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(From The Divine Tragedy)
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! | |
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| 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! | |
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| 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! | |
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| 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! | |
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