Of cataracts flung the thunder of that spell! Of what is hate,-let them not lose it now! Thrice three hundred thousand years O'er the Earthquake's couch we stood: Oft, as men convulsed with fears, We trembled in our multitude :— SECOND VOICE, from the Springs. We had been stained with bitter blood, THIRD VOICE, from the Air. I had clothed since Earth uprose Its wastes in colours not their own; Been cloven by many a rending groan : FOURTH VOICE, from the Whirwinds. FIRST VOICE. But never bowed our snowy crest As at the voice of thine unrest. SECOND VOICE. Never such a sound before To the Indian waves we bore. And heard, and cried "Ah! woe is me!" THIRD VOICE, By such dread words from Earth to Heaven When its wound was closed, there stood FOURTH VOICE. And we shrank back: for dreams of ruin The Earth. The tongueless Caverns of the craggy hills Cried "Misery!" then; the hollow Heaven replied "Misery!" and the Ocean's purple waves, Climbing the land, howled to the lashing winds, And the pale nations heard it, "Misery!" Prometheus. I hear a sound of voices: not the voice Which I gave forth. Mother, thy sons and thou Scorn him without whose all-enduring will Beneath the fierce omnipotence of Jove Both they and thou had vanished, like thin mist Unrolled on the morning wind. Know ye not me, The barrier to your else all-conquering Foe? The Earth. They dare not. Prometheus. Who dares? for I would hear that curse again. Ha! what an awful whisper rises up! 'Tis scarce like sound: it tingles through the frame As lightning tingles, hovering ere it strike. Speak, Spirit! From thine inorganic voice, And love. How cursed I him? The Earth. How canst thou hear, Who knowest not the language of the dead? Prometheus. Thou art a living spirit; speak as they. The Earth. I dare not speak like life, lest heaven's fell King Should hear, and link me to some wheel of pain More torturing than the one whereon I roll. Subtle thou art and good; and, though the Gods Hear not this voice, yet thou art more than God, Being wise and kind: earnestly hearken now. Prometheus. Obscurely through my brain, like shadows dim, Sweep awful thoughts, rapid and thick. I feel Faint, like one mingled in entwining love; Yet 'tis not pleasure. The Earth. No, thou canst not hear : Thou art immortal, and this tongue is known Only to those who die. Prometheus. O melancholy Voice? The Earth. And what art thou, I am the Earth, Thy mother; she within whose stony veins, When thou didst from her bosom like a cloud Of glory arise,—a spirit of keen joy ! Their prostrate brows from the polluting dust; -see those million worlds which burn and roll Around us-their inhabitants beheld My sphered light wane in wide heaven; the sea And Famine; and black blight on herb and tree; Draining their growth,—for my wan breast was dry Breathed on her child's destroyer. Ay, I heard Prometheus. Venerable Mother! All else who live and suffer take from thee Some comfort; flowers and fruits and happy sounds, And love, though fleeting: these may not be mine. But mine own words, I pray, deny me not. The Earth. They shall be told. Ere Babylon was dust, The Magus Zoroaster, my dead child, Met his own image walking in the garden : That apparition, sole of men, he saw. For know, there are two worlds of life and death : One, that which thou beholdest; but the other Is underneath the grave, where do inhabit Have sprung, and trampled on my prostrate sons. Of the Supreme may sweep through vacant shades, As rainy wind through the abandoned gate Of a fallen palace. Prometheus. Mother, let not aught Of that which may be evil pass again My lips, or those of aught resembling me. IONE. My wings are folded o'er mine ears: May it be no ill to thee O thou of many wounds, Near whom, for our sweet Sister's sake, PANTHEA. The sound is of whirlwind underground, Earthquake, and fire, and mountains cloven! Clothed in dark purple, star-inwoven. To stay steps proud o'er the slow cloud, Cruel he looks, but calm and strong, Like one who does, not suffers, wrong. Phantasm of Jupiter. Why have the secret powers of this strange world Driven me, a frail and empty phantom, hither On direst storms? What unaccustomed sounds Are hovering on my lips, unlike the voice With which our pallid race hold ghastly talk In darkness? And, proud sufferer, who art thou? The Earth. Listen! and, though your echoes must be mute, Grey mountains, and old woods, and haunted springs, |