a ray

In me, which, though forbidden yet to shine,
I feel was lighted at thy God's and thine.

It may be hidden long death and decay

Our mother Eve bequeath'd us— but my heart
Defies it: though this life must pass away,
Is that a cause for thee and me to part?

Thou art immortal· so am I: I feel
I feel my immortality o'ersweep