[putting his hands over his brow as if in confusion]
But I can never say
What he could comprehend. How strange to feel
So slow, as if I walked without the light,
Deep in a valley.
[Boniface touches him] Ah!
BONIFACE.
You do not listen!
Beloved, the Pope is speaking.
CARLOMAN.
[to Boniface] But you know
What drove you forth to wander foreign lands,
With joy in every limb and faculty:
That drove me from the convent.
BONIFACE.
As a monk
I left the English cloister, with a blessing
From him who ruled me. Is it as a monk,
Oh, is it—that we see you in our midst?
CARLOMAN.
No, no, enfranchised!
[suddenly standing forth] Hear me! The I am
Has sent me to you and has given me power
To rend your idols, for you have not known
The God I worship. He is just to-day—
Not dreaming of the future,—in itself,
Breath after breath divine! Oh, He becomes!
He cannot be of yesterday, for youth
Could not then walk beside Him, and the young
Must walk with God: and He is most alive
Wherever life is of each living thing.
To-morrow and to-morrow—those to-days
Of unborn generations; the I am
To none of them a memory or a hope,
To each the thirst, the wine-cup and the wine,
The craving, the satiety—my God!
O Holy Father, you who sway the world
Through Him, must not deny Him.