Jeremiah Part 22

G.o.d has given us a heart precisely that it may torment us.

FIRST SENTRY

What is the use of talking about it? We are on guard here. That's enough for me.

SECOND SENTRY

Talking helps to keep us awake, and only the stars hear our words.

[Both are again silent for a time]

SECOND SENTRY

Who goes there? Someone is moving in the darkness.

FIRST SENTRY

More busybodies. Why cannot they stay in bed? Send them home.

SECOND SENTRY

No! Let them talk while we stay in the shadow.

FIRST SENTRY

You are a strange fellow. I shall continue my round.

[The two sentries pa.s.s into the shadow of the tower on the wall, their figures disappearing in the darkness. The gleam of their spears is still seen from time to time.--JEREMIAH and BARUCH ascend out of the darkness of the stairway and advance to the battlements, JEREMIAH hastening on in front, while BARUCH, who does not share the prophet's excitement, lags in the rear. The second sentry stands unnoticed in the shadow of the tower]

BARUCH

Whither are you leading me, master?

JEREMIAH

On, on! I must look Terror in the face. [He gazes down into the valley, standing motionless and silent]

BARUCH

What are you staring at?

JEREMIAH

[Still gazing] The king has come, the king from the north. [He seizes BARUCH'S sleeve] Come closer, Baruch! Touch my hand that I may know whether I wake or sleep. Are my eyes open? Is this wall builded of stones or of tears? Does Jerusalem lie behind us unheeding in the darkness? Are the forces of Ashur couched in the plain beneath? Tell me, Baruch, convince me that I am dreaming. Shake me till I awake, to laugh at my mad fancy that Zion is encircled by the Chaldeans.

BARUCH

What do you mean, master? I don't understand. How can you doubt?

JEREMIAH

Alas, it is true, then. I am not dreaming now. The horses are there and the chariots; Ashur is arrayed against Zion; the vision is fulfilled.

All these miseries spring from my dreams, for they existed in me before they were in the world of reality. I alone knew, before ever G.o.d's words became deeds. In me they arose; through me they came. Yet naught can I do to hinder their flow; nor by sword nor by s.h.i.+eld can I stay their progress.

BARUCH

Master, you talk at random. Speak in words that I can believe and understand.

JEREMIAH

Words that you can believe? But Baruch will you believe the words that I have to say to you at this hour beneath the stars? I fear you will deny me, will laugh at me, for what I would fain say will sound like nonsense in your ears.

BARUCH

Faith in you is my very life.

JEREMIAH

Hearken, then. [He speaks low and impressively] All that is now happening, I have beheld in my dreams for months past. Not a star s.h.i.+nes in heaven which I have not seen above this wall and above G.o.d's temple.

I have looked down upon the mult.i.tude of the foe, upon their myriad tents. Baruch, do you hear me?

BARUCH

[Shuddering] I hear, I hear.

JEREMIAH

Why was all this made plain to me before the day? It cannot be against G.o.d's will that he should disclose his plans to me, should vouchsafe me visions of the future. Nor can I rebel; nor can I be silent; though in truth for long I refused the summons, and stopped my ears to the call.

But now, when I see in the real world what has again and again been revealed to me in dreams, for the first time do I feel a.s.sured that G.o.d speaks through me. I say to you, Baruch, that I am the chosen of the Lord. Woe unto me should I conceal my forebodings from the people and from the king. For this is no more than the beginning, and I know the end.

BARUCH

Reveal it, chosen one. Cry your words aloud.

JEREMIAH

Baruch, do you see the camp and the tents; do you see this sleeping ocean surging down from the north?

BARUCH

[Shuddering] I see the enemy; I see the tents.

JEREMIAH

You see the night, sleep, and the false quiet of repose. But in my ears the trumpets blare and the arms clash as the Chaldeans arise and storm the city. The walls whereon our feet are now planted, crumble at their onslaught; the cries of the fugitives ring in my ears. The brazen flood foams over us. I hear the beating of Death's wings o'er city and walls; I see the destruction of Zion. Baruch, waking I see it, for G.o.d hath opened an eye within the darkness of my body; my heart maketh a noise in me; my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Why sleep they still? Time is it they should wake, ere their sleep pa.s.s into death. Verily the hour is come to awaken Jerusalem!

BARUCH