[_The transfiguration is
complete
in sadness.
Elizabeth Browning
_ We worship in Thy silence, Saviour Christ!
_Eve. _ Thy brows grow grander with a forecast woe,--
Diviner, with the possible of death.
We worship in Thy sorrow, Saviour Christ!
_Adam. _ How do Thy clear, still eyes transpierce our souls,
As gazing _through_ them toward the Father-throne
In a pathetical, full Deity,
Serenely as the stars gaze through the air
Straight on each other!
_Eve. _ O pathetic Christ,
Thou standest mute in glory, like the moon!
CHRIST. Eternity stands alway fronting God;
A stern colossal image, with blind eyes
And grand dim lips that murmur evermore
God, God, God! while the rush of life and death,
The roar of act and thought, of evil and good,
The avalanches of the ruining worlds
Tolling down space,--the new worlds' genesis
Budding in fire,--the gradual humming growth
Of the ancient atoms and first forms of earth,
The slow procession of the swathing seas
And firmamental waters,--and the noise
Of the broad, fluent strata of pure airs,--
All these flow onward in the intervals
Of that reiterated sound of--GOD!
Which WORD innumerous angels straightway lift
Wide on celestial altitudes of song
And choral adoration, and then drop
The burden softly, shutting the last notes
In silver wings. Howbeit in the noon of time
Eternity shall wax as dumb as Death,
While a new voice beneath the spheres shall cry,
"God! why hast thou forsaken me, my God? "
And not a voice in Heaven shall answer it.
[_The transfiguration is complete in sadness. _
_Adam. _ Thy speech is of the Heavenlies, yet, O Christ,
Awfully human are thy voice and face!
_Eve. _ My nature overcomes me from thine eyes.
CHRIST. In the set noon of time shall one from Heaven,
An angel fresh from looking upon God,
Descend before a woman, blessing her
With perfect benediction of pure love,
For all the world in all its elements,
For all the creatures of earth, air, and sea,
For all men in the body and in the soul,
Unto all ends of glory and sanctity.
_Eve. _ O pale, pathetic Christ--I worship thee!
I thank thee for that woman!
CHRIST. Then, at last,
I, wrapping round me your humanity,
Which, being sustained, shall neither break nor burn
Beneath the fire of Godhead, will tread earth,
And ransom you and it, and set strong peace
Betwixt you and its creatures. With my pangs
I will confront your sins; and since those sins
Have sunken to all Nature's heart from yours,
The tears of my clean soul shall follow them
And set a holy passion to work clear
Absolute consecration. In my brow
Of kingly whiteness shall be crowned anew
Your discrowned human nature. Look on me!
As I shall be uplifted on a cross
In darkness of eclipse and anguish dread,
So shall I lift up in my pierced hands,
Not into dark, but light--not unto death,
But life,--beyond the reach of guilt and grief,
The whole creation.
_Eve. _ Thy brows grow grander with a forecast woe,--
Diviner, with the possible of death.
We worship in Thy sorrow, Saviour Christ!
_Adam. _ How do Thy clear, still eyes transpierce our souls,
As gazing _through_ them toward the Father-throne
In a pathetical, full Deity,
Serenely as the stars gaze through the air
Straight on each other!
_Eve. _ O pathetic Christ,
Thou standest mute in glory, like the moon!
CHRIST. Eternity stands alway fronting God;
A stern colossal image, with blind eyes
And grand dim lips that murmur evermore
God, God, God! while the rush of life and death,
The roar of act and thought, of evil and good,
The avalanches of the ruining worlds
Tolling down space,--the new worlds' genesis
Budding in fire,--the gradual humming growth
Of the ancient atoms and first forms of earth,
The slow procession of the swathing seas
And firmamental waters,--and the noise
Of the broad, fluent strata of pure airs,--
All these flow onward in the intervals
Of that reiterated sound of--GOD!
Which WORD innumerous angels straightway lift
Wide on celestial altitudes of song
And choral adoration, and then drop
The burden softly, shutting the last notes
In silver wings. Howbeit in the noon of time
Eternity shall wax as dumb as Death,
While a new voice beneath the spheres shall cry,
"God! why hast thou forsaken me, my God? "
And not a voice in Heaven shall answer it.
[_The transfiguration is complete in sadness. _
_Adam. _ Thy speech is of the Heavenlies, yet, O Christ,
Awfully human are thy voice and face!
_Eve. _ My nature overcomes me from thine eyes.
CHRIST. In the set noon of time shall one from Heaven,
An angel fresh from looking upon God,
Descend before a woman, blessing her
With perfect benediction of pure love,
For all the world in all its elements,
For all the creatures of earth, air, and sea,
For all men in the body and in the soul,
Unto all ends of glory and sanctity.
_Eve. _ O pale, pathetic Christ--I worship thee!
I thank thee for that woman!
CHRIST. Then, at last,
I, wrapping round me your humanity,
Which, being sustained, shall neither break nor burn
Beneath the fire of Godhead, will tread earth,
And ransom you and it, and set strong peace
Betwixt you and its creatures. With my pangs
I will confront your sins; and since those sins
Have sunken to all Nature's heart from yours,
The tears of my clean soul shall follow them
And set a holy passion to work clear
Absolute consecration. In my brow
Of kingly whiteness shall be crowned anew
Your discrowned human nature. Look on me!
As I shall be uplifted on a cross
In darkness of eclipse and anguish dread,
So shall I lift up in my pierced hands,
Not into dark, but light--not unto death,
But life,--beyond the reach of guilt and grief,
The whole creation.
