Paracelsus: Part V: Paracelsus Attains Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB B CBDEEEEEFEG HEIEEJ KLMENOPEQEERSETUBB VEBBEEEWBBXYENVE EETEEAZKEA2EETBETBLB EEB2C2D2EE2EBS BF2EA2EG2EH2UBB2BEI2 H2E EEEJ2K2VYEVTE BE BVEB2 BBEEEL2M2N2O2B2 BB BP2B2E BB BP2Q2IJR2S2T2B BE BOA2EJBU2Q2V2LI2EBGB EWQBE2I2EBBBEBBI2 BA BBEBBI2BBLWBI2EBUBBS BBBEW2EI2BYX2Y2 BB BZ2BI2EEA3B3EA2BI2EI 2XBI2BBEE BEEEBBC3EV B I2BD3BEBE3WLEEF3P2G3 ZP2BBBE YXSP2EEBBEBI2EI2A2L2 O2EWF3C2BBEEKE BEEBBEU2BEI2H3REX BAG3EABEI3 BE3BBBBBBI2BBJ3BBBA BLK3TL3BBBGBBM3BB I2I2XBI2BBBA2L2BI2E3 BB T2VI2BBEBB BBBLBB BBBBBN3BWBB BB BBBBOBBBBI2BBBBLBBBB BO3BI2BBBBBBBXBDBP3 BBQ3A2E2BBBBBBA2BBA2 BBBLBBBBBB BB BBI2BL2O3TBB BB BB BF3BB BLLBBBBDDBBR3R3B BF3 BBBA2Q2AABBBBLLBBBB BBKBBBBV BBB BBBB BV BBBBV2BBBS3BL3 BBE2 BB BB BBB BB BBBBO2LBC3BA2BLYBLBB WA3BBBBBBBBFYYBBLI2B BBLBBG3B BV BLBLYBBT3A2LBBBBL B BOEU3BBBI2Q2TI2 BBBBB BBVBLA2I2B BBK3 BJ3YBBI2BBS3BG3BL BA2 BBE2BBB BBL BB BBB BBBBV3BA2BFO BBBBLBB BI2BI2BE2BTBBBBBS3 BI2BS3 BL BB BBBBI2BBBA2Z2BYDBBI2 BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBLBBE2 BBBLBBBYN2DBA2YW3BBQ 2BA2LBBBBI2BBBI2Z2BB BA2LBBBA2LBI2DBX3I2B BBY3A2A2A2BBLI2BLBBA 2BBA2BBBBBD2BBBA2BBB BBBBLBLA2BBOLBBA2BZ3 BD2BA4EBA2LBLLBBBBBL BBBBBLBBBBBA2B4BA2DE 3I2BLLBTI2BA2BBBBA2B BBBBBA2LBWBBBZ2BBFBY 3BBLBLLBBLTBBBBBLLBL BLLBI2I2BZ2BBLBBA2BL W2BBBLDLLBBBG3LBLLBE LBA2EA2I2EA2I2D2BBEA 2BBDZ2WLELEBEBC4ETBB EI2LBTLBELEFBBEBEBBB D4EE4EEL2 BB BEEB BB

Scene Salzburg a cell in the Hospital of St Sebastian	A
Festus Paracelsus	B
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Festus	B
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No change The weary night is well nigh spent	C
The lamp burns low and through the casement bars	B
Grey morning glimmers feebly yet no change	D
Another night and still no sigh has stirred	E
That fallen discoloured mouth no pang relit	E
Those fixed eyes quenched by the decaying body	E
Like torch flame choked in dust While all beside	E
Was breaking to the last they held out bright	E
As a stronghold where life intrenched itself	F
But they are dead now very blind and dead	E
He will drowse into death without a groan	G
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My Aureole my forgotten ruined Aureole	H
The days are gone are gone How grand thou wast	E
And now not one of those who struck thee down	I
Poor glorious spirit concerns him even to stay	E
And satisfy himself his little hand	E
Could turn God's image to a livid thing	J
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Another night and yet no change 'T is much	K
That I should sit by him and bathe his brow	L
And chafe his hands 't is much but he will sure	M
Know me and look on me and speak to me	E
Once more but only once His hollow cheek	N
Looked all night long as though a creeping laugh	O
At his own state were just about to break	P
From the dying man my brain swam my throat swelled	E
And yet I could not turn away In truth	Q
They told me how when first brought here he seemed	E
Resolved to live to lose no faculty	E
Thus striving to keep up his shattered strength	R
Until they bore him to this stifling cell	S
When straight his features fell an hour made white	E
The flushed face and relaxed the quivering limb	T
Only the eye remained intense awhile	U
As though it recognized the tomb like place	B
And then he lay as here he lies	B
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Ay here	V
Here is earth's noblest nobly garlanded	E
Her bravest champion with his well won prize	B
Her best achievement her sublime amends	B
For countless generations fleeting fast	E
And followed by no trace the creature god	E
She instances when angels would dispute	E
The title of her brood to rank with them	W
Angels this is our angel Those bright forms	B
We clothe with purple crown and call to thrones	B
Are human but not his those are but men	X
Whom other men press round and kneel before	Y
Those palaces are dwelt in by mankind	E
Higher provision is for him you seek	N
Amid our pomps and glories see it here	V
Behold earth's paragon Now raise thee clay	E
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God Thou art love I build my faith on that	E
Even as I watch beside thy tortured child	E
Unconscious whose hot tears fall fast by him	T
So doth thy right hand guide us through the world	E
Wherein we stumble God what shall we say	E
How has he sinned How else should he have done	A
Surely he sought thy praise thy praise for all	Z
He might be busied by the task so much	K
As half forget awhile its proper end	E
Dost thou well Lord Thou canst not but prefer	A2
That I should range myself upon his side	E
How could he stop at every step to set	E
Thy glory forth Hadst thou but granted him	T
Success thy honour would have crowned success	B
A halo round a star Or say he erred	E
Save him dear God it will be like thee bathe him	T
In light and life Thou art not made like us	B
We should be wroth in such a case but thou	L
Forgivest so forgive these passionate thoughts	B
Which come unsought and will not pass away	E
I know thee who hast kept my path and made	E
Light for me in the darkness tempering sorrow	B2
So that it reached me like a solemn joy	C2
It were too strange that I should doubt thy love	D2
But what am I Thou madest him and knowest	E
How he was fashioned I could never err	E2
That way the quiet place beside thy feet	E
Reserved for me was ever in my thoughts	B
But he thou shouldst have favoured him as well	S
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Ah he wakens Aureole I am here 't is Festus	B
I cast away all wishes save one wish	F2
Let him but know me only speak to me	E
He mutters louder and louder any other	A2
Than I with brain less laden could collect	E
What he pours forth Dear Aureole do but look	G2
Is it talking or singing this he utters fast	E
Misery that he should fix me with his eye	H2
Quick talking to some other all the while	U
If he would husband this wild vehemence	B
Which frustrates its intent I heard I know	B2
I heard my name amid those rapid words	B
Oh he will know me yet Could I divert	E
This current lead it somehow gently back	I2
Into the channels of the past His eye	H2
Brighter than ever It must recognize me	E
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I am Erasmus I am here to pray	E
That Paracelsus use his skill for me	E
The schools of Paris and of Padua send	E
These questions for your learning to resolve	J2
We are your students noble master leave	K2
This wretched cell what business have you here	V
Our class awaits you come to us once more	Y
O agony the utmost I can do	E
Touches him not how else arrest his ear	V
I am commissioned I shall craze like him	T
Better be mute and see what God shall send	E
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Paracelsus	B
Stay stay with me	E
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Festus	B
I will I am come here	V
To stay with you Festus you loved of old	E
Festus you know you must know	B2
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Paracelsus	B
Festus Where's	B
Aprile then Has he not chanted softly	E
The melodies I heard all night I could not	E
Get to him for a cold hand on my breast	E
But I made out his music well enough	L2
O well enough If they have filled him full	M2
With magical music as they freight a star	N2
With light and have remitted all his sin	O2
They will forgive me too I too shall know	B2
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Festus	B
Festus your Festus	B
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Paracelsus	B
Ask him if Aprile	P2
Knows as he Loves if I shall Love and Know	B2
I try but that cold hand like lead so cold	E
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Festus	B
My hand see	B
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Paracelsus	B
Ah the curse Aprile Aprile	P2
We get so near so very very near	Q2
'T is an old tale Jove strikes the Titans down	I
Not when they set about their mountain piling	J
But when another rock would crown the work	R2
And Phaeton doubtless his first radiant plunge	S2
Astonished mortals though the gods were calm	T2
And Jove prepared his thunder all old tales	B
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Festus	B
And what are these to you	E
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Paracelsus	B
Ay fiends must laugh	O
So cruelly so well most like I never	A2
Could tread a single pleasure underfoot	E
But they were grinning by my side were chuckling	J
To see me toil and drop away by flakes	B
Hell spawn I am glad most glad that thus I fail	U2
Your cunning has o'ershot its aim One year	Q2
One month perhaps and I had served your turn	V2
You should have curbed your spite awhile But now	L
Who will believe 't was you that held me back	I2
Listen there's shame and hissing and contempt	E
And none but laughs who names me none but spits	B
Measureless scorn upon me me alone	G
The quack the cheat the liar all on me	B
And thus your famous plan to sink mankind	E
In silence and despair by teaching them	W
One of their race had probed the inmost truth	Q
Had done all man could do yet failed no less	B
Your wise plan proves abortive Men despair	E2
Ha ha why they are hooting the empiric	I2
The ignorant and incapable fool who rushed	E
Madly upon a work beyond his wits	B
Nor doubt they but the simplest of themselves	B
Could bring the matter to triumphant issue	B
So pick and choose among them all accursed	E
Try now persuade some other to slave for you	B
To ruin body and soul to work your ends	B
No no I am the first and last I think	I2
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Festus	B
Dear friend who are accursed who has done	A
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Paracelsus	B
What have I done Fiends dare ask that or you	B
Brave men Oh you can chime in boldly backed	E
By the others What had you to do sage peers	B
Here stand my rivals Latin Arab Jew	B
Greek join dead hands against me all I ask	I2
Is that the world enrol my name with theirs	B
And even this poor privilege it seems	B
They range themselves prepared to disallow	L
Only observe why fiends may learn from them	W
How they talk calmly of my throes my fierce	B
Aspirings terrible watchings each one claiming	I2
Its price of blood and brain how they dissect	E
And sneeringly disparage the few truths	B
Got at a life's cost they too hanging the while	U
About my neck their lies misleading me	B
And their dead names browbeating me Grey crew	B
Yet steeped in fresh malevolence from hell	S
Is there a reason for your hate My truths	B
Have shaken a little the palm about each prince	B
Just think Aprile all these leering dotards	B
Were bent on nothing less than to be crowned	E
As we That yellow blear eyed wretch in chief	W2
To whom the rest cringe low with feigned respect	E
Galen of Pergamos and hell nay speak	I2
The tale old man We met there face to face	B
I said the crown should fall from thee Once more	Y
We meet as in that ghastly vestibule	X2
Look to my brow Have I redeemed my pledge	Y2
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Festus	B
Peace peace ah see	B
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Paracelsus	B
Oh emptiness of fame	Z2
Oh Persic Zoroaster lord of stars	B
Who said these old renowns dead long ago	I2
Could make me overlook the living world	E
To gaze through gloom at where they stood indeed	E
But stand no longer What a warm light life	A3
After the shade In truth my delicate witch	B3
My serpent queen you did but well to hide	E
The juggles I had else detected Fire	A2
May well run harmless o'er a breast like yours	B
The cave was not so darkened by the smoke	I2
But that your white limbs dazzled me oh white	E
And panting as they twinkled wildly dancing	I2
I cared not for your passionate gestures then	X
But now I have forgotten the charm of charms	B
The foolish knowledge which I came to seek	I2
While I remember that quaint dance and thus	B
I am come back not for those mummeries	B
But to love you and to kiss your little feet	E
Soft as an ermine's winter coat	E
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Festus	B
A light	E
Will struggle through these thronging words at last	E
As in the angry and tumultuous West	E
A soft star trembles through the drifting clouds	B
These are the strivings of a spirit which hates	B
So sad a vault should coop it and calls up	C3
The past to stand between it and its fate	E
Were he at Einsiedeln or Michal here	V
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Paracelsus	B
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Cruel I seek her now I kneel I shriek	I2
I clasp her vesture but she fades still fades	B
And she is gone sweet human love is gone	D3
'T is only when they spring to heaven that angels	B
Reveal themselves to you they sit all day	E
Beside you and lie down at night by you	B
Who care not for their presence muse or sleep	E3
And all at once they leave you and you know them	W
We are so fooled so cheated Why even now	L
I am not too secure against foul play	E
The shadows deepen and the walls contract	E
No doubt some treachery is going on	F3
'T is very dusk Where are we put Aprile	P2
Have they left us in the lurch This murky loathsome	G3
Death trap this slaughter house is not the hall	Z
In the golden city Keep by me Aprile	P2
There is a hand groping amid the blackness	B
To catch us Have the spider fingers got you	B
Poet Hold on me for your life If once	B
They pull you Hold	E
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'Tis but a dream no more	Y
I have you still the sun comes out again	X
Let us be happy all will yet go well	S
Let us confer is it not like Aprile	P2
That spite of trouble this ordeal passed	E
The value of my labours ascertained	E
Just as some stream foams long among the rocks	B
But after glideth glassy to the sea	B
So full content shall henceforth be my lot	E
What think you poet Louder Your clear voice	B
Vibrates too like a harp string Do you ask	I2
How could I still remain on earth should God	E
Grant me the great approval which I seek	I2
I you and God can comprehend each other	A2
But men would murmur and with cause enough	L2
For when they saw me stainless of all sin	O2
Preserved and sanctified by inward light	E
They would complain that comfort shut from them	W
I drank thus unespied that they live on	F3
Nor taste the quiet of a constant joy	C2
For ache and care and doubt and weariness	B
While I am calm help being vouchsafed to me	B
And hid from them 'T were best consider that	E
You reason well Aprile but at least	E
Let me know this and die Is this too much	K
I will learn this if God so please and die	E
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If thou shalt please dear God if thou shalt please	B
We are so weak we know our motives least	E
In their confused beginning If at first	E
I sought but wherefore bare my heart to thee	B
I know thy mercy and already thoughts	B
Flock fast about my soul to comfort it	E
And intimate I cannot wholly fail	U2
For love and praise would clasp me willingly	B
Could I resolve to seek them Thou art good	E
And I should be content Yet yet first show	I2
I have done wrong in daring Rather give	H3
The supernatural consciousness of strength	R
Which fed my youth Only one hour of that	E
With thee to help O what should bar me then	X
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Lost lost Thus things are ordered here God's creatures	B
And yet he takes no pride in us none none	A
Truly there needs another life to come	G3
If this be all I must tell Festus that	E
And other life await us not for one	A
I say 't is a poor cheat a stupid bungle	B
A wretched failure I for one protest	E
Against it and I hurl it back with scorn	I3
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Well onward though alone Small time remains	B
And much to do I must have fruit must reap	E3
Some profit from my toils I doubt my body	B
Will hardly serve me through while I have laboured	B
It has decayed and now that I demand	B
Its best assistance it will crumble fast	B
A sad thought a sad fate How very full	B
Of wormwood 't is that just at altar service	B
The rapt hymn rising with the rolling smoke	I2
When glory dawns and all is at the best	B
The sacred fire may flicker and grow faint	B
And die for want of a wood piler's help	J3
Thus fades the flagging body and the soul	B
Is pulled down in the overthrow Well well	B
Let men catch every word let them lose nought	B
Of what I say something may yet be done	A
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They are ruins Trust me who am one of you	B
All ruins glorious once but lonely now	L
It makes my heart sick to behold you crouch	K3
Beside your desolate fane the arches dim	T
The crumbling columns grand against the moon	L3
Could I but rear them up once more but that	B
May never be so leave them Trust me friends	B
Why should you linger here when I have built	B
A far resplendent temple all your own	G
Trust me they are but ruins See Aprile	B
Men will not heed Yet were I not prepared	B
With better refuge for them tongue of mine	M3
Should ne'er reveal how blank their dwelling is	B
I would sit down in silence with the rest	B
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Ha what you spit at me you grin and shriek	I2
Contempt into my ear my ear which drank	I2
God's accents once you curse me Why men men	X
I am not formed for it Those hideous eyes	B
Will be before me sleeping waking praying	I2
They will not let me even die Spare spare me	B
Sinning or no forget that only spare me	B
The horrible scorn You thought I could support it	B
But now you see what silly fragile creature	A2
Cowers thus I am not good nor bad enough	L2
Not Christ nor Cain yet even Cain was saved	B
From Hate like this Let me but totter back	I2
Perhaps I shall elude those jeers which creep	E3
Into my very brain and shut these scorched	B
Eyelids and keep those mocking faces out	B
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Listen Aprile I am very calm	T2
Be not deceived there is no passion here	V
Where the blood leaps like an imprisoned thing	I2
I am calm I will exterminate the race	B
Enough of that 't is said and it shall be	B
And now be merry safe and sound am I	E
Who broke through their best ranks to get at you	B
And such a havoc such a rout Aprile	B
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Festus	B
Have you no thought no memory for me	B
Aureole I am so wretched my pure Michal	B
Is gone and you alone are left me now	L
And even you forget me Take my hand	B
Lean on me thus Do you not know me Aureole	B
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Paracelsus	B
Festus my own friend you are come at last	B
As you say 't is an awful enterprise	B
But you believe I shall go through with it	B
'T is like you and I thank you Thank him for me	B
Dear Michal See how bright St Saviour's spire	N3
Flames in the sunset all its figures quaint	B
Gay in the glancing light you might conceive them	W
A troop of yellow vested white haired Jews	B
Bound for their own land where redemption dawns	B
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Festus	B
Not that blest time not our youth's time dear God	B
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Paracelsus	B
Ha stay true I forget all is done since	B
And he is come to judge me How he speaks	B
How calm how well yes it is true all true	B
All quackery all deceit myself can laugh	O
The first at it if you desire but still	B
You know the obstacles which taught me tricks	B
So foreign to my nature envy and hate	B
Blind opposition brutal prejudice	B
Bald ignorance what wonder if I sunk	I2
To humour men the way they most approved	B
My cheats were never palmed on such as you	B
Dear Festus I will kneel if you require me	B
Impart the meagre knowledge I possess	B
Explain its bounded nature and avow	L
My insufficiency whate'er you will	B
I give the fight up let there be an end	B
A privacy an obscure nook for me	B
I want to be forgotten even by God	B
But if that cannot be dear Festus lay me	B
When I shall die within some narrow grave	O3
Not by itself for that would be too proud	B
But where such graves are thickest let it look	I2
Nowise distinguished from the hillocks round	B
So that the peasant at his brother's bed	B
May tread upon my own and know it not	B
And we shall all be equal at the last	B
Or classed according to life's natural ranks	B
Fathers sons brothers friends not rich nor wise	B
Nor gifted lay me thus then say He lived	B
Too much advanced before his brother men	X
They kept him still in front 't was for their good	B
But yet a dangerous station It were strange	D
That he should tell God he had never ranked	B
With men so here at least he is a man	P3
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Festus	B
That God shall take thee to his breast dear spirit	B
Unto his breast be sure and here on earth	Q3
Shall splendour sit upon thy name for ever	A2
Sun all the heaven is glad for thee what care	E2
If lower mountains light their snowy phares	B
At thine effulgence yet acknowledge not	B
The source of day Their theft shall be their bale	B
For after ages shall retrack thy beams	B
And put aside the crowd of busy ones	B
And worship thee alone the master mind	B
The thinker the explorer the creator	A2
Then who should sneer at the convulsive throes	B
With which thy deeds were born would scorn as well	B
The sheet of winding subterraneous fire	A2
Which pent and writhing sends no less at last	B
Huge islands up amid the simmering sea	B
Behold thy might in me thou hast infused	B
Thy soul in mine and I am grand as thou	L
Seeing I comprehend thee I so simple	B
Thou so august I recognize thee first	B
I saw thee rise I watched thee early and late	B
And though no glance reveal thou dost accept	B
My homage thus no less I proffer it	B
And bid thee enter gloriously thy rest	B
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Paracelsus	B
Festus	B
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Festus	B
I am for noble Aureole God	B
I am upon his side come weal or woe	I2
His portion shall be mine He has done well	B
I would have sinned had I been strong enough	L2
As he has sinned Reward him or I waive	O3
Reward If thou canst find no place for him	T
He shall be king elsewhere and I will be	B
His slave for ever There are two of us	B
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Paracelsus	B
Dear Festus	B
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Festus	B
Here dear Aureole ever by you	B
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Paracelsus	B
Nay speak on or I dream again Speak on	F3
Some story anything only your voice	B
I shall dream else Speak on ay leaning so	B
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Festus	B
Thus the Mayne glideth	L
Where my Love abideth	L
Sleep's no softer it proceeds	B
On through lawns on through meads	B
On and on whate'er befall	B
Meandering and musical	B
Though the niggard pasturage	D
Bears not on its shaven ledge	D
Aught but weeds and waving grasses	B
To view the river as it passes	B
Save here and there a scanty patch	R3
Of primroses too faint to catch	R3
A weary bee	B
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Paracelsus	B
More more say on	F3
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Festus	B
And scarce it pushes	B
Its gentle way through strangling rushes	B
Where the glossy kingfisher	A2
Flutters when noon heats are near	Q2
Glad the shelving banks to shun	A
Red and steaming in the sun	A
Where the shrew mouse with pale throat	B
Burrows and the speckled stoat	B
Where the quick sandpipers flit	B
In and out the marl and grit	B
That seems to breed them brown as they	L
Nought disturbs its quiet way	L
Save some lazy stork that springs	B
Trailing it with legs and wings	B
Whom the shy fox from the hill	B
Rouses creep he ne'er so still	B
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Paracelsus	B
My heart they loose my heart those simple words	B
Its darkness passes which nought else could touch	K
Like some dark snake that force may not expel	B
Which glideth out to music sweet and low	B
What were you doing when your voice broke through	B
A chaos of ugly images You indeed	B
Are you alone here	V
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Festus	B
All alone you know me	B
This cell	B
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Paracelsus	B
An unexceptionable vault	B
Good brick and stone the bats kept out the rats	B
Kept in a snug nook how should I mistake it	B
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Festus	B
But wherefore am I here	V
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Paracelsus	B
Ah well remembered	B
Why for a purpose for a purpose Festus	B
'T is like me here I trifle while time fleets	B
And this occasion lost will ne'er return	V2
You are here to be instructed I will tell	B
God's message but I have so much to say	B
I fear to leave half out All is confused	B
No doubt but doubtless you will learn in time	S3
He would not else have brought you here no doubt	B
I shall see clearer soon	L3
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Festus	B
Tell me but this	B
You are not in despair	E2
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Paracelsus	B
I and for what	B
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Festus	B
Alas alas he knows not as I feared	B
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Paracelsus	B
What is it you would ask me with that earnest	B
Dear searching face	B
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Festus	B
How feel you Aureole	B
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Paracelsus	B
Well	B
Well 'T is a strange thing I am dying Festus	B
And now that fast the storm of life subsides	B
I first perceive how great the whirl has been	O2
I was calm then who am so dizzy now	L
Calm in the thick of the tempest but no less	B
A partner of its motion and mixed up	C3
With its career The hurricane is spent	B
And the good boat speeds through the brightening weather	A2
But is it earth or sea that heaves below	B
The gulf rolls like a meadow swell o'erstrewn	L
With ravaged boughs and remnants of the shore	Y
And now some slet loosened from the land	B
Swims past with all its trees sailing to ocean	L
And now the air is full of uptorn canes	B
Light strippings from the fan trees tamarisks	B
Unrooted with their birds still clinging to them	W
All high in the wind Even so my varied life	A3
Drifts by me I am young old happy sad	B
Hoping desponding acting taking rest	B
And all at once that is those past conditions	B
Float back at once on me If I select	B
Some special epoch from the crowd 't is but	B
To will and straight the rest dissolve away	B
And only that particular state is present	B
With all its long forgotten circumstance	B
Distinct and vivid as at first myself	F
A careless looker on and nothing more	Y
Indifferent and amused but nothing more	Y
And this is death I understand it all	B
New being waits me new perceptions must	B
Be born in me before I plunge therein	L
Which last is Death's affair and while I speak	I2
Minute by minute he is filling me	B
With power and while my foot is on the threshold	B
Of boundless life the doors unopened yet	B
All preparations not complete within	L
I turn new knowledge upon old events	B
And the effect is but I must not tell	B
It is not lawful Your own turn will come	G3
One day Wait Festus You will die like me	B
	-
	-
Festus	B
'T is of that past life that I burn to hear	V
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
You wonder it engages me just now	L
In truth I wonder too What 's life to me	B
Where'er I look is fire where'er I listen	L
Music and where I tend bliss evermore	Y
Yet how can I refrain 'T is a refined	B
Delight to view those chances one last view	B
I am so near the perils I escape	T3
That I must play with them and turn them over	A2
To feel how fully they are past and gone	L
Still it is like some further cause exists	B
For this peculiar mood some hidden purpose	B
Did I not tell you something of it Festus	B
I had it fast but it has somehow slipt	B
Away from me it will return anon	L
	-
	-
Festus	B
	-
	-
Indeed his cheek seems young again his voice	B
Complete with its old tones that little laugh	O
Concluding every phrase with upturned eye	E
As though one stooped above his head to whom	U3
He looked for confirmation and approval	B
Where was it gone so long so well preserved	B
Then the fore finger pointing as he speaks	B
Like one who traces in an open book	I2
The matter he declares 't is many a year	Q2
Since I remarked it last and this in him	T
But now a ghastly wreck	I2
	-
	-
And can it be	B
Dear Aureole you have then found out at last	B
That worldly things are utter vanity	B
That man is made for weakness and should wait	B
In patient ignorance till God appoint	B
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
Ha the purpose the true purpose that is it	B
How could I fail to apprehend You here	V
I thus But no more trifling I see all	B
I know all my last mission shall be done	L
If strength suffice No trifling Stay this posture	A2
Hardly befits one thus about to speak	I2
I will arise	B
	-
	-
Festus	B
Nay Aureole are you wild	B
You cannot leave your couch	K3
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
No help no help	J3
Not even your hand So there I stand once more	Y
Speak from a couch I never lectured thus	B
My gown the scarlet lined with fur now put	B
The chain about my neck my signet ring	I2
Is still upon my hand I think even so	B
Last my good sword ah trusty Azoth leapest	B
Beneath thy master's grasp for the last time	S3
This couch shall be my throne I bid these walls	B
Be consecrate this wretched cell become	G3
A shrine for here God speaks to men through me	B
Now Festus I am ready to begin	L
	-
	-
Festus	B
I am dumb with wonder	A2
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
Listen therefore Festus	B
There will be time enough but none to spare	E2
I must content myself with telling only	B
The most important points You doubtless feel	B
That I am happy Festus very happy	B
	-
	-
Festus	B
'T is no delusion which uplifts him thus	B
Then you are pardoned Aureole all your sin	L
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
Ay pardoned yet why pardoned	B
	-
	-
Festus	B
'T is God's praise	B
That man is bound to seek and you	B
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
Have lived	B
We have to live alone to set forth well	B
God's praise 'T is true I sinned much as I thought	B
And in effect need mercy for I strove	V3
To do that very thing but do your best	B
Or worst praise rises and will rise for ever	A2
Pardon from him because of praise denied	B
Who calls me to himself to exalt himself	F
He might laugh as I laugh	O
	-
	-
Festus	B
But all comes	B
To the same thing 'T is fruitless for mankind	B
To fret themselves with what concerns them not	B
They are no use that way they should lie down	L
Content as God has made them nor go mad	B
In thriveless cares to better what is ill	B
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
No no mistake me not let me not work	I2
More harm than I have worked This is my case	B
If I go joyous back to God yet bring	I2
No offering if I render up my soul	B
Without the fruits it was ordained to bear	E2
If I appear the better to love God	B
For sin as one who has no claim on him	T
Be not deceived It may be surely thus	B
With me while higher prizes still await	B
The mortal persevering to the end	B
Beside I am not all so valueless	B
I have been something though too soon I left	B
Following the instincts of that happy time	S3
	-
	-
Festus	B
What happy time For God's sake for man's sake	I2
What time was happy All I hope to know	B
That answer will decide What happy time	S3
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
When but the time I vowed myself to man	L
	-
	-
Festus	B
Great God thy judgments are inscrutable	B
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
Yes it was in me I was born for it	B
I Paracelsus it was mine by right	B
Doubtless a searching and impetuous soul	B
Might learn from its own motions that some task	I2
Like this awaited it about the world	B
Might seek somewhere in this blank life of ours	B
For fit delights to stay its longings vast	B
And grappling Nature so prevail on her	A2
To fill the creature full she dared thus frame	Z2
Hungry for joy and bravely tyrannous	B
Grow in demand still craving more and more	Y
And make each joy conceded prove a pledge	D
Of other joy to follow bating nought	B
Of its desires still seizing fresh pretence	B
To turn the knowledge and the rapture wrung	I2
As an extreme last boon from destiny	B
Into occasion for new coyetings	B
New strifes new triumphs doubtless a strong soul	B
Alone unaided might attain to this	B
So glorious is our nature so august	B
Man's inborn uninstructed impulses	B
His naked spirit so majestical	B
But this was born in me I was made so	B
Thus much time saved the feverish appeties	B
The tumult of unproved desire the unaimed	B
Uncertain yearnings aspirations blind	B
Distrust mistake and all that ends in tears	B
Were saved me thus I entered on my course	B
You may be sure I was not all exempt	B
From human trouble just so much of doubt	B
As bade me plant a surer foot upon	L
The sun road kept my eye unruined 'mid	B
The fierce and flashing splendour set my heart	B
Trembling so much as warned me I stood there	E2
On sufferance not to idly gaze but cast	B
Light on a darkling race save for that doubt	B
I stood at first where all aspire at last	B
To stand the secret of the world was mine	L
I knew I felt perception unexpressed	B
Uncomprehended by our narrow thought	B
But somehow felt and known in every shift	B
And change in the spirit nay in every pore	Y
Of the body even what God is what we are	N2
What life is how God tastes an infinite joy	D
In infinite ways one everlasting bliss	B
From whom all being emanates all power	A2
Proceeds in whom is life for evermore	Y
Yet whom existence in its lowest form	W3
Includes where dwells enjoyment there is he	B
With still a flying point of bliss remote	B
A happiness in store afar a sphere	Q2
Of distant glory in full view thus climbs	B
Pleasure its heights for ever and for ever	A2
The centre fire heaves underneath the earth	L
And the earth changes like a human face	B
The molten ore bursts up among the rocks	B
Winds into the stone's heart outbranches bright	B
In hidden mines spots barren river beds	B
Crumbles into fine sand where sunbeams bask	I2
God joys therein The wroth sea's waves are edged	B
With foam white as the bitten lip of hate	B
When in the solitary waste strange groups	B
Of young volcanos come up cyclops like	I2
Staring together with their eyes on flame	Z2
God tastes a pleasure in their uncouth pride	B
Then all is still earth is a wintry clod	B
But spring wind like a dancing psaltress passes	B
Over its breast to waken it rare verdure	A2
Buds tenderly upon rough banks between	L
The withered tree roots and the cracks of frost	B
Like a smile striving with a wrinkled face	B
The grass grows bright the boughs are swoln with blooms	B
Like chrysalids impatient for the air	A2
The shining dorrs are busy beetles run	L
Along the furrows ants make their ado	B
Above birds fly in merry flocks the lark	I2
Soars up and up shivering for very joy	D
Afar the ocean sleeps white fishing gulls	B
Flit where the strand is purple with its tribe	X3
Of nested limpets savage creatures seek	I2
Their loves in wood and plain and God renews	B
His ancient rapture Thus he dwells in all	B
From life's minute beginnings up at last	B
To man the consummation of this scheme	Y3
Of being the completion of this sphere	A2
Of life whose attributes had here and there	A2
Been scattered o'er the visible world before	A2
Asking to be combined dim fragments meant	B
To be united in some wondrous whole	B
Imperfect qualities throughout creation	L
Suggesting some one creature yet to make	I2
Some point where all those scattered rays should meet	B
Convergent in the faculties of man	L
Power neither put forth blindly nor controlled	B
Calmly by perfect knowledge to be used	B
At risk inspired or checked by hope and fear	A2
Knowledge not intuition but the slow	B
Uncertain fruit of an enhancing toil	B
Strengthened by love love not serenely pure	A2
But strong from weakness like a chance sown plant	B
Which cast on stubborn soil puts forth changed buds	B
And softer stains unknown in happier climes	B
Love which endures and doubts and is oppressed	B
And cherished suffering much and much sustained	B
And blind oft failing yet believing love	D2
A half enlightened often chequered trust	B
Hints and previsions of which faculties	B
Are strewn confusedly everywhere about	B
The inferior natures and all lead up higher	A2
All shape out dimly the superior race	B
The heir of hopes too fair to turn out false	B
And man appears at last So far the seal	B
Is put on life one stage of being complete	B
One scheme wound up and from the grand result	B
A supplementary reflux of light	B
Illustrates all the inferior grades explains	B
Each back step in the circle Not alone	L
For their possessor dawn those qualities	B
But the new glory mixes with the heaven	L
And earth man once descried imprints for ever	A2
His presence on all lifeless things the winds	B
Are henceforth voices wailing or a shout	B
A querulous mutter or a quick gay laugh	O
Never a senseless gust now man is born	L
The herded pines commune and have deep thoughts	B
A secret they assemble to discuss	B
When the sun drops behind their trunks which glare	A2
Like grates of hell the peerless cup afloat	B
Of the lake lily is an urn some nymph	Z3
Swims bearing high above her head no bird	B
Whistles unseen but through the gaps above	D2
That let light in upon the gloomy woods	B
A shape peeps from the breezy forest top	A4
Arch with small puckered mouth and mocking eye	E
The morn has enterprise deep quiet droops	B
With evening triumph takes the sunset hour	A2
Voluptuous transport ripens with the corn	L
Beneath a warm moon like a happy face	B
And this to fill us with regard for man	L
With apprehension of his passing worth	L
Desire to work his proper nature out	B
And ascertain his rank and final place	B
For these things tend still upward progress is	B
The law of life man is not Man as yet	B
Nor shall I deem his object served his end	B
Attained his genuine strength put fairly forth	L
While only here and there a star dispels	B
The darkness here and there a towering mind	B
O'erlooks its prostrate fellows when the host	B
Is out at once to the despair of night	B
When all mankind alike is perfected	B
Equal in full blown powers then not till then	L
I say begins man's general infancy	B
For wherefore make account of feverish starts	B
Of restless members of a dormant whole	B
Impatient nerves which quiver while the body	B
Slumbers as in a grave Oh long ago	B
The brow was twitched the tremulous lids astir	A2
The peaceful mouth disturbed half uttered speech	B4
Ruffled the lip and then the teeth were set	B
The breath drawn sharp the strong right hand clenched stronger	A2
As it would pluck a lion by the jaw	D
The glorious creature laughed out even in sleep	E3
But when full roused each giant limb awake	I2
Each sinew strung the great heart pulsing fast	B
He shall start up and stand on his own earth	L
Then shall his long triumphant march begin	L
Thence shall his being date thus wholly roused	B
What he achieves shall be set down to him	T
When all the race is perfected alike	I2
As man that is all tended to mankind	B
And man produced all has its end thus far	A2
But in completed man begins anew	B
A tendency to God Prognostics told	B
Man's near approach so in man's self arise	B
August anticipations symbols types	B
Of a dim splendour ever on before	A2
In that eternal circle life pursues	B
For men begin to pass their nature's bound	B
And find new hopes and cares which fast supplant	B
Their proper joys and griefs they grow too great	B
For narrow creeds of right and wrong which fade	B
Before the unmeasured thirst for good while peace	B
Rises within them ever more and more	A2
Such men are even now upon the earth	L
Serene amid the half formed creatures round	B
Who should be saved by them and joined with them	W
Such was my task and I was born to it	B
Free as I said but now from much that chains	B
Spirits high dowered but limited and vexed	B
By a divided and delusive aim	Z2
A shadow mocking a reality	B
Whose truth avails not wholly to disperse	B
The flitting mimic called up by itself	F
And so remains perplexed and nigh put out	B
By its fantastic fellow's wavering gleam	Y3
I from the first was never cheated thus	B
I never fashioned out a fancied good	B
Distinct from man's a service to be done	L
A glory to be ministered unto	B
With powers put forth at man's expense withdrawn	L
From labouring in his behalf a strength	L
Denied that might avail him I cared not	B
Lest his success ran counter to success	B
Elsewhere for God is glorified in man	L
And to man's glory vowed I soul and limb	T
Yet constituted thus and thus endowed	B
I failed I gazed on power till I grew blind	B
Power I could not take my eyes from that	B
That only I thought should be preserved increased	B
At any risk displayed struck out at once	B
The sign and note and character of man	L
I saw no use in the past only a scene	L
Of degradation ugliness and tears	B
The record of disgraces best forgotten	L
A sullen page in human chronicles	B
Fit to erase I saw no cause why man	L
Should not stand all sufficient even now	L
Or why his annals should be forced to tell	B
That once the tide of light about to break	I2
Upon the world was sealed within its spring	I2
I would have had one day one moment's space	B
Change man's condition push each slumbering claim	Z2
Of mastery o'er the elemental world	B
At once to full maturity then roll	B
Oblivion o'er the work and hide from man	L
What night had ushered morn Not so dear child	B
Of after days wilt thou reject the past	B
Big with deep warnings of the proper tenure	A2
By which thou hast the earth for thee the present	B
Shall have distinct and trembling beauty seen	L
Beside that past's own shade when in relief	W2
Its brightness shall stand out nor yet on thee	B
Shall burst the future as successive zones	B
Of several wonder open on some spirit	B
Flying secure and glad from heaven to heaven	L
But thou shalt painfully attain to joy	D
While hope and fear and love shall keep thee man	L
All this was hid from me as one by one	L
My dreams grew dim my wide aims circumscribed	B
As actual good within my reach decreased	B
While obstacles sprung up this way and that	B
To keep me from effecting half the sum	G3
Small as it proved as objects mean within	L
The primal aggregate seemed even the least	B
Itself a match for my concentred strength	L
What wonder if I saw no way to shun	L
Despair The power I sought for man seemed God's	B
In this conjuncture as I prayed to die	E
A strange adventure made me know one sin	L
Had spotted my career from its uprise	B
I saw Aprile my Aprile there	A2
And as the poor melodious wretch disburthened	E
His heart and moaned his weakness in my ear	A2
I learned my own deep error love's undoing	I2
Taught me the worth of love in man's estate	E
And what proportion love should hold with power	A2
In his right constitution love preceding	I2
Power and with much power always much more love	D2
Love still too straitened in his present means	B
And earnest for new power to set love free	B
I learned this and supposed the whole was learned	E
And thus when men received with stupid wonder	A2
My first revealings would have worshipped me	B
And I despised and loathed their proffered praise	B
When with awakened eyes they took revenge	D
For past credulity in casting shame	Z2
On my real knowledge and I hated them	W
It was not strange I saw no good in man	L
To overbalance all the wear and waste	E
Of faculties displayed in vain but born	L
To prosper in some better sphere and why	E
In my own heart love had not been made wise	B
To trace love's faint beginnings in mankind	E
To know even hate is but a mask of love's	B
To see a good in evil and a hope	C4
In ill success to sympathize be proud	E
Of their half reasons faint aspirings dim	T
Struggles for truth their poorest fallacies	B
Their prejudice and fears and cares and doubts	B
All with a touch of nobleness despite	E
Their error upward tending all though weak	I2
Like plants in mines which never saw the sun	L
But dream of him and guess where he may be	B
And do their best to climb and get to him	T
All this I knew not and I failed Let men	L
Regard me and the poet dead long ago	B
Who loved too rashly and shape forth a third	E
And better tempered spirit warned by both	L
As from the over radiant star too mad	E
To drink the life springs beamless thence itself	F
And the dark orb which borders the abyss	B
Ingulfed in icy night might have its course	B
A temperate and equidistant world	E
Meanwhile I have done well though not all well	B
As yet men cannot do without contempt	E
'T is for their good and therefore fit awhile	B
That they reject the weak and scorn the false	B
Rather than praise the strong and true in me	B
But after they will know me If I stoop	D4
Into a dark tremendous sea of cloud	E
It is but for a time I press God's lamp	E4
Close to my breast its splendour soon or late	E
Will pierce the gloom I shall emerge one day	E
You understand me I have said enough	L2
	-
	-
Festus	B
Now die dear Aureole	B
	-
	-
Paracelsus	B
Festus let my hand	E
This hand lie in your own my own true friend	E
Aprile Hand in hand with you Aprile	B
	-
	-
Festus	B
And this was Paracelsus	B

Robert Browning

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