The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 36

DEMOGORGON: He reigns.

ASIA: I feel, I know it: who?

DEMOGORGON: He reigns.

ASIA: Who reigns? There was the Heaven and Earth at first, And Light and Love; then Saturn, from whose throne Time fell, an envious shadow: such the state Of the earth's primal spirits beneath his sway, _35 As the calm joy of flowers and living leaves Before the wind or sun has withered them And semivital worms; but he refused The birthright of their being, knowledge, power, The skill which wields the elements, the thought _40 Which pierces this dim universe like light, Self-empire, and the majesty of love; For thirst of which they fainted. Then Prometheus Gave wisdom, which is strength, to Jupiter, And with this law alone, 'Let man be free,' _45 Clothed him with the dominion of wide Heaven.

To know nor faith, nor love, nor law; to be Omnipotent but friendless is to reign; And Jove now reigned; for on the race of man First famine, and then toil, and then disease, _50 Strife, wounds, and ghastly death unseen before, Fell; and the unseasonable seasons drove With alternating shafts of frost and fire, Their shelterless, pale tribes to mountain caves: And in their desert hearts fierce wants he sent, _55 And mad disquietudes, and shadows idle Of unreal good, which levied mutual war, So ruining the lair wherein they raged.

Prometheus saw, and waked the legioned hopes Which sleep within folded Elysian flowers, _60 Nepenthe, Moly, Amaranth, fadeless blooms, That they might hide with thin and rainbow wings The shape of Death; and Love he sent to bind The disunited tendrils of that vine Which bears the wine of life, the human heart; _65 And he tamed fire which, like some beast of prey, Most terrible, but lovely, played beneath The frown of man; and tortured to his will Iron and gold, the slaves and signs of power, And gems and poisons, and all subtlest forms _70 Hidden beneath the mountains and the waves.

He gave man speech, and speech created thought, Which is the measure of the universe; And Science struck the thrones of earth and heaven, Which shook, but fell not; and the harmonious mind _75 Poured itself forth in all-prophetic song; And music lifted up the listening spirit Until it walked, exempt from mortal care, G.o.dlike, o'er the clear billows of sweet sound; And human hands first mimicked and then mocked, _80 With moulded limbs more lovely than its own, The human form, till marble grew divine; And mothers, gazing, drank the love men see Reflected in their race, behold, and perish.

He told the hidden power of herbs and springs, _85 And Disease drank and slept. Death grew like sleep.

He taught the implicated orbits woven Of the wide-wandering stars; and how the sun Changes his lair, and by what secret spell The pale moon is transformed, when her broad eye _90 Gazes not on the interlunar sea: He taught to rule, as life directs the limbs, The tempest-winged chariots of the Ocean, And the Celt knew the Indian. Cities then Were built, and through their snow-like columns flowed _95 The warm winds, and the azure ether shone, And the blue sea and shadowy hills were seen.

Such, the alleviations of his state, Prometheus gave to man, for which he hangs Withering in destined pain: but who rains down _100 Evil, the immedicable plague, which, while Man looks on his creation like a G.o.d And sees that it is glorious, drives him on, The wreck of his own will, the scorn of earth, The outcast, the abandoned, the alone? _105 Not Jove: while yet his frown shook Heaven ay, when His adversary from adamantine chains Cursed him, he trembled like a slave. Declare Who is his master? Is he too a slave?

NOTE: _100 rains B, edition 1839; reigns 1820.

DEMOGORGON: All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil: _110 Thou knowest if Jupiter be such or no.

ASIA: Whom calledst thou G.o.d?

DEMOGORGON: I spoke but as ye speak, For Jove is the supreme of living things.

ASIA: Who is the master of the slave?

DEMOGORGON: If the abysm Could vomit forth its secrets...But a voice _115 Is wanting, the deep truth is imageless; For what would it avail to bid thee gaze On the revolving world? What to bid speak Fate, Time, Occasion, Chance and Change? To these All things are subject but eternal Love. _120

ASIA: So much I asked before, and my heart gave The response thou hast given; and of such truths Each to itself must be the oracle.

One more demand; and do thou answer me As my own soul would answer, did it know _125 That which I ask. Prometheus shall arise Henceforth the sun of this rejoicing world: When shall the destined hour arrive?

DEMOGORGON: Behold!

ASIA: The rocks are cloven, and through the purple night I see cars drawn by rainbow-winged steeds _130 Which trample the dim winds: in each there stands A wild-eyed charioteer urging their flight.

Some look behind, as fiends pursued them there, And yet I see no shapes but the keen stars: Others, with burning eyes, lean forth, and drink _135 With eager lips the wind of their own speed, As if the thing they loved fled on before, And now, even now, they clasped it. Their bright locks Stream like a comet's flas.h.i.+ng hair; they all Sweep onward.

DEMOGORGON: These are the immortal Hours, _140 Of whom thou didst demand. One waits for thee.

ASIA: A Spirit with a dreadful countenance Checks its dark chariot by the craggy gulf.

Unlike thy brethren, ghastly charioteer, Who art thou? Whither wouldst thou bear me? Speak! _145

SPIRIT: I am the shadow of a destiny More dread than is my aspect: ere yon planet Has set, the darkness which ascends with me Shall wrap in lasting night heaven's kingless throne.

ASIA: What meanest thou?

PANTHEA: That terrible shadow floats _150 Up from its throne, as may the lurid smoke Of earthquake-ruined cities o'er the sea.

Lo! it ascends the car; the coursers fly Terrified: watch its path among the stars Blackening the night!

ASIA: Thus I am answered: strange! _155

PANTHEA: See, near the verge, another chariot stays; An ivory sh.e.l.l inlaid with crimson fire, Which comes and goes within its sculptured rim Of delicate strange tracery; the young spirit That guides it has the dove-like eyes of hope; _160 How its soft smiles attract the soul! as light Lures winged insects through the lampless air.

SPIRIT: My coursers are fed with the lightning, They drink of the whirlwind's stream, And when the red morning is bright'ning _165 They bathe in the fresh sunbeam; They have strength for their swiftness I deem; Then ascend with me, daughter of Ocean.

I desire: and their speed makes night kindle; I fear: they outstrip the Typhoon; _170 Ere the cloud piled on Atlas can dwindle We encircle the earth and the moon: We shall rest from long labours at noon: Then ascend with me, daughter of Ocean.

SCENE 2.5: THE CAR PAUSES WITHIN A CLOUD ON THE TOP OF A SNOWY MOUNTAIN.

ASIA, PANTHEA, AND THE SPIRIT OF THE HOUR.

SPIRIT: On the brink of the night and the morning My coursers are wont to respire; But the Earth has just whispered a warning That their flight must be swifter than fire: They shall drink the hot speed of desire! _5

ASIA: Thou breathest on their nostrils, but my breath Would give them swifter speed.

SPIRIT: Alas! it could not.

PANTHEA: Oh Spirit! pause, and tell whence is the light Which fills this cloud? the sun is yet unrisen.

NOTE: _9 this B; the 1820.

SPIRIT: The sun will rise not until noon. Apollo _10 Is held in heaven by wonder; and the light Which fills this vapour, as the aereal hue Of fountain-gazing roses fills the water, Flows from thy mighty sister.

PANTHEA: Yes, I feel--

ASIA: What is it with thee, sister? Thou art pale. _15

PANTHEA: How thou art changed! I dare not look on thee; I feel but see thee not. I scarce endure The radiance of thy beauty. Some good change Is working in the elements, which suffer Thy presence thus unveiled. The Nereids tell _20 That on the day when the clear hyaline Was cloven at thine uprise, and thou didst stand Within a veined sh.e.l.l, which floated on Over the calm floor of the crystal sea, Among the Aegean isles, and by the sh.o.r.es _25 Which bear thy name; love, like the atmosphere Of the sun's fire filling the living world, Burst from thee, and illumined earth and heaven And the deep ocean and the sunless caves And all that dwells within them; till grief cast _30 Eclipse upon the soul from which it came: Such art thou now; nor is it I alone, Thy sister, thy companion, thine own chosen one, But the whole world which seeks thy sympathy.

Hearest thou not sounds i' the air which speak the love _35 Of all articulate beings? Feelest thou not The inanimate winds enamoured of thee? List!

NOTE: _22 thine B; thy 1820.

[MUSIC.]

ASIA: Thy words are sweeter than aught else but his Whose echoes they are; yet all love is sweet, Given or returned. Common as light is love, _40 And its familiar voice wearies not ever.

Like the wide heaven, the all-sustaining air, It makes the reptile equal to the G.o.d: They who inspire it most are fortunate, As I am now; but those who feel it most _45 Are happier still, after long sufferings, As I shall soon become.

PANTHEA: List! Spirits speak.

VOICE IN THE AIR, SINGING: Life of Life! thy lips enkindle With their love the breath between them; And thy smiles before they dwindle _50 Make the cold air fire; then screen them In those looks, where whoso gazes Faints, entangled in their mazes.

Child of Light! thy limbs are burning Through the vest which seems to hide them; _55 As the radiant lines of morning Through the clouds ere they divide them; And this atmosphere divinest Shrouds thee wheresoe'er thou s.h.i.+nest.

Fair are others; none beholds thee, _60 But thy voice sounds low and tender Like the fairest, for it folds thee From the sight, that liquid splendour, And all feel, yet see thee never, As I feel now, lost for ever! _65

Lamp of Earth! where'er thou movest Its dim shapes are clad with brightness, And the souls of whom thou lovest Walk upon the winds with lightness, Till they fail, as I am failing, _70 Dizzy, lost, yet unbewailing!

NOTE: _54 limbs B, edition 1839; lips 1820.

ASIA: My soul is an enchanted boat, Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing; And thine doth like an angel sit _75 Beside a helm conducting it, Whilst all the winds with melody are ringing.

It seems to float ever, for ever, Upon that many-winding river, Between mountains, woods, abysses, _80 A paradise of wildernesses!

Till, like one in slumber bound, Borne to the ocean, I float down, around, Into a sea profound, of ever-spreading sound:

Meanwhile thy spirit lifts its pinions _85 In music's most serene dominions; Catching the winds that fan that happy heaven.