Dearest son,
I greet you with God’s blessing,
[to Marcomir] And on you
Confer the same. How prospers Carloman?
CARLOMAN.
Oh, well, dear father.
ZACHARIAS.
He who keeps his knees
Is Rachis, King of Lombardy. He takes
Like you the fearful vow to be a monk.
RACHIS.
[to Carloman] Protect me, help me, holy Carloman;
Let me return with you. I am distracted ...
A perjured man God will destroy in hate.
CARLOMAN.
Come with me, come ... but not to make confession,
To tabulate your crimes; come to the cloister,
To solitude, the simple light of God.
You must not dream, because your wickedness
Has waked you to disgust, that you are called.
The trouble is not betwixt God and sin;
Sin does not shut God out, it is the lantern
Flashing across the dark void of the world—
Most penetrative pulses; use the flare
For such poor revelation as it yields.
But this new life ... you must arise and go
Toward it as disencumbered as of old
Abraham went up to Ur, all his possessions
Kept for him in a mystery out of sight.
To dream of them is faith, and to forget
All one has touched and handled, loved or wrought
Of sin or righteousness, the perfect sign
The new man is begotten.