Part 19 (1/2)

I with fear and terror quake, Whilst the pen to write I take; I will utter many a pray'r To the heaven's Regent fair, That she deign to succour me, And I'll humbly bend my knee; For but poorly do I know With my subject on to go; Therefore is my wisest plan Not to trust in strength of man.

I my heavy sins bewail, Whilst I view the wo and wail Handed down so solemnly In the book of times gone by.

Onward, onward, now I'll move In the name of Christ above, And his Mother true and dear, She who loves the wretch to cheer.

All I know, and all I've heard I will state - how G.o.d appear'd And to Noah thus did cry: Weary with the world am I; Let an ark by thee be built, For the world is lost in guilt; And when thou hast built it well, Loud proclaim what now I tell: Straight repent ye, for your Lord In his hand doth hold a sword.

And good Noah thus did call: Straight repent ye one and all, For the world with grief I see Lost in vileness utterly.

G.o.d's own mandate I but do, He hath sent me unto you.

Laugh'd the world to bitter scorn, I his cruel sufferings mourn; Brawny youths with furious air Drag the Patriarch by the hair; Lewdness governs every one: Leaves her convent now the nun, And the monk abroad I see Practising iniquity.

Now I'll tell how G.o.d, intent To avenge, a vapour sent, With full many a dreadful sign - Mighty, mighty fear is mine: As I hear the thunders roll, Seems to die my very soul; As I see the world o'erspread All with darkness thick and dread; I the pen can scarcely ply For the tears which dim my eye, And o'ercome with grievous wo, Fear the task I must forego I have purposed to perform. - Hark, I hear upon the storm Thousand, thousand devils fly, Who with awful howlings cry: Now's the time and now's the hour, We have licence, we have power To obtain a glorious prey. - I with horror turn away; Tumbles house and tumbles wall; Thousands lose their lives and all, Voiding curses, screams and groans, For the beams, the bricks and stones Bruise and bury all below - Nor is that the worst, I trow, For the clouds begin to pour Floods of water more and more, Down upon the world with might, Never pausing day or night.

Now in terrible distress All to G.o.d their cries address, And his Mother dear adore, - But the time of grace is o'er, For the Almighty in the sky Holds his hand upraised on high.

Now's the time of madden'd rout, Hideous cry, despairing shout; Whither, whither shall they fly?

For the danger threat'ningly Draweth near on every side, And the earth, that's opening wide, Swallows thousands in its womb, Who would 'scape the dreadful doom.

Of dear hope exists no gleam, Still the water down doth stream; Ne'er so little a creeping thing But from out its hold doth spring: See the mouse, and see its mate Scour along, nor stop, nor wait; See the serpent and the snake For the nearest highlands make; The tarantula I view, Emmet small and cricket too, All unknowing where to fly, In the stifling waters die.

See the goat and bleating sheep, See the bull with bellowings deep.

And the rat with squealings shrill, They have mounted on the hill: See the stag, and see the doe, How together fond they go; Lion, tiger-beast, and pard, To escape are striving hard: Followed by her little ones, See the hare how swift she runs: a.s.ses, he and she, a pair.

Mute and mule with bray and blare, And the rabbit and the fox, Hurry over stones and rocks, With the grunting hog and horse, Till at last they stop their course - On the summit of the hill All a.s.sembled stand they still; In the second part I'll tell Unto them what there befell.

PART THE SECOND

When I last did bid farewell, I proposed the world to tell, Higher as the Deluge flow'd, How the frog and how the toad, With the lizard and the eft, All their holes and coverts left, And a.s.sembled on the height; Soon I ween appeared in sight All that's wings beneath the sky, Bat and swallow, wasp and fly, Gnat and sparrow, and behind Comes the crow of carrion kind; Dove and pigeon are descried, And the raven fiery-eyed, With the beetle and the crane Flying on the hurricane: See they find no resting-place, For the world's terrestrial s.p.a.ce Is with water cover'd o'er, Soon they sink to rise no more: 'To our father let us flee!'

Straight the ark-s.h.i.+p openeth he, And to everything that lives Kindly he admission gives.

Of all kinds a single pair, And the members safely there Of his house he doth embark, Then at once he shuts the ark; Everything therein has pa.s.s'd, There he keeps them safe and fast.

O'er the mountain's topmost peak Now the raging waters break.

Till full twenty days are o'er, 'Midst the elemental roar, Up and down the ark forlorn, Like some evil thing is borne: O what grief it is to see Swimming on the enormous sea Human corses pale and white, More, alas! than I can write: O what grief, what grief profound, But to think the world is drown'd: True a scanty few are left, All are not of life bereft, So that, when the Lord ordain, They may procreate again, In a world entirely new, Better people and more true, To their Maker who shall bow; And I humbly beg you now, Ye in modern times who wend, That your lives ye do amend; For no wat'ry punishment, But a heavier shall be sent; For the blessed saints pretend That the latter world shall end To tremendous fire a prey, And to ashes sink away.

To the Ark I now go back, Which pursues its dreary track, Lost and 'wilder'd till the Lord In his mercy rest accord.

Early of a morning tide They unclosed a window wide, Heaven's beacon to descry, And a gentle dove let fly, Of the world to seek some trace, And in two short hours' s.p.a.ce It returns with eyes that glow, In its beak an olive bough.

With a loud and mighty sound, They exclaim: 'The world we've found.'

To a mountain nigh they drew, And when there themselves they view, Bound they swiftly on the sh.o.r.e, And their fervent thanks outpour, Lowly kneeling to their G.o.d; Then their way a couple trod, Man and woman, hand in hand, Bent to populate the land, To the Moorish region fair - And another two repair To the country of the Gaul; In this manner wend they all, And the seeds of nations lay.

I beseech ye'll credence pay, For our father, high and sage, Wrote the tale in sacred page, As a record to the world, Record sad of vengeance hurl'd.

I, a low and humble wight, Beg permission now to write Unto all that in our land Tongue Egyptian understand.

May our Virgin Mother mild Grant to me, her erring child, Plenteous grace in every way, And success. Amen I say.

THE PESTILENCE

I'm resolved now to tell In the speech of Gypsy-land All the horror that befell In this city huge and grand.

In the eighteenth hundred year In the midst of summertide, G.o.d, with man dissatisfied, His right hand on high did rear, With a rigour most severe; Whence we well might understand He would strict account demand Of our lives and actions here.

The dread event to render clear Now the pen I take in hand.