I would have nothing but to speak with thee For speaking's sake. I wish to hold with thee Conscious communion; though I fain would know A maze of things, were it but meet to ask, And not a curiousness.
ANGEL
You cannot now 330 Cherish a wish which ought not to be wished.
SOUL
Then I will speak. I ever had believed That on the moment when the struggling soul Quitted its mortal case, forthwith it fell Under the awful Presence of its God, There to be judged and sent to its own place. What lets me now from going to my Lord?
ANGEL
Thou art not let; but with extremest speed Art hurrying to the Just and Holy Judge: For scarcely art thou disembodied yet. 340 Divide a moment, as men measure time, Into its million-million-millionth part, Yet even less than that the interval Since thou didst leave the body; and the priest Cried "Subvenite,"[26] and they fell to prayer; Nay, scarcely yet have they begun to pray. For spirits and men by different standards mete The less and greater in the flow of time. By sun and moon, primeval ordinances-- By stars which rise and set harmoniously-- 350 By the recurring seasons, and the swing, This way and that, of the suspended rod Precise and punctual, men divide the hours, Equal, continuous, for their common use. Not so with us in the immaterial world; But intervals in their succession Are measured by the living thought alone, And grow or wane with its intensity. And time is not a common property; But what is long is short, and swift is slow, 360 And near is distant, as received and grasped By this mind and by that, and every one Is standard of his own chronology. And memory lacks its natural resting-points Of years, and centuries, and periods. It is thy very energy of thought Which keeps thee from thy God.
SOUL
Dear Angel, say, Why have I now no fear at meeting Him? Along my earthly life, the thought of death 370 And judgment was to me most terrible. I had it aye before me, and I saw The Judge severe e'en in the crucifix. Now that the hour is come, my fear is fled; And at this balance of my destiny, Now close upon me, I can forward look With a serenest joy.
ANGEL
It is because Then thou didst fear, that now thou dost not fear. Thou hast forestalled the agony, and so 380 For thee the bitterness of death is past. Also, because already in thy soul The judgment is begun. That day of doom, One and the same for the collected world-- That solemn consummation for all flesh, Is, in the case of each, anticipate Upon his death; and, as the last great day In the particular judgment is rehearsed, So now too, ere thou comest to the Throne, A presage falls upon thee, as a ray 390 Straight from the Judge, expressive of thy lot. That calm and joy uprising in thy soul Is first-fruit to thee of thy recompense, And heaven begun.
§ 4
SOUL
But hark! upon my sense Comes a fierce hubbub, which would make me fear, Could I be frighted.
ANGEL
We are now arrived Close on the judgment court; that sullen howl Is from the demons who assemble there. 400 It is the middle region, where of old Satan appeared among the sons of God, To cast his jibes and scoffs at holy Job. So now his legions throng the vestibule, Hungry and wild, to claim their property, And gather souls for hell. Hist to their cry.
SOUL
How sour and how uncouth a dissonance!
DEMONS
Low-born clods[27] Of brute earth, They aspire 410 To become gods, By a new birth, And an extra grace, And a score of merits. As if aught Could stand in place Of the high thought, And the glance of fire Of the great spirits, The powers blest, 420 The lords by right, The primal owners, Of the proud dwelling And realm of light,-- Dispossessed, Aside thrust, Chucked down, By the sheer might Of a despot's will, Of a tyrant's frown. 430 Who after expelling Their hosts, gave, Triumphant still, And still unjust, Each forfeit crown To psalm-droners, And canting groaners, To every slave, And pious cheat, And crawling knave, 440 Who licked the dust Under his feet.
ANGEL
It is the restless panting of their being; Like beasts of prey, who, caged within their bars, In a deep hideous purring have their life, And an incessant pacing to and fro.
DEMONS
The mind bold And independent, The purpose free, So we are told, 450 Must not think To have the ascendant. What's a saint? One whose breath Doth the air taint Before his death; A bundle of bones, Which fools adore, Ha! ha! When life is o'er, 460 Which rattle and stink, E'en in the flesh. We cry his pardon! No flesh hath he; Ha! ha! For it hath died, 'Tis crucified Day by day, Afresh, afresh, Ha! ha! 470 That holy clay, Ha! ha! This gains guerdon, So priestlings prate, Ha! ha! Before the Judge, And pleads and atones For spite and grudge, And bigot mood, And envy and hate, 480 And greed of blood.
SOUL