Part II: Section 10

Tamàra."Thy words with fearful sense are laden.From whence art thou? from Heaven or hell?What wilt thou here?

Demon."Oh, lovely maiden—"Tamàra."Speak, I adjure—who art thou, tell."

Demon."Lo! I am he whose whispered wordAt midnight spoke, strange fancies weaving,Whose face hast seen, whose voice hast heard,Whose spirit with thy soul conferredIn agony past thy conceiving.Let me but glance, and at its birthHope shudders and is desolated.No one can love me here on earth,And in the heavens I am hated.Wisdom and freedom my domain,And years and distance without measureAre but my slaves to work my pleasureIn that vast empire where I reign.But lo! God's foe and Nature's bane,The bitter scourge of earthly thralls,Before thy feet a lover falls.Behold me here in suppliant fashionThe gift of thy dear love implore,Behold my tears of earthly passion,Tears I have never shed before.Thou canst redeem me, canst restoreTo empyrean everlasting,To good, to happiness eternal,—Ah, 'tis so easy—'tis by castingO'er me love's sheltering robe, and HeavenWill welcome me to bliss supernal,New angel, cleansed, received, forgiven.Listen, oh listen, I implore thee,I am thy slave, and I adore thee.Soon as I saw thee, from that hourI loathed my deathless state and power.Unbidden longings 'gan to swellEarth's puny joys with thee to share:Life without thee I cannot bear,For where thou art not, there is Hell.'Twas love with sudden darting raysThat probed old wounds and woke new pangs,Recalling pains of bygone days,More cruel far than serpent fangs.What without thee were deathlessness,The infinity that I possess?Vain, sounding words, an empty load,A splendid temple void of God."

Tamàra."False, tempting spirit, hence away—I will not trust my deadliest foe—'Thou God, Creator'—see my woe,Ah me, I can no longer pray.My soul is sick with dreadful yearning,Thy words benumb and stupefy,With Hell's contagious poison burning—But stay, thou lov'st me—tell me why"

Demon."'Why?' lovely one I never knew,Till, full of throes of life new born,From off my guilty head I drewYesterday's galling crown of thorn,And cast it in the dust, and nowMy Heaven, my Hell, my all, art thou.Never can earthly love expressA fallen angel's vast emotion—Tumultuous torrents of excessBursting in mad, resistless ocean.Since God the firmament togetherCalled from the Void, thy matchless faceHas sped with me through airy space—A dreamland love in wastes of ether.Long, long ago 'mid heavenly pæans,Making the angels' strains forgot,Sounded thy name across the æons,Thine empty name—for thou wast not.Could I but tell (how fain I would!)How dread God's awful doom appears.He lets me know both joy and tears,Makes me in ill be unwithstood,Nor smiles whene'er I strive for good.Through the eternity of yearsI live for self, protracting lifeThrough an unending field of strife,Which neither peace nor triumph cheers.God lets me see—but that my visionMay scorn whate'er his hands create,And hold his creatures in derision—He will not let me choose but hate.For, when methought I had fulfilledMy term of penance, from that dayNature for me grew harsh and chilled,Love fell like ashes to decay.Across a gulf that glimmered blue,Bright forms I saw that once I knewWhose heads with bridal splendour shone,All thought and speech transcending far,Like the pale beauty of a star;They knew me not—they all passed on.Then in the race of fallen creaturesI sought my loneliness to ease—Oh God! what speech, what awful features!Was I become as one of these?Then forth in agony to hide meI rushed, but knew not wherefore, where.My former friends had all denied me,For me the world was void and bare,Chill terror, fathomless despair.Outcast I wandered, hither, thither,As shattered barque, when envious galesHave broke the helm and torn the sails,Drifts with the tide and knows not whither.As in the welkin after thunderOne murky cloud, lone, reft asunder,One dark spot in the azure air,That dares not tarry anywhere,Flies aimless on—God only knowsFrom whence it came or whither goes.And then I sought mankind to win—An easy task to plant withinSuch pliant souls a love of sin.For good was strange, and bad was kin,Ah, fools and knaves—an easy taskTo quench the faintly burning gleamOf faith, and make weak man blaspheme—Could such be worth my pains? I ask.Ofttimes o'er precipice at night,Sudden I flashed like meteor lightThat lonely traveller pressing on,Deceived by the near light that shone,Would urge his horse to tread in errorThe gaping chasm—one cry of terrorAnd horse and rider both were gone.From ledge to ledge the blood dripped after,Telling a tale of dreadful hurt,But suchlike pastimes could divertMy thoughts but with a moment's laughter.Battling with tempest overpowering,Raising the blinding dust, or cladIn lurid mist, in thunder lowering,Ofttimes I rushed, wild, frenzied, mad,To drown in elements around meThe undying flame that slumbered not,To flee from thoughts that still confound me,And to forget the unforgot.Man's life, and all the troubles in itAre but brief sorrow, transient care.Some end that life and some begin it;Who can its sum of woe compareTo pangs that rend me every minute?For men, poor creatures born of dust,May sin, yet sinning still can trust,For the Eternal Judge is just,Who punishes, but may forgive.Can I, accursed spirit, thrustTo black damnation, yet outliveAnguish immortal as the soulThat sometimes sears like burning coal,And sometimes stings like treacherous adder,Goading to desperation madderThan frenzy, and a tomb uprearsTo perished hopes of other years?"

Tamàra."The dreadful tale that thou hast endedWhy tell'st thou me? Thou must atoneTo God —"Demon."But thee I ne'er offended —"Tamàra."Hush, they may hear —"Demon."Nay, we're alone —"Tamàra."But God? —"Demon."He's busy in His Heaven,And recks not earth; He does not care —"Tamàra."The pains of Hell to sinners given —"Demon."I shall be with thee even there."Tamàra."Whoe'er thou art, my guest unbidden,That break'st my troubled peace again,Oh sufferer, thou speak'st unchidden,And giv'st strange solace to my pain.But be thy purpose to deceive me,And thy soft words unfaithful be,Spare me, dread Spirit, leave me, leave me,What profit were my soul to thee?Lo! there are maidens without number,Whose faces thou hast never seen,(Faces as fair as mine, I ween)Unworldly and as calm, whose slumberAs holy nun's serene repose—Am I more dear to Heaven than those?Nay, swear to me an oath in tokenThy promises will ne'er be broken—Thou know'st what fears my heart appal,The terror that thy words awakenIn this poor breast so anguish shaken—Thou needs must pity, knowing all.Swear thou wilt turn from thoughts of evil,Swear me a solemn, binding vow,Such oath as never saint nor devilSwore from the first of time till now."

Demon."I swear by dawning of creation,I swear by Judgment trumpet blast,I swear by horrors of damnation,By good triumphant at the last.I swear by loss of Heaven for ever,By victory's joy, defeat's regret,By that first rapture when we met,By that last pang when we shall sever.I swear by kindred spirits throngingIn blank despair Hell's gloomy portal,By sword of cherubim immortalWho never knew desire or longing,By bliss of Heaven, by pain of Hell,By holiness on Earth—by thee,By thy first tear that ever fell,By that last look thou bend'st on me,By that pure sigh thy lips are sighing,By tresses of thy wavy hair,By blessedness, by woe undying,By my unbounded love—I swearOf old revenge renunciation,Of haughty thoughts which late I bore:The flattering venom of temptationFrom me shall vex mankind no more.I long to make my peace with Heaven,To pray, to love, to be forgiven—I long for good, I long to cleanseWith bitter tears of penitenceMy guilty brow from that dread tokenWhich God in anger there hath set,And with temptation's words unspoken,Worthy of thee, all else forget.I, who alone have understood thee,Find in thy heart my mercy seat,My shrine, mine altar; I have wooed thee,To lay my glory at thy feet.Give me thy love—for thee is waitingEternal life for earthly span,For I in loving, as in hating,Am great like God—not weak like man.And I, free son of ether, take theeTo far dominions high aboveThe stars of Heaven, and I will make theeQueen of the world, my deathless love.Regretless, thou shalt stand surveyingThis earth, as she beneath thee flies,Where joyance ever is decaying,And Beauty ever fading dies.Where crime abounds and doom prevails,And only sluggish passions move,For would man love or hate, he failsThrough craven fear to hate or love.Nay, what is human love?—a stirringOf youthful blood to quicker flow,But love grows chiller, as recurringDays, years and decades come and go.Canst joy when dearest ones have parted?Resist when charms of beauty lure?Canst sink in sorrow, broken-hearted'Gainst thine own fancies all secure?Thee hath a kinder fate forbiddenTo fade in silence day by day,Thy bright imagination hiddenIn narrow bounds of dust and clay,'Mid beings cold, unsympathizing,False, seeming friends, dissembling foes,'Mid barren hopes, ne'er realizingHarvest of joys, but aye of woes.Even here by convent walls surrounded,Thou canst not die, ere thou hast loved,Thy prayers were only words that sounded,From God, from man alike removed.Nay, child of beauty, thou art fatedTo no such common lot as this—To other pangs predestinated,To fulness of another bliss.Cast from thee human, frail emotion,And let poor, feeble mortals go,And Knowledge fathomless as OceanIn rich exchange will I bestow.And troops of spirits, light and airy,Shall be thy slaves, my lovely bride,And dainty elf and lissom fairyAttend obedient at thy side.And from the eastern star at even,For thee I'll snatch a garland downOf golden beams, and dews of HeavenShall be the gems to deck thy crown.With ray of sunset's burning gloryI'll gird thee, as with jewelled zone,That fragrant winds shall tell the story,And waft thy name in amorous tone.I'll build for thee a splendid chamberTo lull thine ear with strains divine,Chamber of turquoise and of amber—Stores from the ocean and the mine.Deep as the sea her depth can measure,High as the stars their courses move,I'll soar or dive to seek thee treasure—Oh, love me —"