On twain of ocean-parted hemispheres,
Saw noon of time a twofold type[13] of peace,
A pledge, a token, of millennial rest,
An earnest of the Commonweal to come;
But no fulfillment of the promise old, 2470
No ripe fruition of the ancient oath,
To Enoch sworn, through Moses re-affirmed,
By Ephraim's prophet made to live again.
—-
Promise now sought fulfillment[14],—it was time;
For weary earth lay groaning 'neath her load.
"Unclean, unclean," her cry, as leprous sin
With foul intent clasped close her shrinking form,
And baned with foetid breathing all her soul.
Long she had mourned and wept o'er life's decay;
Her waning strength, from age and weariness, 2480
Her mother powers, unholy passion's prey,
Bringing, in lieu of giants, pygmies forth,
To fall untimely on her withered breast.
Dwindling and dwarfed in all save wickedness,
And knowledge, oft made pander unto ill,
With learning gorged, for wisdom famishing,
Man both a glutton and a starveling seemed.
For Self, the sordid, sat once more enthroned,
Binding in servile chains a universe,
Where mightily men strove for place and fame, 2490
Greedy for power, as gluttonous for gold.
And who sought neighbor's weal, save kith and kin
Or petted friendling prest a favored claim?
Disorder reigned, and satire laughed to scorn
Grotesque, invidious inconsistency:
Talent on title waiting, brain on birth!
Genius at oars, and dullards at the helm!
The prancing war-steed fastened to the plow,
The ass unto the chariot—oft with rein,
Curbing the mettled courser's noble rage, 2500
Or goading him with needless cruelty!
Matter was monarch; Spirit stood apart,
Unknown, unseen, or spurned and thrust aside
By thronging myriads, bending supple knee,
And basking in the proud usurper's smile.
Men bowed not down to sun and moon and stars,
To bird, nor beast, nor reptile, as of yore;
But worshipt still at other creature shrines,
Ignoring the Creator's primal claim.
Pride sneered at poverty—if poor of purse, 2510
But gave its hand to beggared intellect,
To bankrupt soul, and greeted them as peers.
Learning, if lowly pillowing its head,
A pauper deemed, and pitied or condemned.
And many, stung by adder glance of scorn,
Shunning a life of noble toil and care,
To Mammon, e'en in marriage, sold themselves,
Offering a lawless fire at passion's shrine,
Or staining hands and heart with sabler sins.
Shameful the serfdom of the earth-bound soul, 2520
Base passion's basest slave and prisoner;
Charmed by no music but the clink of coin;
Cankered and crusted o'er with avarice;
Dupe, dreaming shadow real, and substance show.