The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 19

16.

Amid the aereal minarets on high, The Ethiopian vultures fluttering fell From their long line of brethren in the sky, _3930 Startling the concourse of mankind.--Too well These signs the coming mischief did foretell:-- Strange panic first, a deep and sickening dread Within each heart, like ice, did sink and dwell, A voiceless thought of evil, which did spread _3935 With the quick glance of eyes, like withering lightnings shed.

17.

Day after day, when the year wanes, the frosts Strip its green crown of leaves, till all is bare; So on those strange and congregated hosts Came Famine, a swift shadow, and the air _3940 Groaned with the burden of a new despair; Famine, than whom Misrule no deadlier daughter Feeds from her thousand b.r.e.a.s.t.s, though sleeping there With lidless eyes, lie Faith, and Plague, and Slaughter, A ghastly brood; conceived of Lethe's sullen water. _3945

18.

There was no food, the corn was trampled down, The flocks and herds had perished; on the sh.o.r.e The dead and putrid fish were ever thrown; The deeps were foodless, and the winds no more Creaked with the weight of birds, but, as before _3950 Those winged things sprang forth, were void of shade; The vines and orchards, Autumn's golden store, Were burned;--so that the meanest food was weighed With gold, and Avarice died before the G.o.d it made.

19.

There was no corn--in the wide market-place _3955 All loathliest things, even human flesh, was sold; They weighed it in small scales--and many a face Was fixed in eager horror then: his gold The miser brought; the tender maid, grown bold Through hunger, bared her scorned charms in vain; _3960 The mother brought her eldest born, controlled By instinct blind as love, but turned again And bade her infant suck, and died in silent pain.

20.

Then fell blue Plague upon the race of man.

'O, for the sheathed steel, so late which gave _3965 Oblivion to the dead, when the streets ran With brothers' blood! O, that the earthquake's grave Would gape, or Ocean lift its stifling wave!'

Vain cries--throughout the streets thousands pursued Each by his fiery torture howl and rave, _3970 Or sit in frenzy's unimagined mood, Upon fresh heaps of dead; a ghastly mult.i.tude.

21.

It was not hunger now, but thirst. Each well Was choked with rotting corpses, and became A cauldron of green mist made visible _3975 At sunrise. Thither still the myriads came, Seeking to quench the agony of the flame, Which raged like poison through their bursting veins; Naked they were from torture, without shame, Spotted with nameless scars and lurid blains, _3980 Childhood, and youth, and age, writhing in savage pains.

22.

It was not thirst, but madness! Many saw Their own lean image everywhere, it went A ghastlier self beside them, till the awe Of that dread sight to self-destruction sent _3985 Those shrieking victims; some, ere life was spent, Sought, with a horrid sympathy, to shed Contagion on the sound; and others rent Their matted hair, and cried aloud, 'We tread On fire! the avenging Power his h.e.l.l on earth has spread!' _3990

23.

Sometimes the living by the dead were hid.

Near the great fountain in the public square, Where corpses made a crumbling pyramid Under the sun, was heard one stifled prayer For life, in the hot silence of the air; _3995 And strange 'twas, amid that hideous heap to see Some shrouded in their long and golden hair, As if not dead, but slumbering quietly Like forms which sculptors carve, then love to agony.

24.

Famine had spared the palace of the king:-- _4000 He rioted in festival the while, He and his guards and priests; but Plague did fling One shadow upon all. Famine can smile On him who brings it food, and pa.s.s, with guile Of thankful falsehood, like a courtier gray, _4005 The house-dog of the throne; but many a mile Comes Plague, a winged wolf, who loathes alway The garbage and the sc.u.m that strangers make her prey.

25.

So, near the throne, amid the gorgeous feast, Sheathed in resplendent arms, or loosely dight _4010 To luxury, ere the mockery yet had ceased That lingered on his lips, the warrior's might Was loosened, and a new and ghastlier night In dreams of frenzy lapped his eyes; he fell Headlong, or with stiff eyeb.a.l.l.s sate upright _4015 Among the guests, or raving mad did tell Strange truths; a dying seer of dark oppression's h.e.l.l.

26.

The Princes and the Priests were pale with terror; That monstrous faith wherewith they ruled mankind, Fell, like a shaft loosed by the bowman's error, _4020 On their own hearts: they sought and they could find No refuge--'twas the blind who led the blind!

So, through the desolate streets to the high fane, The many-tongued and endless armies wind In sad procession: each among the train _4025 To his own Idol lifts his supplications vain.

27.

'O G.o.d!' they cried, 'we know our secret pride Has scorned thee, and thy worship, and thy name; Secure in human power we have defied Thy fearful might; we bend in fear and shame _4030 Before thy presence; with the dust we claim Kindred; be merciful, O King of Heaven!

Most justly have we suffered for thy fame Made dim, but be at length our sins forgiven, Ere to despair and death thy worshippers be driven. _4035

28.

'O King of Glory! thou alone hast power!

Who can resist thy will? who can restrain Thy wrath, when on the guilty thou dost shower The shafts of thy revenge, a blistering rain?

Greatest and best, be merciful again! _4040 Have we not stabbed thine enemies, and made The Earth an altar, and the Heavens a fane, Where thou wert worshipped with their blood, and laid Those hearts in dust which would thy searchless works have weighed?

29.

'Well didst thou loosen on this impious City _4045 Thine angels of revenge: recall them now; Thy worshippers, abased, here kneel for pity, And bind their souls by an immortal vow: We swear by thee! and to our oath do thou Give sanction, from thine h.e.l.l of fiends and flame, _4050 That we will kill with fire and torments slow, The last of those who mocked thy holy name, And scorned the sacred laws thy prophets did proclaim.'

30.

Thus they with trembling limbs and pallid lips Worshipped their own hearts' image, dim and vast, _4055 Scared by the shade wherewith they would eclipse The light of other minds;--troubled they pa.s.sed From the great Temple;--fiercely still and fast The arrows of the plague among them fell, And they on one another gazed aghast, _4060 And through the hosts contention wild befell, As each of his own G.o.d the wondrous works did tell.

31.

And Oromaze, Joshua, and Mahomet, Moses, and Buddh, Zerdusht, and Brahm, and Foh, A tumult of strange names, which never met _4065 Before, as watchwords of a single woe, Arose; each raging votary 'gan to throw Aloft his armed hands, and each did howl 'Our G.o.d alone is G.o.d!'--and slaughter now Would have gone forth, when from beneath a cowl _4070 A voice came forth, which pierced like ice through every soul.

32.

'Twas an Iberian Priest from whom it came, A zealous man, who led the legioned West, With words which faith and pride had steeped in flame, To quell the unbelievers; a dire guest _4075 Even to his friends was he, for in his breast Did hate and guile lie watchful, intertwined, Twin serpents in one deep and winding nest; He loathed all faith beside his own, and pined To wreak his fear of Heaven in vengeance on mankind. _4080

33.

But more he loathed and hated the clear light Of wisdom and free thought, and more did fear, Lest, kindled once, its beams might pierce the night, Even where his Idol stood; for, far and near Did many a heart in Europe leap to hear _4085 That faith and tyranny were trampled down; Many a pale victim, doomed for truth to share The murderer's cell, or see, with helpless groan, The priests his children drag for slaves to serve their own.

34.

He dared not kill the infidels with fire _4090 Or steel, in Europe; the slow agonies Of legal torture mocked his keen desire: So he made truce with those who did despise The expiation, and the sacrifice, That, though detested, Islam's kindred creed _4095 Might crush for him those deadlier enemies; For fear of G.o.d did in his bosom breed A jealous hate of man, an unreposing need.

35.

'Peace! Peace!' he cried, 'when we are dead, the Day Of Judgement comes, and all shall surely know _4100 Whose G.o.d is G.o.d, each fearfully shall pay The errors of his faith in endless woe!

But there is sent a mortal vengeance now On earth, because an impious race had spurned Him whom we all adore,--a subtle foe, _4105 By whom for ye this dread reward was earned, And kingly thrones, which rest on faith, nigh overturned.

36.

'Think ye, because ye weep, and kneel, and pray, That G.o.d will lull the pestilence? It rose Even from beneath his throne, where, many a day, _4110 His mercy soothed it to a dark repose: It walks upon the earth to judge his foes; And what are thou and I, that he should deign To curb his ghastly minister, or close The gates of death, ere they receive the twain _4115 Who shook with mortal spells his undefended reign?

37.

'Ay, there is famine in the gulf of h.e.l.l, Its giant worms of fire for ever yawn.-- Their lurid eyes are on us! those who fell By the swift shafts of pestilence ere dawn, _4120 Are in their jaws! they hunger for the sp.a.w.n Of Satan, their own brethren, who were sent To make our souls their spoil. See! see! they fawn Like dogs, and they will sleep with luxury spent, When those detested hearts their iron fangs have rent! _4125

38.

'Our G.o.d may then lull Pestilence to sleep:-- Pile high the pyre of expiation now, A forest's spoil of boughs, and on the heap Pour venomous gums, which sullenly and slow, When touched by flame, shall burn, and melt, and flow, _4130 A stream of clinging fire,--and fix on high A net of iron, and spread forth below A couch of snakes, and scorpions, and the fry Of centipedes and worms, earth's h.e.l.lish progeny!

39.

'Let Laon and Laone on that pyre, _4135 Linked tight with burning bra.s.s, perish!--then pray That, with this sacrifice, the withering ire Of Heaven may be appeased.' He ceased, and they A s.p.a.ce stood silent, as far, far away The echoes of his voice among them died; _4140 And he knelt down upon the dust, alway Muttering the curses of his speechless pride, Whilst shame, and fear, and awe, the armies did divide.

40.

His voice was like a blast that burst the portal Of fabled h.e.l.l; and as he spake, each one _4145 Saw gape beneath the chasms of fire immortal, And Heaven above seemed cloven, where, on a throne Girt round with storms and shadows, sate alone Their King and Judge--fear killed in every breast All natural pity then, a fear unknown _4150 Before, and with an inward fire possessed, They raged like homeless beasts whom burning woods invest.

41.

'Twas morn.--At noon the public crier went forth, Proclaiming through the living and the dead, 'The Monarch saith, that his great Empire's worth _4155 Is set on Laon and Laone's head: He who but one yet living here can lead, Or who the life from both their hearts can wring, Shall be the kingdom's heir--a glorious meed!

But he who both alive can hither bring, _4160 The Princess shall espouse, and reign an equal King.'

42.

Ere night the pyre was piled, the net of iron Was spread above, the fearful couch below; It overtopped the towers that did environ That s.p.a.cious square; for Fear is never slow _4165 To build the thrones of Hate, her mate and foe; So, she scourged forth the maniac mult.i.tude To rear this pyramid--tottering and slow, Plague-stricken, foodless, like lean herds pursued By gadflies, they have piled the heath, and gums, and wood. _4170

43.

Night came, a starless and a moonless gloom.

Until the dawn, those hosts of many a nation Stood round that pile, as near one lover's tomb Two gentle sisters mourn their desolation; And in the silence of that expectation, _4175 Was heard on high the reptiles' hiss and crawl-- It was so deep--save when the devastation Of the swift pest, with fearful interval, Marking its path with shrieks, among the crowd would fall.

44.

Morn came,--among those sleepless mult.i.tudes, _4180 Madness, and Fear, and Plague, and Famine still Heaped corpse on corpse, as in autumnal woods The frosts of many a wind with dead leaves fill Earth's cold and sullen brooks; in silence, still The pale survivors stood; ere noon, the fear _4185 Of h.e.l.l became a panic, which did kill Like hunger or disease, with whispers drear, As 'Hush! hark! Come they yet?--Just Heaven! thine hour is near!'

45.

And Priests rushed through their ranks, some counterfeiting The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed _4190 With their own lies; they said their G.o.d was waiting To see his enemies writhe, and burn, and bleed,-- And that, till then, the snakes of h.e.l.l had need Of human souls:--three hundred furnaces Soon blazed through the wide City, where, with speed, _4195 Men brought their infidel kindred to appease G.o.d's wrath, and, while they burned, knelt round on quivering knees.