登陆注册
5419700000209

第209章

So many feet, that, day by day, Still wander from thy fold astray!

Unless thou fill me with thy light, I cannot lead thy flock aright;Nor without thy support can bear The burden of so great a care, But am myself a castaway!

A pause.

The day is drawing to its close;

And what good deeds, since first it rose, Have I presented, Lord, to thee, As offsprings of my ministry?

What wrong repressed, what right maintained, What struggle passed, what victory gained, What good attempted and attained?

Feeble, at best, is my endeavor!

I see, but cannot reach, the height That lies forever in the light;And yet forever and forever, When seeming just within my grasp, I feel my feeble hands unclasp, And sink discouraged into night!

For thine own purpose, thou hast sent The strife and the discouragement!

A pause.

Why stayest thou, Prince of Hoheneck?

Why keep me pacing to and fro Amid these aisles of sacred gloom, Counting my footsteps as I go, And marking with each step a tomb?

Why should the world for thee make room, And wait thy leisure and thy beck?

Thou comest in the hope to hear Some word of comfort and of cheer.

What can I say? I cannot give The counsel to do this and live;But rather, firmly to deny The tempter, though his power be strong, And, inaccessible to wrong, Still like a martyr live and die!

A pause.

The evening air grows dusk and brown;

I must go forth into the town, To visit beds of pain and death, Of restless limbs, and quivering breath, And sorrowing hearts, and patient eyes That see, through tears, the sun go down, But never more shall see it rise.

The poor in body and estate, The sick and the disconsolate, Must not on man's convenience wait.

Goes out.

Enter LUCIFER, as a Priest.

LUCIFER, with a genuflexion, mocking.

This is the Black Pater-noster.

God was my foster, He fostered me Under the book of the Palm-tree!

St.Michael was my dame.

He was born at Bethlehem, He was made of flesh and blood.

God send me my right food, My right food, and shelter too, That I may to yon kirk go, To read upon yon sweet book Which the mighty God of heaven shook Open, open, hell's gates!

Shut, shut, heaven's gates!

All the devils in the air The stronger be, that hear the Black Prayer!

Looking round the church.

What a darksome and dismal place!

I wonder that any man has the face To call such a hole the House of the Lord, And the gate of Heaven,--yet such is the word.

Ceiling, and walls, and windows old, Covered with cobwebs, blackened with mould;Dust on the pulpit, dust on the stairs, Dust on the benches, and stalls, and chairs!

The pulpit, from which such ponderous sermons Have fallen down on the brains of the Germans, With about as much real edification As if a great Bible, bound in lead, Had fallen, and struck them on the head;And I ought to remember that sensation!

Here stands the holy-water stoup!

Holy-water it may be to many, But to me, the veriest Liquor Gehennae!

It smells like a filthy fast-day soup!

Near it stands the box for the poor, With its iron padlock, safe and sure.

I and the priest of the parish know Whither all these charities go;Therefore, to keep up the institution, I will add my little contribution!

He puts in money.

Underneath this mouldering tomb, With statue of stone, and scutcheon of brass, Slumbers a great lord of the village.

All his life was riot and pillage, But at length, to escape the threatened doom Of the everlasting penal fire, He died in the dress of a mendicant friar, And bartered his wealth for a daily mass.

But all that afterwards came to pass, And whether he finds it dull or pleasant, Is kept a secret for the present, At his own particular desire.

And here, in a corner of the wall, Shadowy, silent, apart from all, With its awful portal open wide, And its latticed windows on either side, And its step well worn by the beaded knees Of one or two pious centuries, Stands the village confessional!

Within it, as an honored guest, I will sit down awhile and rest!

Seats himself in the confessional.

Here sits the priest; and faint and low, Like the sighing of an evening breeze, Comes through these painted lattices The ceaseless sound of human woe;Here, while her bosom aches and throbs With deep and agonizing sobs, That half are passion, half contrition, The luckless daughter of perdition Slowly confesses her secret shame!

The time, the place, the lover's name!

Here the grim murderer, with a groan, From his bruised conscience rolls the stone, Thinking that thus he can atone For ravages of sword and flame!

Indeed, I marvel, and marvel greatly, How a priest can sit here so sedately, Reading, the whole year out and in, Naught but the catalogue of sin, And still keep any faith whatever In human virtue! Never! never!

I cannot repeat a thousandth part Of the horrors and crimes and sins and woes That arise, when with palpitating throes The graveyard in the human heart Gives up its dead, at the voice of the priest, As if he were an archangel, at least.

It makes a peculiar atmosphere, This odor of earthly passions and crimes, Such as I like to breathe, at times, And such as often brings me here In the hottest and most pestilential season.

To-day, I come for another reason;

To foster and ripen an evil thought In a heart that is almost to madness wrought, And to make a murderer out of a prince, A sleight of hand I learned long since!

He comes.In the twilight he will not see The difference between his priest and me!

In the same net was the mother caught!

PRINCE HENRY, entering and kneeling at the confessional.

Remorseful, penitent, and lowly, I come to crave, O Father holy, Thy benediction on my head.

LUCIFER.

The benediction shall be said After confession, not before!

'T is a God-speed to the parting guest, Who stands already at the door, Sandalled with holiness, and dressed In garments pure from earthly stain.

Meanwhile, hast thou searched well thy breast?

Does the same madness fill thy brain?

Or have thy passion and unrest Vanished forever from thy mind?

PRINCE HENRY.

同类推荐
  • 外科精要

    外科精要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 甄正论

    甄正论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 魏忠贤小说斥奸书

    魏忠贤小说斥奸书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 天心正法修真道场设醮仪

    天心正法修真道场设醮仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 圣者文殊师利发菩提心愿文

    圣者文殊师利发菩提心愿文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 相府嫡女

    相府嫡女

    三年前洞房花烛夜前李珞嘉曾对花零许下了海誓山盟答应她一定会平安回来,花零原地等待他三年,而郎君却是人去府空成为他国驸马,他背弃他们的青梅竹马的誓言。三年的痴心等待,三年被说成弃妇的流言蜚语日子,让她认清了现实。三年后她绝世而立,战场相逢,花零说:“你已负了我,那些誓言便不算数了。”一转身,她遇见了他。“零儿,我宁负天下绝不负你”桃花树下,徐仁航执手对她说。她经历腥风血雨踩着尸骨一步步坐上那把凤椅,她凤临天下!金銮殿上,十里锦红,绝世佳人。“你为王,我为妃;你为皇,我为后。
  • 为此打球

    为此打球

    在这里、在球场上我们能看到,最热血的篮球、惺惺相惜的对手、促使自己不断前进的传奇。想要在联盟中获得成功,这要取决于你是否有着坚定的目标,并为之拼尽一切。哪怕周围人都与你相勃,也不会选择放弃。这一切,从都是从那一个夜晚开始……
  • 从此爱情没有你

    从此爱情没有你

    两年前,江小云背弃他消失无踪开始,俞北寒就发誓,如果再见到她,他一定亲手掐死她……--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 刺破天幕

    刺破天幕

    美国最尖端核心秘密武器的绝密图纸意外遭窃,中央情报局人员迅速出发,阻止绝密图纸落入他国;军事基地战机紧急起飞,拦截载有国际间谍的民航客机。反政府极端分子、冒充副机长的恐怖分子头目和神秘的女贩毒分子三方不期而遇,怀着不同的劫机目的展开激战。飞机迫降荒岛,劫机者步步逼迫,中国女导游、副机长、美国旅行家挺身而出,乘客集体逃亡。绝密图纸流落何处?劫机者目的何在?乘客能否逃生成功?……真相,万万没想到!!!
  • 皇后别乱来

    皇后别乱来

    隐世家族的大小姐,穿到了龙易国皇后娘娘的身上,拥有着异能,还有扑朔迷离的前世,没想到所谓的前世恋人成了今世的丈夫,一层层的迷雾就要揭开,等待他们的究竟是好,还是坏……不过还好,你一直在我身边
  • 农耕年华

    农耕年华

    作者将自身对农耕文化的丰富积累,对农耕、农村、农业、农民的深厚感情灌注到这部散文作品之中,那些即将消失的农耕形式或已然消失的农耕形式,在每一篇短文中得以保留,踩水车、推乌头、沤制草塘泥、打连枷、消夏……妙趣横生,引人入胜。书中还大量介绍了与农村生活息息相关的农时节气、农家菜肴、农村行当,乡土气息十分浓厚。
  • 将军一去

    将军一去

    我姥姥赵诵琴留下一个皮箱。箱子老得很,把儿都掉了,看商标,是上海产,上世纪五六十年代的东西。箱子里乱,啥都有:菱花镜一面;几张字画,是姥姥的;还有她的手稿,写纳兰性德的那个小说;旧相册,散落的旧照片……我坐小板凳上,慢慢拾掇那箱子。每一样东西,都是我姥姥摸过的。苏子说:“自其变而观之,则天地曾不能以一瞬。”就是说,从变化的角度看,世界每一瞬间都在变——比如有无,比如生死,比如我姥姥我妈,她们曾经是我生命里最亲爱的存在,现在都没有了。苏子又说:“自其不变而观之,则物与我皆无尽也。”
  • 超能体术师

    超能体术师

    一个宅男却意外的重生在另外一个位面,是苟且偷生还是笑傲江湖。
  • 摇椅边的心灵盛宴(听外婆讲那些人生的智慧)

    摇椅边的心灵盛宴(听外婆讲那些人生的智慧)

    《摇椅边的心灵盛宴——听外婆讲那些人生的智慧》一书以月份为单位,分十二部分,内容涉及广泛,不论是寓言、传说,还是名家趣事、邻里小事,应有尽有。本书文字清新、说理透彻,又毫无堆砌累赘之感,每个故事都是一道心灵大餐,每个哲理都是一盏人生明灯,在我们为孩子呈现的这桌心灵盛宴上,相信不管是大人还是孩子,都能找到自己想要的那份感动和充实。”小船儿摇,摇到外婆桥,外婆夸我是好宝宝,大姑子,小舅子,年糕里藏着一粒大枣子……“回荡的童谣中,我们从未走远,因为那是生命的吟唱,那是一种无穷的力量,在黑暗中生生不息,源远流长。
  • 再生

    再生

    你相信这世上有再生的人吗?他们能够清楚的记得去世之前的事情。能够清楚说出他们之前的住处,之前的亲人,朋友。在我们所生活的这个地球上,“再生人”现象,是有个例的。当然,也有群体现象出现。比如我国的湖南省侗族自治县的坪阳乡。就有一百多个再生人。国内外的媒体也曾报道过不少这样的事情。目前,科学对这一现象还没有很好的解释。算是一个未解之谜了。你一定以为我是要讲一个穿越或者重生的故事。然而,并不是这样。我只是想告诉你,我的真实经历!