The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 5 (CAIN: A MYSTERY-Act1- scene 1)

The Abyss Of Space Cain. I tread on air, and sink not—yet I fear To sink. Lucifer. Have faith in me, and thou shalt be Borne on the air[110], of which I am the Prince. Cain. Can I do so without impiety? Lucifer. Believe—and sink not! doubt—and perish! thus Would run the edict of the other God, Who names me Demon to his angels; they Echo the sound to miserable things, Which, knowing nought beyond their shallow senses, Worship the word which strikes their ear, and deem Evil or good what is proclaimed to them In their abasement. I will have none such: Worship or worship not, thou shalt behold The worlds beyond thy little world, nor be Amerced for doubts beyond thy little life, With torture of my dooming. There will come An hour, when, tossed upon some water-drops[cd], A man shall say to a man, "Believe in me, And walk the waters;" and the man shall walk The billows and be safe. I will not say, Believe in me, as a conditional creed To save thee; but fly with me o'er the gulf Of space an equal flight, and I will show What thou dar'st not deny,—the history Of past—and present, and of future worlds.[234] Cain. Oh God! or Demon! or whate'er thou art, Is yon our earth? Lucifer.‍Dost thou not recognise The dust which formed your father? Cain.‍Can it be? Yon small blue circle, swinging in far ether[ce], With an inferior circlet purpler it still[111], Which looks like that which lit our earthly night? Is this our Paradise? Where are its walls, And they who guard them? Lucifer.‍Point me out the site Of Paradise. Cain.‍How should I? As we move Like sunbeams onward, it grows small and smaller, And as it waxes little, and then less, Gathers a halo round it, like the light Which shone the roundest of the stars, when I Beheld them from the skirts of Paradise: Methinks they both, as we recede from them, Appear to join the innumerable stars Which are around us; and, as we move on, Increase their myriads. Lucifer.‍And if there should be Worlds greater than thine own—inhabited By greater things—and they themselves far more In number than the dust of thy dull earth, Though multiplied to animated atoms,[235] All living—and all doomed to death—and wretched, What wouldst thou think? Cain.‍I should be proud of thought Which knew such things. Lucifer.‍But if that high thought were Linked to a servile mass of matter—and, Knowing such things, aspiring to such things, And science still beyond them, were chained down To the most gross and petty paltry wants, All foul and fulsome—and the very best Of thine enjoyments a sweet degradation, A most enervating and filthy cheat To lure thee on to the renewal of Fresh souls and bodies[112], all foredoomed to be As frail, and few so happy—— Cain.‍Spirit! I Know nought of Death, save as a dreadful thing Of which I have heard my parents speak, as of A hideous heritage I owe to them No less than life—a heritage not happy, If I may judge, till now. But, Spirit! if It be as thou hast said (and I within Feel the prophetic torture of its truth), Here let me die: for to give birth to those Who can but suffer many years, and die— Methinks is merely propagating Death, And multiplying murder. Lucifer.‍Thou canst not All die—there is what must survive. Cain.‍The Other Spake not of this unto my father, when He shut him forth from Paradise, with death Written upon his forehead. But at least Let what is mortal of me perish, that I may be in the rest as angels are. Lucifer. I am angelic: wouldst thou be as I am?[236] Cain. I know not what thou art: I see thy power, And see thou show'st me things beyond my power, Beyond all power of my born faculties, Although inferior still to my desires And my conceptions. Lucifer.‍What are they which dwell So humbly in their pride, as to sojourn With worms in clay? Cain.‍And what art thou who dwellest So haughtily in spirit, and canst range Nature and immortality—and yet Seem'st sorrowful? Lucifer.‍I seem that which I am; And therefore do I ask of thee, if thou Wouldst be immortal? Cain.‍Thou hast said, I must be Immortal in despite of me. I knew not This until lately—but since it must be, Let me, or happy or unhappy, learn To anticipate my immortality. Lucifer. Thou didst before I came upon thee. Cain.‍How? Lucifer. By suffering. Cain.‍And must torture be immortal? Lucifer. We and thy sons will try. But now, behold! Is it not glorious? Cain.‍Oh thou beautiful And unimaginable ether! and Ye multiplying masses of increased And still-increasing lights! what are ye? what Is this blue wilderness of interminable Air, where ye roll along, as I have seen The leaves along the limpid streams of Eden? Is your course measured for ye? Or do ye Sweep on in your unbounded revelry Through an aërial universe of endless Expansion—at which my soul aches to think— Intoxicated with eternity[113]?[237] Oh God! Oh Gods! or whatsoe'er ye are! How beautiful ye are! how beautiful Your works, or accidents, or whatsoe'er They may be! Let me die, as atoms die, (If that they die), or know ye in your might And knowledge! My thoughts are not in this hour Unworthy what I see, though my dust is; Spirit! let me expire, or see them nearer. Lucifer. Art thou not nearer? look back to thine earth! Cain. Where is it? I see nothing save a mass Of most innumerable lights. Lucifer.‍Look there! Cain. I cannot see it. Lucifer.‍Yet it sparkles still. Cain. That!—yonder! Lucifer.‍Yea. Cain.‍And wilt thou tell me so? Why, I have seen the fire-flies and fire-worms Sprinkle the dusky groves and the green banks In the dim twilight, brighter than yon world Which bears them. Lucifer.‍Thou hast seen both worms and worlds, Each bright and sparkling—what dost think of them? Cain. That they are beautiful in their own sphere, And that the night, which makes both beautiful, The little shining fire-fly in its flight, And the immortal star in its great course, Must both be guided. Lucifer.‍But by whom or what? Cain. Show me. Lucifer.‍Dar'st thou behold? Cain.‍How know I what I dare behold? As yet, thou hast shown nought I dare not gaze on further. Lucifer.‍On, then, with me.[238] Wouldst thou behold things mortal or immortal? Cain. Why, what are things? Lucifer.‍Both partly: but what doth Sit next thy heart? Cain.‍The things I see. Lucifer.‍But what Sate nearest it? Cain.‍The things I have not seen, Nor ever shall—the mysteries of Death. Lucifer. What, if I show to thee things which have died, As I have shown thee much which cannot die? Cain. Do so. Lucifer.‍Away, then! on our mighty wings! Cain. Oh! how we cleave the blue! The stars fade from us! The earth! where is my earth? Let me look on it, For I was made of it. Lucifer.‍'Tis now beyond thee, Less, in the universe, than thou in it; Yet deem not that thou canst escape it; thou Shalt soon return to earth, and all its dust: 'Tis part of thy eternity, and mine. Cain. Where dost thou lead me? Lucifer.‍To what was before thee! The phantasm of the world; of which thy world Is but the wreck. Cain.‍What! is it not then new? Lucifer. No more than life is; and that was ere thou Or I were, or the things which seem to us Greater than either: many things will have No end; and some, which would pretend to have Had no beginning, have had one as mean As thou; and mightier things have been extinct To make way for much meaner than we can Surmise; for moments only and the space Have been and must be all unchangeable. But changes make not death, except to clay; But thou art clay—and canst but comprehend That which was clay, and such thou shall behold. Cain. Clay—Spirit—what thou wilt—I can survey.[239] Lucifer. Away, then! Cain.‍But the lights fade from me fast, And some till now grew larger as we approached, And wore the look of worlds. Lucifer.‍And such they are. Cain. And Edens in them? Lucifer.‍It may be. Cain.‍And men? Lucifer. Yea, or things higher. Cain.‍Aye! and serpents too?[cf] Lucifer. Wouldst thou have men without them? must no reptiles Breathe, save the erect ones? Cain.‍How the lights recede! Where fly we? Lucifer.‍To the world of phantoms, which Are beings past, and shadows still to come. Cain. But it grows dark, and dark—the stars are gone! Lucifer. And yet thou seest. Cain.‍'Tis a fearful light! No sun—no moon—no lights innumerable— The very blue of the empurpled night Fades to a dreary twilight—yet I see Huge dusky masses; but unlike the worlds We were approaching, which, begirt with light, Seemed full of life even when their atmosphere Of light gave way, and showed them taking shapes Unequal, of deep valleys and vast mountains; And some emitting sparks, and some displaying Enormous liquid plains, and some begirt With luminous belts, and floating moons, which took, Like them, the features of fair earth:—instead, All here seems dark and dreadful. Lucifer.‍But distinct. Thou seekest to behold Death, and dead things? Cain. I seek it not; but as I know there are Such, and that my sire's sin makes him and me, And all that we inherit, liable To such, I would behold, at once, what I Must one day see perforce.[240] Lucifer.‍Behold! Cain.‍'Tis darkness! Lucifer. And so it shall be ever—but we will Unfold its gates! Cain.‍Enormous vapours roll Apart—what's this? Lucifer.‍Enter! Cain.‍Can I return? Lucifer. Return! be sure: how else should Death be peopled? Its present realm is thin to what it will be, Through thee and thine. Cain.‍The clouds still open wide And wider, and make widening circles round us! Lucifer. Advance! Cain.‍And thou! Lucifer.‍Fear not—without me thou Couldst not have gone beyond thy world. On! on!