Jeremiah Part 60

THE WOUNDED MAN

Life, at any cost of suffering.

A MAN

[Wildly] No life without G.o.d! No life without Jerusalem!

VOICES

Death were better.--Death were better.--Let us not accept slavery.--Death is a fearful thing.

[Again the trumpet sounds, now close at hand]

A VOICE

Let them call, I will not hearken. I hear the voice of death, loud and clear like the voice of G.o.d. We must not heed the lure. Better to perish with Jerusalem.

THE ELDER

I hold thee fast, city of Zion. Weak though my hands, still do I cling to thee. My life hast thou been, be also my death. How could I breathe without thee, how open my eyes in the morning without being able to look upon Solomon's house and G.o.d's dwelling. Rather would I be buried in thy earth than walk at large in another land; rather would I lie dead with my fathers than live to be the slave of the heathen. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, take me to thy bosom. As I have been with thee in life, let me be with thee in death.

ZEPHANIAH

In this you and I must part company. Death has no charms for me. I have seen too many dead lying in the streets, and I tell you that life is better.

THE WOUNDED MAN

[Raising himself] Yea, let me live, to feel but a grain of sand between my fingers. To look again upon the almond blossoms, to see them open as night falls. To watch the moon waxing and waning in its pa.s.sage across the starry heavens. Even if life were to deny all its joys, even if I were to be crippled and deaf, yet still might I look upon the glorious things in the world, still draw the breath of life. Let me feel my heart beating, the warm blood coursing through my veins. Give me life, I ask nothing more!

THE ELDER

Shame upon you, weaklings! Would you live without G.o.d?

VOICES

G.o.d will be with us wherever we go.--G.o.d speaks to us wherever we may be.--Even from exile our voices will rise towards him.--There too shall we be faithful. The light of his countenance s.h.i.+nes upon all roads.

THE ELDER

Nay, nay, who leaveth Jerusalem, leaveth G.o.d behind. Here and here only is the dwelling of Jehovah. Sacrifice at any other altar than this can be naught but idolatry.

VOICES

[In conflict] No.--Yes.--G.o.d is everywhere.--He is here only.--He will reveal himself to us anywhere.--G.o.d abides nowhere but in his own temple.--Anywhere, everywhere.--Nowhere but in Jerusalem can we look upon his face.

JEREMIAH

[Suddenly springing to his feet, with an awesome outburst] G.o.d is nowhere! Nowhere at all! Who among the living hath seen him, who hath heard the sound of his voice? Those who seek him, seek him in vain; those who created him, lied before the faces of men. G.o.d is nowhere!

Neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor in the souls of men.

THE ELDER

[His jaw has dropped in amazement and horror. At length he raises his hands tremblingly towards heaven, with the invocation] Blasphemy!

Blasphemy! Strike him down with thy lightnings.

JEREMIAH

[More fiercely] Who hath blasphemed him, if it be not G.o.d himself? He hath broken his covenant, thrown down his walls, and burned his own temple. He denies himself; he himself blasphemes G.o.d; he and none other!

THE ELDER

Heed him not! A backslider is he, and an outcast. Heed him not, ye servants of the Almighty.

JEREMIAH

[Still more fiercely] Who has served him in Israel as I have served him?

Who within Jerusalem's walls has been more faithful than I? For his sake I left my home; for his sake I refused to comfort my mother in death. I have sacrificed friends.h.i.+p to him, and for his jealousy have I forfeited the love of women. I have submitted to his will as a wife submits to her husband. The words that I spake were those which he put into my mouth; his was the blood in my body; my thoughts were the children of his will; his were the dreams that visited my sleep. I gave my back to the smiters; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. I served him, I served him, for I believed that through me he would avert the evil to come. I cursed, thinking he would turn my curses into blessings. I prophesied, thinking he would prove me a liar, would save Jerusalem. But my prophecies have been fulfilled, and G.o.d is proved a liar. Woe is me that I served the faithless one so faithfully! He sent me that my brothers should laugh me to scorn while I spat upon their joys. Now, when misery has befallen them, he wishes that I in turn should mock their distress. But I do not laugh, G.o.d! I will not laugh at my brothers' torment. Not like thee can I rejoice at another's sorrow. The odor of the slaughter-house delights not my nostrils. Too harsh for me is thy harshness, too heavy thy hand! No longer will I be the instrument of thy vengeance; no longer will I serve thee. I tear asunder the bond between thee and me. I tear it asunder!

VOICES

He raves.--He blasphemes.--Away with him.--He is beside himself.

JEREMIAH

[In an ecstasy, speaks over their heads into the void]

Dumb and sinister Being, I witness against thee!

Be thou silent no longer, witness thou against me!

Say, Have I ever, I charge thee, proved backward or loath?

Have I ever, I charge thee, been false to my oath?

Dumb and sinister Being, thy silence now break.

Ope thy mouth, and against me thy parable take.

Thou hast sought me by day and by night and hast found me, With dreams to amaze, and with fears to confound me.

With fire my soul thou hast filled. As a brand Spreading flame, spreading flame far and wide through the land, Hast thou driven me on. 'Twas thy will not mine, Made me stand as a foe 'gainst this people of thine.

I was the hand their throats fiercely clamping, I was the hoof, their peace roughly down stamping, I was the saw, their limbs ever rending, I was the goad, bringing torment unending, I was the terror, the vision of fright, I was the nightmare that rode them by night.

In their bones I the fire, in their flesh I the thorn, The mockery, likewise, that laughed them to scorn; For relentless, unfeeling, as any dumb beast, Made mad by thy will, I obeyed thy behest.

Of the love of my brothers though still I was fain, Made mad by thy will, I but cursed them again.

Thus quelling compa.s.sion, constrained to do ill, I spurred myself onward thy word to fulfil.

VOICES

He is seized with the frenzy of fever.--He raves.--To whom is he speaking?--He is out of his wits.

JEREMIAH

But I renounce my allegiance!

Resuming my freedom, no longer a thrall, I nor heed thy commandments nor answer thy call!

Where 'twas shrined in my heart I thy image discrown, And from out thy high heaven I hurl thee adown!