Festus

’tis his own affair. Festus

All homilies on the sorts and lot of men
Are vain and wearisome. I want to know
No more of human nature. As it is,
I honour it and hate it. Let that do.

Lucifer

Here is a statue to some mighty man
Who beat his name on the drum of the world’s ear
Till it was stupified, and, I suppose,
Not knowing what it was about, reared up
This marble mockery of mortality,
Which shall outlive the memory of the man
And all like him who water earth with blood,
And sow with bones, or any good he did,
As eagles outlive gnats. But never mind!
Why carp at insect sins, or crumb-like crimes?
The world, the great imposture, still succeeds;
Still, in Titanic immortality,
Writhes ’neath the burning mountain of its sins.

Festus

There’s an old adage about sin and some one.
The world is not exactly what I thought it,
But pretty nearly so; and after all,
’Tis not so bad as good men make it out,
Nor such a hopeless wretch.

Lucifer

For all the world
Not I would slander it. Dear world, thou art
Of all things under Heaven by me most loved,
The most consistent, the least fallible.
Believe me ever thine affectionate
Lucifer. P.S. Sweet, remember me!

Festus

Wilt go to the Cathedral?

Lucifer

No, indeed;
I have just confessed.

Festus

Well, to the concert, then?

Lucifer

Some fifteen hundred thousand million years
Have passed since last I heard a chorus.

Festus

Good!

Lucifer

In sooth, I cannot calculate the time.
There are no eras in Eternity,
No ages. Time is as the body, and
Eternity the spirit of existence.

Festus

That would I learn and prove.

Lucifer

The finite soul
Can never learn the Infinite, nor be
Informed by it, unaided.

Festus

Be it so.
What shall we do?

Lucifer

I put myself in your hands.

Festus

Wilt go on ’Change?

Lucifer

I rarely speculate.
Steady receipts are mostly to my taste.
Besides, I spurn the system. Take my aim.

Festus

But something must be done to pass the time.

Lucifer

True; let us pass, then, all time.

Festus

I shall be
Most happy; only show me how.

Lucifer

Why, thus.
I have the power to make thy spirit free
Of its poor frame of flesh, yet not by death⁠—
And reünite them afterwards! Wilt thou
Entrust thyself to me?

Festus

In God I trust,
And in His word of safety. Have thy will.
Where shall it be effected?

Lucifer

Here and now.
Recline thou calmly on yon marble slab,
As though asleep. The world will miss thee not;
Its complement it perfect. I will mind
That no impertinent meddler troubles there
That tranced frame. The brain shall cease its life⁠—
Engrossing business, and the living blood,
The wine of life which maketh drunk the soul,
Sleep in the sacred vessels of the heart.
Three steps the sun hath taken from his throne,
Already, downwards, and ere he hath gone,
Who calmeth tempests with his mighty light,
We will return; and till then the bright rain
Of yonder fountain fails not.

Festus

Thus be it!
Come! we are wasting moments here that now
Belong, of right, to immortality,
And to another world

Lucifer

Prepare!⁠—

Festus

And thou?

Lucifer

I vanish altogether.

Festus

Excellent!

Lucifer

Body and spirit part!⁠—

XIII

Scene⁠—Air.

	Lucifer and Festus.
Festus	Where, where am I?
Lucifer	We are in space and time, just as we were Some half a second since; where wouldst thou be?
Festus	I would be in Eternity and Heaven; The spirit and the blessed spirit, of Existence.
Lucifer	And thou shalt be, and shalt pass All secondary nature; all the rules And the results of time: upon thy spirit These things shall act no more; their hands shall be Withered upon thee, as the ray of life Returns to that it came from: they shall cease In thee, like lightning in the deadening sea. But not now; we have worlds to go through, first. When spirit hath deposited its earth, And brightly, freely flows, self-purified In its own action, acted on by God, It holds the starry transcript of the skies Booklike within its bosom, evermore. But thine even now, exhausted, not exhaled, Bears the design of earthly discontent, Not sacred satisfaction. Unto him Whose soul is saved, all things are clear as stars, And, to the chosen, safety:⁠—to none else. Nor cold insurgent heart, nor menial mind Can compass this: it is the way of God: The starry path of Heaven which none can tread But spirits high as Heaven, which He hath raised; Who were of Him before all worlds, and are Beloved and saved for ever while they live. Thou of the world art yet, with motives, means, And ends as others.
Festus	I will no more of it.
Lucifer	Oh, dream it not! Thou knowest not the depth Of nature’s dark abyss, thyself, nor God. Light over strong and darkness over long Blind equally the eye. Thou mayst yet rise And fall as o ea as the sea.
Festus	How comes it, Being a spirit, that I see not all As spirit should?
Lucifer	Thou lackest life and death. The life of Heaven and the death of earth. Then wouldst thou see in harmony with God, Creation’s strife.
Festus	Death alters not the spirit!
Lucifer	Death must be undergone ere understood. One world is as another. Best we here!⁠—

XIV

Scene⁠—Another and a better world.

	Festus and Lucifer.
Festus	What a sweet world! Which is this, Lucifer?
Lucifer	This is the star of evening and of beauty.
Festus	Otherwise Venus. I will stay here.
Lucifer	Nay: It is but a visit
Festus	Let us look about us. It is Heaven, it must be; aught so beautiful Must, I am sure, have feeling. Cannot worlds live? Least things have life. Why not the greatest, too? An atom is a world, a world an atom Seen relatively: Death an act of Life.
Lucifer	This is a world where every loveliest thing Lasts longest; where decay lifts never head Above the grossest forms, and matter here Is all transparent substance; the flower fades not, The beautiful die never, here: Death lies A dreaming⁠—he has nought to do⁠—the babe Plays with his darts. Nought dies but what should die. Here are no earthquakes, storms, nor plagues; no Hell At heart; no floating flood on high. The soil Is ever fresh and fragrant as a rose⁠— The skies, like one wide rainbow, stand on gold⁠— The clouds are