ANOTHER--Said we should find him before Satan comes.
ANOTHER--That was before you came out.
FIRST MAN--Spoke like as how the dogs were on his trail.
FATHER BENEDICT--Run, some one, and fetch Pierre back.
(_Two men dart out, left._)
He did not tell me this. (_A pause._)
Arm yourselves, men.
(_In a mass the men hurry out, left, a confused hum
of voices rising for a moment, then dying
away in the distance. The scene has grown
darker. A gust of wind blows to the door of
the church._)
FATHER BENEDICT-- (_Alone upon the steps._)
This is the day. (_A pause._)
Inscrutable are the ways of God. Dark, dark,
Unfathomable the sea in which He moves.
He changeth as the waters change, and yet
The mountains strike their roots in Him and stand.
(_Thunder right. The priest comes down from the
steps and out into the street, where he
stands looking up at the sky._)
Thy ways are not our ways. Thy voice is heard
Abroad upon the firmament. The stars
That should have been put out an hour ago
Burn bright upon the edges of the storm.
Satan hath laid his hand upon the sun,
And the day gropes, feeling her way far off
As doth the blind. But yesterday the morn
Walked beautiful on the mountains, with her lamp
Kindled as for the Resurrection.
This is the Sabbath, yet Golgotha's gloom
Hangs o'er the Sepulcher, and like a torch
Thrown down upon the mountains burns the dawn
A scant blue flame far down behind the world.
(_A pause._)
God shall not call in vain.
(_Looking left._)
I will forgive
The bitter words. The lost shall be reclaimed.
(_He walks briskly back and climbs the steps and
enters the church. A man with a shovel on
his shoulder appears coming from back in the
churchyard. He stops by the fence and looks
about._)
THE MAN--Don't see them.
A VOICE-- (_From back in the churchyard._)
Someone's moaning in the church.
(_Another man appears with a shovel. They listen.
Faint shouting, left._)
FIRST MAN--Let's leave our shovels here.
(_They put down their shovels and get over the low
fence into the open space before the church
and start, left. Pierre is heard returning._)
PIERRE--But it was not his fault.
(_Between the two men he enters wringing his
hands._)
It was the fiends that did it.
'Twas his hand but-- (_Starting back._)
They're hiding--they're hiding back of there!
(_He points to the broken top of the poplar tree
that hangs out in the street. The men from
the churchyard come from behind it._)
Oh, they've been by the graves!
(_He covers his face with his hands and bends up
and down, sobbing hysterically._)
ONE OF THE MEN-- What has he done?
(_With a great shining crucifix upon a staff, the
priest appears in the doorway and comes
hurriedly down the steps._)
FATHER BENEDICT--Pierre, in the name of God, all-hail!
I greet you as one having holy lips,
Since God hath chosen you to set on fire
With one bright word all days to be. Pierre,
Which way hath he gone? God is waiting.
The seraphim--Nay, fear me not, for I
Have been baptized with fire that hath fallen
Suddenly from heaven. Which way hath he gone?
To the high places fly the seraphim
And banners flash and fade among the clouds.
The Lord of Life into my power hath given
The life of him who spoke--I will forgive
The bitter words. This is the day of days.
Within I shine, though round about the storm
Spreadeth her gloom. Even my hands are dark.
The thunder peals the muster of the dead.
(_Faint shouts, left._)
PIERRE-- (_Falling upon his knees._)
They've bitten him! they've bitten him! Pray! pray! pray!
FATHER BENEDICT--Nay, Pierre, these are shouts of them whose mouths
Shall sing upon the mountains when my hand
Shall rend the hound and pluck the blind from death.
His breath is in the hollow of my hand,
And though he taunted me and though I might--
(_He blows in his palm._)
The dream shall be fulfilled. Throughout all time
All dreams shall hail this dream a holy thing
That hath chosen from all days this holy day
To wake and run. While from the Sepulcher
God rolls the stone back, the dream opens hell
And slips the dogs while angels have the world.
Henceforth the Angel of the Resurrection,
Hand in hand with the hunter's dream, shall run
With fiery feet over the ages leaving
Luminous the eyes of holy men.
For me this is a great day. From the clouds
The purposes of God, in fold on fold,
Fall round and mantle me with light. Pierre,
In what dread shape came Blindness through the halls
Of the abbey, feeling for the brother's eyes
In the darkness? What did he say when God
With one blow blotted out the moon and sun
Forever, and the faces of his friends?
Forgiveness did he cry for, for the things--
But that is past. I have been and shall be,
Yesterday and to-morrow, Benedict.
To-day, as nameless as the stars of heaven,
Forgetful of all injuries like the winds,
I rush about the earth and, like the lightning,
Will strike where God shall throw me. Like the rain,
I shall fall mercifully on hot eyes that lit
But a few hours before with pride and scorn
But now are dark forever.
PIERRE-- Oh! Oh! Oh!
FATHER BENEDICT--I will not say that. God in his power can make
The blind earth fill the sockets of the blind
With balls as bright as orbs of seraphim,
Or without eyes can fill the soul with light.
Your brother, Pierre, fell upon the dark--
_My_ brother; I will say it and forgive--
Our brother fell on darkness not last night,
But long since turned his shining face away
From light, and gradually as the sun
Sinks, sank low down where sun and moon and stars
Say, "Vanity!" and the grave is over all.
(_The sobbing of Pierre is heard._)
But he shall rise. I thank God for this power.
It shall be to my glory that for hate
I returned love. Vengeance is His, and I
Simply a wind to blow and do His will.
God shall have praise, but I shall have praise, too.
Names shall be written high and lamps shall burn
Under them, so that all the saints may see.
(_He comes out in the street and stands looking in
the direction in which the men went, talking
to himself._)
Then some who with high heads walked this low earth--
'Tis not my prayer, but if God so decide--
What a day will bring forth no man can--
(_Turning back._)
Pierre,
Did he speak of me when the blow fell? Did he say,
"I wronged that holy man"? Did he say that?
With what word bade he farewell to the stars?
Did not remorse--Why do you look at me
With eyes of horror?
PIERRE-- (_Shuddering._)
Out into the dark
As if to--
(_He presses his hands into his eyes._)
FATHER BENEDICT--With no word?