It hath not left him yet.
CHRISTUS, passing.
Come unto me,
All ye that labor and are heavy laden,
And I will give you rest! Come unto me, 55
And take my yoke upon you and learn of me,
For I am meek, and I am lowly in heart,
And ye shall all find rest unto your souls!
PHILIP.
Oh, there is something in that voice that reaches
The innermost recesses of my spirit! 60
I feel that it might say unto the blind:
Receive you sight! and straightway they would see!
I feel that it might say unto the dead,
Arise! and they would hear it and obey!
Behold, he beckons to us!
CHRISTUS, to PETER and ANDREW.
Follow me! 65
PETER.
Master, I will leave all and follow thee.
VII.
The Demoniac of Gadara
A GADARENE.
HE hath escaped, hath plucked his chains asunder,
And broken his fetters; always night and day
Is in the mountains here, and in the tombs,
Crying aloud, and cutting himself with stones,
Exceeding fierce, so that no man can tame him! 5
THE DEMONIAC from above, unseen.
O Aschmedai! O Aschmedai, have pity!
A GADARENE.
Listen! It is his voice! Go warn the people
Just landing from the lake!
THE DEMONIAC.
O Aschmedai!
Thou angel of the bottomless pit, have pity!
It was enough to hurl King Solomon, 10
On whom be peace! two hundred leagues away
Into the country, and to make him scullion
In the kitchen of the King of Maschkemen!
Why dost thou hurl me here among these rocks,
And cut me with these stones?
A GADARENE.
He raves and mutters 15
He knows not what.
THE DEMONIAC, appearing from a tomb among the rocks.
The wild cock Tarnegal
Singeth to me, and bids me to the banquet,
Where all the Jews shall come; for they have slain
Behemoth the great ox, who daily cropped
A thousand hills for food, and at a draught 20
Drank up the river Jordan, and have slain
The huge Leviathan, and stretched his skin
Upon the high walls of Jerusalem,
And made them shine from one end of the world
Unto the other; and the fowl Barjuchne, 25
Whose outspread wings eclipse the sun, and make
Midnight at noon o’er all the continents!
And we shall drink the wine of Paradise
From Adam’s cellars.
A GADARENE.
O thou unclean spirit!
THE DEMONIAC, hurling down a stone.
This is the wonderful Barjuchne’s egg, 30
That fell out of her nest, and broke to pieces
And swept away three hundred cedar-trees,
And threescore villages! — Rabbi Eliezer,
How thou didst sin there in that seaport town
When thou hadst carried safe thy chest of silver 35
Over the seven rivers for her sake!
I too have sinned beyond the reach of pardon.
Ye hills and mountains, pray for mercy on me!
Ye stars and planets, pray for mercy on me!
Ye sun and moon, oh pray for mercy on me!
CHRISTUS and his disciples pass. 40
A GADARENE.
There is a man here of Decapolis,
Who hath an unclean spirit; so that none
Can pass this way. He lives among the tombs
Up there upon the cliffs, and hurls down stones
On those who pass beneath.
CHRISTUS.
Come out of him, 45
Thou unclean spirit!
THE DEMONIAC.
What have I to do
With thee, thou Son of God? Do not torment us.
CHRISTUS.
What is thy name?
THE DEMONIAC.
Legion; for we are many.
Cain, the first murderer; and the King Belshazzar,
And Evil Merodach of Babylon, 50
And Admatha, the death-cloud, prince of Persia;
And Aschmedai, the angel of the pit,
And many other devils. We are Legion.
Send us not forth beyond Decapolis;
Command us not to go into the deep! 55
There is a herd of swine here in the pastures,
Let us go into them.
CHRISTUS.
Come out of him,
Thou unclean spirit!
A GADARENE.
See, how stupefied,
How motionless he stands! He cries no more;
He seems bewildered and in silence stares 60
As one who, walking in his sleep, awakes
And knows not where he is, and looks about him,
And at his nakedness, and is ashamed.
THE DEMONIAC.
Why am I here alone among the tombs?
What have they done to me, that I am naked? 65
Ah, woe is me!
CHRISTUS.
Go home unto thy friends
And tell them how great things the Lord hath done
For thee, and how He had compassion on thee!
A SWINEHERD, running.
The herds! the herds! O most unlucky day!
They were all feeding quiet in the sun, 70
When suddenly they started, and grew savage
As the wild boars of Tabor, and together
Rushed down a precipice into the sea!
They are all drowned!
PETER.
Thus righteously are punished
The apostate Jews, that eat the flesh of swine, 75
And broth of such abominable things!
GREEKS OF GADARA.
We sacrifice a sow unto Demeter
At the beginning of harvest, and another
To Dionysus at the vintage-time.
Therefore we prize our herds of swine, and count them 80
Not as unclean, but as things consecrate
To the immortal gods. O great magician,
Depart out of our coasts; let us alone,
We are afraid of thee.
PETER.
Let us depart;
For they that sanctify and purify 85
Themselves in gardens, eating flesh of swine,
And the abomination, and the mouse,
Shall be consumed together, saith the Lord!
VIII.
Talitha Cumi
JAIRUS at the feet of CHRISTUS.
O MASTER! I entreat thee! I implore thee!
My daughter lieth at the point of death;
I pray thee come and lay thy hands upon her,
And she shall live!
CHRISTUS.
Who was it touched my garments?
SIMON PETER.
Thou seest the multitude that throng and press thee, 5
And sayest thou: Who touched me? ‘T was not I.
CHRISTUS.
Some one hath touched my garments; I perceive
That virtue is gone out of me.
A WOMAN.
O Master!
Forgive me! For I said within myself,
If I so much as touch his garment’s hem, 10
I shall be whole.
HRISTUS.
Be of good comfort, daughter!
Thy faith hath made thee whole. Depart in peace.
A MESSENGER from the house.
Why troublest thou the Master? Hearest thou not
The flute-players, and the voices of the women
Singing their lamentation? She is dead! 15
THE MINSTRELS AND MOURNERS.
We have girded ourselves with s
ackcloth!
We have covered our heads with ashes!
For our young men die, and our maidens
Swoon in the streets of the city;
And into their mother’s bosom 20
They pour out their souls like water!
CHRISTUS, going in.
Give place. Why make ye this ado, and weep?
She is not dead, but sleepeth.
THE MOTHER, from within.
Cruel Death!
To take away from me this tender blossom!
To take away my dove, my lamb, my darling! 25
THE MINSTRELS AND MOURNERS.
He hath led me and brought into darkness,
Like the dead of old in dark places!
He hath bent his bow, and hath set me
Apart as a mark for his arrow!
He hath covered himself with a cloud, 30
That our prayer should not pass through and reach him!
THE CROWD.
He stands beside her bed! He takes her hand!
Listen, he speaks to her!
CHRISTUS, within.
Maiden, arise!
THE CROWD.
See, she obeys his voice! She stirs! She lives!
Her mother holds her folded in her arms! 35
O miracle of miracles! O marvel!
IX.
The Tower of Magdala
MARY MAGDALENE.
COMPANIONLESS, unsatisfied, forlorn,
I sit here in this lonely tower, and look
Upon the lake below me, and the hills
That swoon with heat, and see as in a vision
All my past life unroll itself before me. 5
The princes and the merchants come to me,
Merchants of Tyre and Princes of Damascus,
And pass, and disappear, and are no more;
But leave behind their merchandise and jewels,
Their perfumes, and their gold, and their disgust. 10
I loathe them, and the very memory of them
Is unto me as thought of food to one
Cloyed with the luscious figs of Dalmanutha!
What if hereafter, in the long hereafter
Of endless joy or pain, or joy in pain, 15
It were my punishment to be with them
Grown hideous and decrepit in their sins,
And hear them say: Thou that hast brought us here,
Be unto us as thou hast been of old!
I look upon this raiment that I wear, 20
These silks, and these embroideries, and they seem
Only as cerements wrapped about my limbs!
I look upon these rings thick set with pearls,
And emerald and amethyst and jasper,
And they are burning coals upon my flesh! 25
This serpent on my wrist becomes alive!
Away, thou viper! and away, ye garlands,
Whose odors bring the swift remembrance back
Of the unhallowed revels in these chambers!
But yesterday, — and yet it seems to me 30
Something remote, like a pathetic song
Sung long ago by minstrels in the street, —
But yesterday, as from this tower I gazed,
Over the olive and the walnut trees
Upon the lake and the white ships, and wondered 35
Whither and whence they steered, and who was in them,
A fisher’s boat drew near the landing-place
Under the oleanders, and the people
Came up from it, and passed beneath the tower,
Close under me. In front of them, as leader, 40
Walked one of royal aspect, clothed in white,
Who lifted up his eyes, and looked at me,
And all at once the air seemed filled and living
With a mysterious power, that streamed from him,
And overflowed me with an atmosphere 45
Of light and love. As one entranced I stood,
And when I woke again, lo! he was gone;
So that I said: Perhaps it is a dream.
But from that very hour the seven demons
That had their habitation in this body 50
Which men call beautiful, departed from me!
This morning, when the first gleam of the dawn
Made Lebanon a glory in the air,
And all below was darkness, I beheld
An angel, or a spirit glorified, 55
With wind-tossed garments walking on the lake.
The face I could not see, but I distinguished
The attitude and gesture, and I knew
‘T was he that healed me. And the gusty wind
Brought to mine ears a voice, which seemed to say: 60
Be of good cheer! ‘T is I! Be not afraid!
And from the darkness, scarcely heard, the answer:
If it be thou, bid me come unto thee
Upon the water! And the voice said: Come!
And then I heard a cry of fear: Lord, save me! 65
As of a drowning man. And then the voice:
Why didst thou doubt, O thou of little faith!
At this all vanished, and the wind was hushed,
And the great sun came up above the hills,
And the swift-flying vapors hid themselves 70
In caverns among the rocks! Oh, I must find him
And follow him, and be with him forever!
Thou box of alabaster, in whose walls
The souls of flowers lie pent, the precious balm
And spikenard of Arabian farms, the spirits 75
Of aromatic herbs, ethereal natures
Nursed by the sun and dew, not all unworthy
To bathe his consecrated feet, whose step
Makes every threshold holy that he crosses;
Let us go forth upon our pilgrimage, 80
Thou and I only! Let us search for him
Until we find him, and pour out our souls
Before his feet, till all that ‘s left of us
Shall be the broken caskets that once held us!
X.
The House of Simon the Pharisee
A GUEST at table.
ARE ye deceived? Have any of the Rulers
Believed on him? or do they know indeed
This man to be the very Christ? Howbeit
We know whence this man is, but when the Christ
Shall come, none knoweth whence he is. 5
CHRISTUS.
Whereunto shall I liken, then, the men
Of this generation? and what are they like?
They are like children sitting in the markets,
And calling unto one another, saying:
We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; 10
We have mourned unto you, and ye have not wept!
This say I unto you, for John the Baptist
Came neither eating bread nor drinking wine;
Ye say he hath a devil. The Son of Man
Eating and drinking cometh, and ye say: 15
Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber;
Behold a friend of publicans and sinners!
A GUEST aside to SIMON.
Who is that woman yonder, gliding in
So silently behind him?
SIMON.
It is Mary,
Who dwelleth in the Tower of Magdala. 20
THE GUEST.
See, how she kneels there weeping, and her tears
Fall on his feet; and her long, golden hair
Waves to and fro and wipes them dry again.
And now she kisses them, and from a box
Of alabaster is anointing them 25
With precious ointment, filling all the house
With its sweet odor!
SIMON, aside.
Oh, this man, forsooth,
Were he indeed a Prophet, would have known
Who and what manner of woman this may be
That toucheth him! would know she is a sinner! 30
CHRISTUS.<
br />
Simon, somewhat have I to say to thee.
SIMON.
Master, say on.
CHRISTUS.
A certain creditor
Had once two debtors; and the one of them
Owed him five hundred pence; the other, fifty.
They having naught to pay withal, he frankly 35
Forgave them both. Now tell me which of them
Will love him most?
SIMON.
He, I suppose, to whom
He most forgave.
CHRISTUS.
Yea, thou hast rightly judged.
Seest thou this woman? When thine house I entered,
Thou gavest me no water for my feet, 40
But she hath washed them with her tears, and wiped them
With her own hair. Thou gavest me no kiss;
This woman hath not ceased, since I came in,
To kiss my feet. My head with oil didst thou
Anoint not; but this woman hath anointed 45
My feet with ointment. Hence I say to thee,
Her sins, which have been many, are forgiven,
For she loved much.
THE GUESTS.
Oh, who, then, is this man
That pardoneth also sins without atonement?
CHRISTUS.
Woman, thy faith hath saved thee! Go in peace! 50
The Second Passover.
I.
Before the Gates of Machærus
MANAHEM.
WELCOME, O wilderness, and welcome, night
And solitude, and ye swift-flying stars
That drift with golden sands the barren heavens,
Welcome once more! The Angels of the Wind
Hasten across the desert to receive me; 5
And sweeter than men’s voices are to me
The voices of these solitudes; the sound
Of unseen rivulets, and the far-off cry
Of bitterns in the reeds of water-pools.
And lo! above me, like the Prophet’s arrow 10
Shot from the eastern window, high in air
The clamorous cranes go singing through the night.
Delphi Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Delphi Poets Series Book 13) Page 90
