_without_
which nought can live;
Fire!
Fire!
Byron
_Arn. _ I would be spared this.
_Stran. _ But it cannot be. 450
What! shrink already, being what you are,
From seeing what you were?
_Arn. _ Do as thou wilt.
_Stran. _ (_to the late form of_ ARNOLD, _extended on the earth_).
Clay! not dead, but soul-less!
Though no man would choose thee,
An Immortal no less
Deigns not to refuse thee.
Clay thou art; and unto spirit
All clay is of equal merit.
Fire!
_without_ which nought can live;
Fire! but _in_ which nought can live, 460
Save the fabled salamander,
Or immortal souls, which wander,
Praying what doth not forgive,
Howling for a drop of water,
Burning in a quenchless lot:
Fire! the only element
Where nor fish, beast, bird, nor worm,
Save the Worm which dieth not,
Can preserve a moment's form,
But must with thyself be blent: 470
Fire! man's safeguard and his slaughter:
Fire! Creation's first-born Daughter,
And Destruction's threatened Son,
When Heaven with the world hath done:
Fire! assist me to renew
Life in what lies in my view
Stiff and cold!
His resurrection rests with me and you!
One little, marshy spark of flame--[224]
And he again shall seem the same; 480
But I his Spirit's place shall hold!
[_An ignis-fatuus flits through the wood and rests
on the brow of the body. The Stranger
disappears: the body rises_.
_Arn. _ (_in his new form_). Oh! horrible!
_Stran. _ (_in_ ARNOLD'S _late shape_).
