Jeremiah Part 23

[Stirred by his words] Yea, yea, Jeremiah, awaken Jerusalem!

JEREMIAH

[More and more carried away]

O foolish people, afflicted town, How, ah how, can you sleep at peace When Death's cold winding sheet is spread Beneath you where you lie.

O foolish people, afflicted town, How can you rest when thunder rages?

How can you drowse, Lost in dreams, When Ashur's rams Are battering the gates?

Who shall waken the fools? Who make the deaf hear?

BARUCH

[Ecstatically] You, master. Cry aloud. Awaken them. Save them from the jaws of death.

JEREMIAH

Awaken, awaken, up and away!

The land is afire, the foe holds the town!

Flee ere his wrath wholly consume you, Flee from the sword, flee from the flames, Leave your possessions, abandon your homes, Gather your households, your women and children; Ere he can seize you take refuge in flight.

Up and away!

The land is afire, the foe holds the town!

Up and away!

SECOND SENTRY

[Coming forward from the shadows] Who shouts here? You will waken the sleepers.

JEREMIAH

Oh that I could awaken them. Up, Jerusalem, awake! City of G.o.d, save thyself.

SECOND SENTRY

You are drunk. Go home to sleep.

BARUCH

[Stepping between] Touch him not.

JEREMIAH

I must not sleep. No one must sleep. I am the watchman. Woe to him who hinders me.

SECOND SENTRY

[Taking him by the shoulder] You must be moonstruck to think yourself watchman. I am the watchman. Away with you.

BARUCH

Touch him not, the chosen of the Lord, the prophet.

SECOND SENTRY

[Loosing JEREMIAH] Are you Hananiah, the prophet of G.o.d?

BARUCH

It is Jeremiah the prophet.

SECOND SENTRY

Jeremiah, who leads the people astray? Jeremiah, who cried through the street that Ashur would prevail? Have you come hither to gloat over the fulfilment of your vision? Too soon, faint-heart, too soon; and yet in an apt moment, prophet of evil, to feel the weight of my anger. I will reveal you something.

BARUCH

[Struggling with the sentry] Hands off, touch him not.

FIRST SENTRY

[Entering hurriedly] The king is coming. Zedekiah goes the rounds. Clear away the people.

JEREMIAH

The king! G.o.d be praised! His meaning is plain. The Lord sends him to my hand.

FIRST SENTRY

Away chatterer, away.

SECOND SENTRY

Down with you. Away. Creep down there and keep quiet, or you shall rue it.

FIRST SENTRY

Here comes the king.

[JEREMIAH and BARUCH are hustled from the wall and disappear into the dark. The two sentries stand at the extreme edge of the ramparts to leave room for the king and his train to pa.s.s. When ZEDEKIAH enters they clash spears on shields in salute and then stand to attention. ZEDEKIAH is making the rounds, accompanied by ABIMELECH and others. He is unarmed and bareheaded; his face looks pale and thoughtful in the moonlight. He halts, and gazes for a time over the plain]

ZEDEKIAH

See how the camp fires burn athwart the plain. It looks as if the black heavens had fallen upon earth, whence star after star now shines forth.

A people countless in numbers is encamped round Israel. Spears are leveled; hands are raised; even in sleep, their dreams turn against us.

To-morrow they will all arise as the herbage rises after rain; stillness will be replaced by the screams of death. This is perchance the last night of peaceful slumber.

ABIMELECH

Be not despondent, O king. Upon this very wall where now thou standest sorely troubled, stood aforetime King Hezekiah. His mind, likewise, was full of care, for in the plain beneath, wave upon wave, countless like these, lay the hosts of Senaccherib. Then, as now, the flood of Ashur threatened the holy city. But the Lord stretched forth his hand and smote the enemy with a pestilence. These walls shall never be broken.

Jerusalem endureth for ever.