Scene XIII

(Space. In the distance a segment of our earth, constantly diminishing, until it appears as a star, mingling with the other stars. The scene begins in dusk, which gradually deepens into total darkness. Adam as an old man, with Lucifer, flying through the air.)

ADAM.
Say, whither tends this mad and furious flight?

LUCIFER.
Did'st thou not long to rise to higher spheres,
Freed from the earthly dross, whence if aright
I understood thee, throughout all these years;
The voice of kindred souls e'er from the height
Thou heard'st?

ADAM.
'Tis true, but never did I dream.
The way, so drear, and with such gloom would teem.
How barren is this place, how strange, how dread,
As if some profanation here might tread.
Within my soul two sentiments obtain,
I feel that all the earth is void, and vain,
Her narrow sphere. My soul oppressed, doth yearn
To flee, but tearful now, longs to return.
Ah! Lucifer, look back upon our sphere.
Dost see, how first the flowers disappear,
How vanish then the forests' swaying crowns?
And now, the well known villages and towns,
Transformed into those characterless spots,
Then fade and vanish quite. To tiny blots
Are shrunk the mighty cliffs we viewed before;
The clouds, surcharged with light'ning from which
roar

Those thund'rous voices, which affright all men,
Who in their fear seek shelter in their den;
But in which voices they presume to hear
A supernatural call, see! from this sphere
But a mean cloud of vapor seems to be.
Behold! where is the boundless mighty sea?
A thread it seemeth, tenuous and gray,
On that far globe down there which rolls away
Amidst its million sister stars. Ah! see,
That tiny star! 'Twas heretofore for me.
Oh! Lucifer! therein must she remain?

LUCIFER.
From our exalted standpoint, this is vain,
When from this height, we look on things below,
As first the charming details lose their glow,
Their force and grandeur fade, through vision's trick,
And what remains, is cold arithmetic.

ADAM.
We've left the stars behind us, there in space,
I see no goal ; no obstacles I trace.
Ah! Lucifer, I'm cold. What is all life
Without the bliss of loving and of strife?

LUCIFER.
Well, if thy heroism's at an end,
Let us return our days in dust to spend.

ADAM.
What dost thou say? Let's boldly forward go,
I have no fear. I'll feel the earthly woe
Until forever broken are the ties
Which o'er our earthly being exercise
Their influence. But ah! What can this be?
I can not breathe — my strength is leaving me
My senses all bewildered. Is it more
Than fable, told of Anthaeus of yore,
Who but in contact with the dust could live?

VOICE OF THE EARTH SPIRIT.
'Twas more than fable told, thou can'st believe,
I need not tell my name ; thou knowest me,
The spirit of the Earth ; the boundary
To all my power is this. Return, I say,
And thou wilt live; proceed, and thou must pay
An awful penalty. Thou wilt be lost
Thou'rt like the infusoria, when tossed
Within a drop of water, and to thee,
The earth is this one drop.

ADAM.
To frighten me,
Thou seek'st in vain; my body may be thine,
The soul within me though, is mine, and mine
Alone! No bounds are set for truth and thought,
For they existed e'en before was brought
Thy world of matter into life.

VOICE OF THE EARTH SPIRIT.
Vain man!
A punishment most dire will meet thy plan!
Was fragrance of the rose before the rose?
Does form exist before the body grows?
And light before the sun? Oh! could'st behold
Thy lone soul whirl through boundless space, as cold
It seeks with might, and ever seeks in vain
Amid its strange surroundings, to retain
Perception, and the power thought t' express,
But dazed exerts itself without success.
Thoud'st shudder with affright, for all sensations,
All perceptions, are but emanations
Of this material mass thou callest earth;
Without earth, thou and I had never birth.
What in thy narrow home prevails, the fair,
The beautiful, infernal woe and care,
Is from my spirit drawn. What truth is, here,
Were imagined in another sphere;
What's here impossible, were nature there;
And thought may be, which here is only air.
There where exist nor gravity, nor weight,
Nor motion line in substance animate,
That which to us is light, may there be sound
And crystal, that which here as germ is found.

ADAM.
Think not that me thou so canst terrify;
For upward still, my soul doth long to fly.

LUCIFER.
Adam ! Adam ! Now at last is near,
Thy fate's decisive moment. A career
Of greatness will be thine, if thou to earth
Return'st; but if from out the cosmic girth
Dost wrest thyself, God ne'er will tolerate
Thee in his sight, but thee annihilate.

ADAM.
Does not decay come too with death?

EARTH SPIRIT.
Repeat
Not in this sphere, where spirits have their seat,
The vain and mocking word of the ancient lie,
For all creation it doth terrify.
A sacred seal it is, and the Lord's own,
Which in his wisdom, can by him alone
Be broken; not by him, who of the tree
Of knowledge ate.

ADAM.
I'll break it though.
(Adam and Lucifer fly on. Adam suddenly screams.)
Ah, me!

LUCIFER (Laughing.)
The ancient lie has triumphed.
(Pushes Adam aside.)
In the void

This puppet now, as a new asteroid,
May whirl, whereon new life may grow, for me.

VOICE OF THE EARTH SPIRIT.
No, Lucifer, too soon thou show'st thy glee.
One can't break through my realm, with such great

ease.
He only touched the strange world's boundaries
(To Adam.)
My son, the voice of home is calling thee.

ADAM (Recovering consciousness.)
I live again! In suffering though I be,
But ah! the pain itself is sweet. To lie
Annihilated, crushed in heart and brain
Is awful ! Lucifer, oh, let us fly
Toward home. Give me again my earthly reign.
There, where many a strife I've fought in vain.
I'll strive again.

LUCIFER.
And thou dost still believe.
That thou at last, shalt victory achieve?
And reach the goal? This soul so credulous
To man alone is homogeneous.

ADAM.
No such deceptive dream allureth me;
I know a hundred times I'll baffled be,
I do not care. What, after all 's the end?
The end — when glory's o'er — I apprehend,
The end, is death, and life is constant strife;
The aim of man, to struggle throughout life.

LUCIFER.
A solace fine is this. If only high
Were the ideals which inspire our fight,
That for which yesterday, we wished to die,
To-day, but scorn or ridicule invites.
At Charonea thou for freedom fought'st,
Yet, later on, with Constantine thou sought'st
To make him master of the world. Did'st thou
Not then, with a martyr's crown upon thy brow,
Die for the faith and then with arms, once more,
Not seek to controvert, with science lore
The dicta of the church?

ADAM.
'Tis but the same.
I had ideals then, with which there came
To me enthusiasm which therefore
Were grand, sublime, and which then onward bore
My soul. Though science or the cross, it be,
Ambition, or the call of liberty,
It elevates ; mankind has gained thereby,
And fight anew — then let us homeward fly.

LUCIFER.
Dost not remember what the savant said,
That in four thousand years the world were dead,
All strife and battle ceased?

ADAM.
Yes, unless man
Nature subdue. I feel, y,ea, know, he can
Do that in time.

LUCIFER.
Suppose thou'rt right? Will there
Be strife and force, and might be found
Within a world where theories prevail?

ADAM.
But let the earth be saved, and without fail ;
That too, like all things else, its mission fill'd,
Will pass away, but mind and heart, not chill'd,
Again will for some new ideal glow!
But take me back! for now I fain would know
For what new principles again I'll burn,
There in that world redeemed.

LUCIFER.
Let us return!