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Tamara

 Who are you? You are perilous
Say - are you come from heaven or hell?
What do you want?
The Demon
           What loveliness!
Tamara
But speak, who are you? You must tell.
The Demon
 I am he to whom you barkened
In the stillness of the night,
He whose thought your mind has darkened,
He whose sadness you have felt,
Whose image haunts your waking sight,
Whose name the end of hope has spelt
To every soul with whom I treat.
I am he no man may love,
A scourge to all my mortal slaves,
The ill in nature. Enemy
To Heaven and all the powers above.
Lord of knowledge, liberty.
And, as you see, I'm at your feet.
Moved beyond all that I have known
I would speak softly in your ears
Quiet prayers of love. Tell of my pain,
My first on earth, and my first tears.
Ah hear me out, for pity's sake!
One word from you would quite restore me.
Robed in the love of your pure heart
I might again resume my part
In the angelic ranks and take
An aspect new and a new glory.
Ah, hear me, hear me I implore you,
I am your slave and I adore you!
No sooner did I see you than
I felt a sudden, veiled revulsion
For immortality and power;
And I was drawn by strange compulsion
To envy the frail joys of man;
Life without you became a torment
To be apart from you - a horror.
A living ray of warmth, a portent
Of fair renewal touched my heart
And set the cold blood coursing. Sorrow
Beneath the scar stirred like a serpent
Awakening an ancient pain.
For, tell me, without you what gain
Is there in my infinity?
Endless dominion, majesty?
Loud, empty words - a spacious fane
Devoid of all divinity!

Tamara
 Leave me, false spirit of deceit
Be silent, for I will not trust
The Enemy. Ah God... some sweet
Insistent poison saps resolve -
I cannot say the prayer I must -
Your words are fire and I dissolve
And melt in them. I cannot see....
But say: how came you to love me?

The Demon
 How, lovely one? - I do not know,
My life is wondrous full and new,
The crown of thorns I proudly cast
With my own hands from off my brow.
All that I have been shattered lies:
My heaven and hell are in your eyes.
I love you with a passion vast.
You cannot love as I love you,
With all the ecstasy and power
Of deathless thought and dreams sublime.
Since the beginning of all time
Your image on the eternal air
Has gone before me - till this hour.
My soul has long been troubled by
The sweet sounds of the name you bear;
And in my days of blessedness
You were my only lack. If only
You could but understand the lonely
Embittered boredom of existence
When, century on century,
Alone in suffering and Joy
In evil meeting no resistance,
For good receiving no reward,
Enclosed in self, by self most bored,
A never-ending war to wage
Past hope to triumph or destroy
Past hope of making peace again!
To pity where I would desire.
To know all things from age to age,
Seek hatred's all-consuming fire
And nought to find but cool disdain!
For since God's curse upon me came
All natural ardours have grown cold.
I saw my fellow-stars arrayed
In wedding garments as of old;
Through azure space before me flowing
They passed me by in crowns of flame;
And yet... of these, my one-time brothers,
Not one would recognise me now.
So, in despair, I called on others,
Outcasts like me, to join my growing
Battalions, but - I know not how -
In their embittered words and faces,
In their dark looks I in my turn
Knew no one. Then in terror I
Beat with my wings the earth to spurn
And launched myself into the sky,
And flew, and flew.... Whither? For why?
I do not know... By friends rejected,
Like those from Eden's gates ejected,
I saw the whole world pale and dim.
Abandoned to the current's whim,
Even so without a sail, may float
A rudderless and broken boat
Upon the surface of the sea
Knowing nor course nor destiny;
So, in the early morning hour,
Abandoned by some passing shower
Of thunderous rain, a lonely cloud
Black through the azure heights of heaven
May wander lost without a haven
Leaving no trace upon the ether
God only knows from whence - or whither!
For a short while myself I vowed
To teaching sin and spreading doubt
Of all things noble, all things fair.
But not for long ... mankind I wrenched
Too easily to my fell will.
The flame of faith, too easy quenched,
Left me triumphant, but without
An object worthy of my skill.
To mislead hypocrites and fools...
What profit was there for me there?
I hid away in mountains far
And wandered like a displaced star
In lonely, never ending flight:
And when some traveller belated
Would follow, deeming me a light
In some near dwelling; I would lead
Him to the cliff-edge ... hear the hated
Voice call up from the abyss...
And leave him - and his horse - to bleed....
Yet all too soon I tired of this
And other spiteful, sombre sports!
How often, raising storms of stones,
And, clad in mists and lightening,
I would go hurtling through the cloud
To cow the spirit of the crowd,
Rebellious upshoots frightening,
Drowning their murmuring in my groans,
Seeking escape from pursuant thoughts.
Seeking to expunge from memory
Things that may not forgotten be!
What is the tale of miseries,
The labours and the pains of man
Throughout the passing centuries,
Compared to but one minute's span
Of my great, unacknowledged anguish?
What of mankind? - their works and sorrow?
Here today - and gone tomorrow....
Then - they have hope in judgement just;
He may forgive, although He must
At first condemn them. I shall languish
Unshriven throughout eternity....
My torment has no end, like me,
And, deathless, it must ever wake,
Now creeping closer like a snake,
Now caustic, burning to the bone,
Now dull and heavy like a stone -
To live - the everlasting tomb
Of hope and passion is my doom!...

Tamara
 What part have I in all this wild
And sorry tale? Why should I own
To pity? You have sinned....

Demon
 My child, against you?

Tamara
 Hush!

Demon
 We are alone.
 
Tamara
 And God!

Demon
 Will not spare us a thought
Heaven, not earth, is his first care.

Tamara
 The pains of hell, as we are taught?

Demon
 What of them? I'll be with you there!

Tamara
 Who e'er you are, my chance-met friend,
You, who have stolen my peace of mind,
Reluctantly, yet deeply moved,
I hear how you have suffered, loved...
Yet if you speak but to mislead
Yet if you lie - in part or whole -
Have mercy on me - For what need
Can you have of my maiden soul?
Surely 'tis not to heaven more dear
Than all those you have overlooked.
They too are beautiful and pure...
As here, no mortal hand was brooked
Their chaste couch to contaminate....
No! Swear to me a binding oath...
But say,- you see it all; how, loth
To cleanse the sweet fear from my heart,
I dream as women will; and start
Again in fear that you know all....
You have seen all and understood
And surely must be merciful!
Come, swear to me to leave behind
All evil wishes from this hour
Are there no oaths of lasting power,
No sacred promises you could
Swear to me now that should you bind?

Demon
 By the first day of the creation
And by its latest day I swear,
By God's law and its violation
The triumph of eternal truth,
The bitter shame of sin I bear;
By the brief glory of this dream
I swear, and by our meeting here
And by the threat of separation;
I swear by all the spirit hosts
Whom Fate has set at my command,
On swords divine I take my oath
As wielded by my enemies
The impassive, sleepless angel band;
I swear by you, your life, your death,
Your last, long look and your first tear,
The gentle drawing of your breath,
The silken torrents of your hair;
I swear by suffering and bliss,
I swear even by this love of ours,-
I have renounced all vengefulness
I have renounced the pride of years;
From this day forth no false temptation
Will rise to trouble any soul;
I look for reconciliation,
I look for love, for adoration,
I look for faith in Higher Good.
And by a tear of true contrition
I'll wipe away the fiery trace
Of wroth divine from off a face
More worthy of you. May the whole
Wide world in calm rusticity
Bloom on, all unaware of me!
Believe me, I alone have vision
To love you: I have understood
Your greatness as no other could:
You are my holy one. This day
My power at your feet I lay.
And for your love one moment long
I'll give you all eternity.
For I am changeless, true and strong
In love as in malignity
Free spirit of the air, I'll bear you
High up above the stars to where you
Will reign in splendour as my queen,
Tamara, first love of my dream,
And you will come to look on earth
Without regret, without compassion
Unhappy planet, with its dearth
Of lasting beauty, with its fashion
For petty sentiments, small minds,
Where crime and executions grind
Their everlasting wheel of fear:
Men fear to love and fear to hate.
Or know you not what love is here?
The seething of young blood in spate -
But days go by and blood grows cold!
Who can resist the long temptation
Of boredom, change and novelty?
What love can outlive separation
Or rival dream's variety?
No! Not for my love to grow old
And fade in silence in the crude
Society of jealous slaves
Amidst ungenerous and cold
Pretended friends and real foes,
Burdened by useless works and rude
Endeavours, empty hopes and fears!
Your fate is not to wither here,
And, passionless, your soul to save
Behind these walls, a scentless rose
Unopened by the honey bee
And dull to the Divinity.
Ah no! My lovely one, your morrow
Is marked by different destiny,
A different depth of ecstasy,
A different scale of sorrow;
Leave then your former thoughts, desires
And leave the poor world to its fate.
Then, in return, you may aspire
To enter realms of knowledge true,
And there I shall present to you
The hosts of beings subordinate
Unto my will to serve your needs.
Light-handed, magical attendants
And from the morning star for you
I'll tear the crown of gold one night,
Take from the flowers the midnight dew
And shake the drops in showers bright
To make the crown resplendent.
The sunset's glowing ray I'll weave
To wind about you like a sheath;
I'll fill the air about us two
With freshness and delicious scent;
And constantly your ear I'll woo
With sweet sounds from soft instruments;
Of turquoise and of amber I
Shall build delightful halls for you,
I shall go soaring to the sky
Sink to the bottom of the sea -
All you could wish for I shall give
But love me...."