To
Manfred
Next Scene
ACT I
SCENE I
MANFRED alone. -- Scene, a
Gothic Gallery. -- Time,
Midnight.
MANFRED.
The lamp must be replenish'd, but even then
It will not burn so long as I must watch.
My slumbers-- if I slumber-- are not sleep,
But a continuance of enduring thought,
Which then I can resist not:
in my heart
There is a
vigil, and these eyes but close
To look within; and yet I live, and bear
The aspect and the form of breathing men.
But
grief should be the instructor of the wise;
Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most 10
Must mourn the deepest o'er the
fatal truth,
The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life.
Philosophy and science, and the springs
Of wonder, and the wisdom of the world,
I have essay'd, and in my mind there is
A power to make these subject to itself--
But they avail not: I have done men good,
And I have met with good even among men--
But this avail'd not: I have had my foes,
And none have baffled, many fallen before me-- 20
But this avail'd not: Good, or evil, life,
Powers,
passions, all I see in other beings,
Have been to me as rain unto the sands,
Since that all-nameless hour. I have no dread,
And feel the curse to have no natural fear
Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes
Or lurking love of something on the earth.
Now to my task.--
Mysterious Agency!
Ye
spirits of the unbounded Universe,
Whom I have sought in darkness and in light! 30
Ye, who do compass earth about, and dwell
In subtler essence! ye, to whom the tops
Of mountains inaccessible are haunts,
And earth's and ocean's caves familiar things--
I call upon ye by the written charm
Which gives me power upon you-- Rise! appear! (A pause.)
They come not yet.-- Now by the voice of him
Who is the first among you; by this sign,
Which makes you tremble; by the claims of him
Who is undying,-- Rise! appear!-- Appear! (A pause.) 40
If it be so.-- Spirits of earth and air,
Ye shall not thus elude me: by a power,
Deeper than all yet urged, a tyrant-spell,
Which had its birthplace in a star condemn'd,
The burning wreck of a demolish'd world,
A
wandering hell in the eternal space;
By the strong curse which is upon my soul,
The thought which is within me and around me,
I do compel ye to my will. Appear!
(A star is seen at the darker end of the gallery: it is
stationary; and a voice is heard singing.)
FIRST SPIRIT.
Mortal! to thy bidding bow'd, 50
From my mansion in the cloud,
Which
the breath of twilight builds,
And the summer's sunset gilds
With the
azure and
vermilion
Which is mix'd for my pavilion;
Though thy quest may be forbidden,
On a
star-beam I have ridden,
To thine adjuration bow'd;
Mortal-- be thy wish avow'd!
SECOND SPIRIT.
Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains; 60
They crown'd him long ago
On a
throne of rocks, in a
robe of clouds,
With a diadem of snow.
Around his waist are forests braced,
The
Avalanche in his hand;
But ere it fall, that thundering ball
Must pause for my command.
The Glacier's cold and restless mass
Moves onward day by day;
But I am he who bids it pass, 70
Or with its ice delay.
I am the spirit of the place,
Could make the mountain bow
And quiver to his cavern'd base--
And what with me wouldst Thou?
THIRD SPIRIT.
In the
blue depth of the waters,
Where the wave hath no strife,
Where
the wind is a stranger
And the sea-snake hath life,
Where the
Mermaid is decking 80
Her green hair with shells;
Like the storm on the surface
Came the sound of thy spells;
O'er my calm Hall of Coral
The deep echo roll'd--
To
the Spirit of Ocean
Thy wishes unfold!
FOURTH SPIRIT.
Where the slumbering
earthquake
Lies pillow'd on fire,
And the
lakes of bitumen 90
Rise boilingly higher;
Where the roots of the
Andes
Strike deep in the earth,
As their summits to heaven
Shoot soaringly forth;
I have quitted my birthplace,
Thy bidding to bide--
Thy spell hath subdued me,
Thy will be my guide!
FIFTH SPIRIT.
I am
the rider of the wind, 100
The Stirrer of the storm;
The
hurricane I left behind
Is yet with lightning warm;
To speed to thee, o'er shore and sea
I swept upon the blast:
The fleet I met sail'd well, and yet
'T will sink ere night be past.
SIXTH SPIRIT.
My dwelling is
the shadow of the night,
Why doth thy magic
torture me with light?
SEVENTH SPIRIT.
The
star which rules thy
destiny 110
Was ruled, ere Earth began, by me:
It was a world as
fresh and fair
As e'er revolved round sun in air;
Its course was free and regular,
Space bosom'd not a lovelier star.
The hour arrived-- and it became
A
wandering mass of shapeless flame,
A pathless
comet, and a curse,
The menace of the
universe;
Still rolling on with innate force, 120
Without a sphere, without a course,
A bright
deformity on high,
The monster of the upper sky!
And thou! beneath its influence born--
Thou
worm! whom I obey and scorn--
Forced by a power (which is not thine,
And lent thee but to make thee mine)
For this brief moment to descend,
Where these weak spirits round thee bend
And parley with a thing like thee-- 130
What wouldst thou,
Child of Clay! with me?
The SEVEN SPIRITS.
Earth,
ocean,
air,
night,
mountains,
winds,
thy star,
Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay!
Before thee at thy quest their spirits are--
What wouldst thou with us,
son of mortals-- say?
MANFRED.
Forgetfulness--
FIRST SPIRIT.
Of what-- of whom-- and why?
MANFRED.
Of
that which is within me; read it there--
Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.
SPIRIT.
We can but give thee that which we possess:
Ask of us subjects, sovereignty, the power 140
O'er earth, the whole, or portion, or a sign
Which shall control the elements, whereof
We are the dominators,-- each and all,
These shall be thine.
MANFRED.
Oblivion, self-oblivion--
Can ye not wring from out the hidden realms
Ye offer so profusely what I ask?
SPIRIT.
It is not in our essence, in our skill;
But-- thou mayst die.
MANFRED.
Will death bestow it on me?
SPIRIT.
We are immortal, and do not forget;
We are eternal; and to us the past 150
Is, as the future, present. Art thou answered?
MANFRED.
Ye mock me-- but
the power which brought ye here
Hath made you mine.
Slaves, scoff not at my will!
The mind, the spirit, the
Promethean spark,
The lightning of my being, is as bright,
Pervading, and far-darting as your own,
And shall not yield to yours, though coop'd in clay!
Answer, or
I will teach you what I am.
SPIRIT.
We answer as we answer'd; our reply
Is even in thine own words.
MANFRED.
Why say ye so? 160
SPIRIT.
If, as thou say'st, thine
essence be as ours,
We have replied in telling thee, the thing
Mortals call
death hath nought to do with us.
MANFRED.
I then have call'd ye from your
realms in vain;
Ye cannot, or ye will not, aid me.
SPIRIT.
Say;
What we possess we offer; it is thine:
Bethink ere thou dismiss us, ask again--
Kingdom, and sway, and strength, and length of days--
MANFRED.
Accursèd! what have I to do with days?
They are too long already.-- Hence-- begone! 170
SPIRIT.
Yet pause: being here, our will would do thee service;
Bethink thee, is there then no other gift
Which we can make not
worthless in thine eyes?
MANFRED.
No, none: yet stay-- one moment, ere we part--
I would behold ye face to face. I hear
Your voices,
sweet and melancholy sounds,
As
music on the waters; and I see
The steady aspect of a clear large star;
But nothing more. Approach me as ye are,
Or one, or all, in your accustom'd forms. 180
SPIRIT.
We have no forms, beyond the elements
Of which we are the mind and principle:
But choose a form-- in that we will appear.
MANFRED.
I have no choice, there is no form on earth
Hideous or beautiful to me. Let him,
Who is most powerful of ye, take such aspect
As unto him may seem most fitting.-- Come!
SEVENTH SPIRIT
(appearing in the shape of a beautiful female figure).
Behold!
MANFRED.
Oh God! if it be thus, and thou
Art not a madness and a mockery
I yet might be most happy--I will clasp thee, 190
And we again will be--
(The figure vanishes.
My heart is crushed!
(MANFRED falls senseless.)
(A voice is heard in the Incantation which follows.)
When the moon is on the wave,
And the
glow-worm in the grass,
And the
meteor on the grave,
And the wisp on the morass;
When the
falling stars are shooting,
And the answer'd owls are hooting,
And the
silent leaves are still
In the shadow of the hill,
Shall my soul be upon thine, 200
With a power and with a sign.
Though thy slumber may be deep,
Yet thy spirit shall not sleep;
There are shades which will not vanish,
There are thoughts thou canst not banish;
By a power to thee unknown,
Thou canst never be alone;
Thou art wrapt as with a
shroud,
Thou art gather'd in a cloud;
And forever shalt thou dwell 210
In the spirit of this spell.
Though thou seest me not pass by,
Thou shalt
feel me with thine eye
As a thing that, though unseen,
Must be near thee, and hath been;
And when in that secret dread
Thou hast turn'd around thy head,
Thou shalt marvel I am not
As thy shadow on the spot,
And
the power which thou dost feel 220
Shall be what thou must
conceal.
And a
magic voice and verse
Hath
baptized thee with a curse;
And
a spirit of the air
Hath begirt thee with a snare;
In the wind there is a voice
Shall forbid thee to rejoice;
And to thee shall Night deny
All the quiet of her sky;
And the day shall have a sun, 230
Which shall make thee wish it done.
From thy
false tears I did distil
An essence which hath
strength to kill;
From thy own heart I then did wring
The
black blood in its blackest spring;
From thy own smile I snatch'd the snake,
For there it coil'd as in a brake;
From thy own lip I drew the charm
Which gave all these their chiefest harm;
In proving every poison known, 240
I found the strongest was thine own.
By thy cold breast and
serpent smile,
By thy unfathom'd gulfs of guile,
By
that most seeming virtuous eye,
By
thy shut soul's hypocrisy;
By the perfection of thine art
Which pass'd for human thine own heart;
By thy delight in others' pain,
And by thy
brotherhood of Cain,
I call upon thee! and compel 250
Thyself to be thy proper Hell!
And on thy head I pour the vial
Which doth devote thee to this trial;
Nor to slumber, nor to die,
Shall be in thy destiny;
Though thy death shall still seem near
To thy wish, but as a fear;
Lo! the spell now works around thee,
And
the clankless chain hath bound thee;
O'er thy heart and brain together 260
Hath the word been pass'd -- now
wither!
CST Approved