ANGEL. 
Beautiful was it in the lord’s sight,
To behold his Prophet
Feeding those that toil,
The tillers of the soil. 
But why should the reapers eat of it
And not the Prophet of Zion
In the den of the lion? 
The Prophet should feed the Prophet! 
Therefore I thee have uplifted,
And bear thee aloft by the hair
Of thy head, like a cloud that is drifted
Through the vast unknown of the air! 
Five days hath the Prophet been lying
In Babylon, in the den
Of the lions, death-defying,
Defying hunger and thirst;
But the worst
Is the mockery of men! 
Alas! how full of fear
Is the fate of Prophet and Seer! 
Forevermore, forevermore,
It shall be as it hath been heretofore;
The age in which they live
Will not forgive
The splendor of the everlasting light,
That makes their foreheads bright,
Nor the sublime
Fore-running of their time!

PROPHET. 
Oh tell me, for thou knowest,
Wherefore and by what grace,
Have I, who am least and lowest,
Been chosen to this place,
To this exalted part?

ANGEL. 
Because thou art
The Struggler; and from thy youth
Thy humble and patient life
Hath been a strife
And battle for the Truth;
Nor hast thou paused nor halted,
Nor ever in thy pride
Turned from the poor aside,
But with deed and word and pen
Hast served thy fellow-men;
Therefore art thou exalted!

PROPHET. 
By thine arrow’s light
Thou goest onward through the night,
And by the clear
Sheen of thy glittering spear! 
When will our journey end?

ANGEL. 
Lo, it is ended! 
Yon silver gleam
Is the Euphrates’ stream. 
Let us descend
Into the city splendid,
Into the City of Gold!

PROPHET. 
Behold! 
As if the stars had fallen from their places
Into the firmament below,
The streets, the gardens, and the vacant spaces
With light are all aglow;
And hark! 
As we draw near,
What sound is it I hear
Ascending through the dark?

ANGEL. 
The tumultuous noise of the nations,
Their rejoicings and lamentations,
The pleadings of their prayer,
The groans of their despair,
The cry of their imprecations,
Their wrath, their love, their hate!

PROPHET. 
Surely the world doth wait
The coming of its Redeemer!

ANGEL. 
Awake from thy sleep, O dreamer? 
The hour is near, though late;
Awake! write the vision sublime,
The vision, that is for a time,
Though it tarry, wait; it is nigh;
In the end it will speak and not lie.

PART ONE

THE DIVINE TRAGEDY

THE FIRST PASSOVER

I

VOX CLAMANTIS

JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Repent! repent! repent! 
For the kingdom of God is at hand,
And all the land
Full of the knowledge of the Lord shall be
As the waters cover the sea,
And encircle the continent!