_
Speak but so loud as doth a wasted moon
To Tyrrhene waters.
Speak but so loud as doth a wasted moon
To Tyrrhene waters.
Elizabeth Browning
_First Voice. _ That _I_ shall stand sole exile finally,--
Made desolate for fruition?
_Second Voice. _ It is true.
_First Voice. _ Gabriel!
_Second Voice. _ I hearken.
_First Voice. _ Is it true besides--
Aright true--that mine orient Star will give
Her name of "Bright and Morning-Star" to HIM,--
And take the fairness of his virtue back
To cover loss and sadness?
_Second Voice. _ It is true.
_First Voice. _ UNtrue, UNtrue! O Morning Star, O MINE,
Who sittest secret in a veil of light
Far up the starry spaces, say--_Untrue!
_
Speak but so loud as doth a wasted moon
To Tyrrhene waters. I am Lucifer.
[_A pause. Silence in the stars. _
All things grow sadder to me, one by one.
_Angel Chorus. _
Exiled human creatures,
Let your hope grow larger!
Larger grows the vision
Of the new delight.
From this chain of Nature's
God is the Discharger,
And the Actual's prison
Opens to your sight.
_Semichorus. _
Calm the stars and golden
In a light exceeding:
What their rays have measured
Let your feet fulfil!
These are stars beholden
By your eyes in Eden,
Yet, across the desert,
See them shining still!
_Chorus. _
Future joy and far light
Working such relations,
Hear us singing gently
_Exiled is not lost! _
God, above the starlight,
God, above the patience,
Shall at last present ye
Guerdons worth the cost.
Patiently enduring,
Painfully surrounded,
Listen how we love you,
Hope the uttermost!
