HEAVEN AND EARTH;

A MYSTERY.

FOUNDED ON THB FOLLOWING PASSAGE IN GENESIS, CHAP. VI.

nd it came to pass..... that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair,

and they took them wives of all which they chose.

And woman wailing for her demon lover.-COLBRIDGE.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

ANGELS.

SAMIASA.
AZAZIBL.
RAPHAEL, the Archangel.

MEN.

Noah, and his Sons.
IRAD.

WOMEN.

ANAH.
AĦOLIBAMAH.

Chorus of Spirits of the Earth.-Chorus of Mortals.

HEAVEN AND EARTH.

SCENE I. - A WOODY AND MOUNTAINOUS DISTRICT NEAR

MOUNT ARARAT.-TIME-MIDNIGHT.

Enter ANAH and AHOLIBAMAH.

Anah. Our father sleeps : it is the hour when they
Who love us are accustom'd to descend
Through the deep clouds o'er rocky. Ararat :-
How

my

heart beats ! Ahol.

Let us proceed upon Our invocation.

Anah. But the stars are hidden.
I tremble.

Ahol. So do I, but not with fear
Of aught save their delay.
Anah.

My sister, though
I love Azaziel more than-oh, too much!
What was I going to say? my heart grows impious.

Ahol. And where is the impiety of loving
Celestial natures ?
Anah.

But, Aholibamah,
I love our God less since his angel loved me :
This cannot be of good ; and though I know not
That I do wrong, I feel a thousand fears
Which are not ominous of right.
Ahol.

Then wed thee
Unto some son of clay, and toil and spin!
There 's Japhet loves thee well, hath loved thee long;
Marry, and bring forth dust!
Anah.

I should have loved
Azaziel not less were he mortal : yet
I am glad he is not. I cannot outlive him,
And when I think that his immortal wings
Will one day hover o'er the sepulchre

a

Rather say,

Of the poor child of clay which so adored him,
As he adores the Highest, death becomes
Less terrible; but yet I pity him;
His grief will be of ages, or at least
Mine would be such for him, were I the seraph,
And he the perishable.

Ahol.
That he will single forth some other daughter
Of earth, and love her as he once loved Anah.

Anah. And if it should be so, and she so loved him,
Better thus than that he should weep for me.

Ahol. If I thought thus of Samiasa's love,
All seraph as he is, I'd spurn him from me.
But to our invocation ! 'T is the hour.
Anah.

Seraph !

From thy sphere ! Whatever star contain thy glory;

In the eternal depths of Heaven

Albeit thou watchest with “ the Seven,"
Though through space infinite and hoary
Before thy bright wings worlds be driven,

Yet hear!
Oh! think of her who holds thee dear!

And though she nothing is to thee,
Yet think that thou art all to her.

Thou canst not tell,—and never be
Such
pangs

decreed to aught save me,
The bitterness of tears.

Eternity is in thine years, Unborn, undying beauty in thine eyes ; With me thou canst not sympathize,

Except in love, and there thou must

Acknowledge that more loving dust
Ne'er wept beneath the skies.
Thou walk'st thy many worlds, thou see'st

The face of Him who made thee great,
As He hath made me of the least
Of those cast out from Eden's gate :

Yet, seraph dear!

Oh hear!
For thou hast loved me, and I would not die

Until I know what I must die in knowing,
That thou forget'st in thine eternity

Her whose heart death could not keep from o'erflowing For thee, immortal essence as thou art !

Great is their love who love in sin and fear;

1 2

And such I feel are waging in my heart
A war unworthy: to an Adamite
Forgive, my seraph ! that such thoughts appear,
For sorrow is our element;

Delight
An Eden kept afar from sight,
Though sometimes with our visions blent

The hour is near
Which tells me we are not abandon'd quite.

Appear! appear!

Seraph!
My own Azaziel ! be but here,
And leave the stars to their own light.
Ahol.

Samjasa !

Wheresoe' er
Thou rulest in the upper air —
Or warring with the spirits who may

dare
Dispute with Him
Who made all empires' empire; or recalling
Some wandering star which shoots through the abyss,

Whose tenants dying, while their world is falling,
Share the dim destiny of clay in this ;

Or joining with the inferior cherubim,
Thou deignest to partake their hymn-

Samiasa!
I call thee, I await thee, and I love thee.

Many worship thee—that will I not:
If that thy spirit down to mine may move thee,
Descend and share

my

lot!
Though I be form’d of clay,

And thou of beams
More bright than those of day

On Eden's streams,
Thine immortality cannot repay
With love more warm than mine

My love. There is a ray
In me, which, though forbidden yet to shine,
I feel was lighted at thy God's and thine.

be hidden long : death and decay Our mother Eve bequeath'd usmbut my

heart Defies it: though this life must pass away,

Is that a cause for thee and me to part ?
Thou art immortal—so am I: I feel,

I feel my immortality o'ersweep
All pains, all tears, all time, all fears, and peal

Like the eternal thunders of the deep,
Into
my

ears this truth" thou livest for ever !"

But if it be in joy,
I know not, nor would know;

It may