God

Will further toil and forward stride my kind,
Still growing nobler, till we perfection find

Near thine almighty Throne ?

Or drudge to death like some blind treadmill-horse
Without the hope of ever changing course?
Doth noble striving meet with just reward,
When he who for ideals gives his blood
Is mocked at by a soulless throng?
Enlighten me; grateful will I bear my lot:
I can but win by such exchange,
For this suspense is hell.

Seek not to solve the mystery

Which Godly grace and sense benign
Hath screened from human sight.

If thou couldst see that transient is
The soul's sojourn upon this world,
And that it upward soars

To life unending, in the great beyond,-
Sorrow would no virtue be.

If dust absorbed thy soul alike,

What would spur thee on to thought?

Who would prompt thee to resign

Thy grosser joys for virtue fine?

Whilst now, though burdened with life,

Thy future beckons from afar,
Shimmering through the clouds.

And lifting thee to higher spheres.

And should, at times, this pride thy heart inflame,
Thy span of life will soon control thy pace,
And nobleness and virtue reign supreme.

Lucifer [laughing derisively]

Adam

Verily, glory floods the paths you tread,
Since greatness, virtue, are to lead thee on.
Two words which only pass in blessed deed
When superstition, ignorance, and prejudice
Keep constant guard and company.-
Why did I ever seek to work out great ideas
Through man, of dust and sunbeams formed,
So dwarfed in knowledge, in blind error so gigantic?
Cease thy scorn, O Lucifer! cease thy scorn!
I saw full well thy wisdom's edifice,

Wherein my heart felt only chilled;
But, gracious God, who shall sustain me now
And lead me onward in the paths of right,

God

Since thou didst withdraw the hand that guided me,
Before I tasted fruit of idle knowledge?

Strong is thine arm, full thy heart of lofty thoughts;
The field is boundless where thou seed shouldst sow.
Give thou but heed! A voice shall ceaseless call thee back,
Or constant speed thee on:

Follow its lead. And if at times

This heavenly sound be hushed in midst the whirl
Of thine eventful years, the purer soul

Of woman, unselfish, pure, and gentle,

Will surely hear it, and thrilled by woman's love,
Thy soul shall soar in Poetry and Song!
And by thy side she loyally will watch,
Mounted on these cherubim,

In sorrow pale or rosy joy,
A cheering, soothing genius.
Thou too, O Lucifer, a link but art

In my wide universe; so labor on!

Thy frosty knowledge and thy mad denial
Will cause, like yeast, the mind to effervesce.

E'en though it turns him from the beaten track,
It matters not. He'll soon return;
But endless shall thy penance be,

Since thou art ever doomed to see

How beauty buds and virtue sprouts

From the seed thou wouldst have spoiled.

Chorus of Angels

Choice between the good and evil,

Wondrous thought, sublime decision!
Still to know that thou art shielded
By a gracious God's provision.

For the right, then, be thou steadfast,
Though thou labor without meed;
Thy reward shall be the knowledge
Thou hast done a noble deed.

Greatness grows in goodness only;

Shame will keep the good man just,
And the fear of shame uplifts him,
While the mean man crawls in dust.

But when treading paths exalted,

This blind error cherish not,

That the glory thou achievest
Adds to God's a single jot:

For he needs not thy assistance
To accomplish his designs;
Be thou thankful if he calls thee

And a task to thee assigns.

Eve Praise be to God, I understand this song.
Adam-I divine the message and submit to its decree.
Ah, could I only the distant end foresee!

Translated for A Library of the World's Best Literature' by G. A. Kohut.