Amid the red and fiery smoke,
Watching the strange portent,
The blue-eyed Sorceress and her Sister stood,
Seeming a ruined Angel by the side
Of Spirit born in Hell.
At length raised Maimuna her thoughtful eyes,
“Whence Sister was the wax
“The work of the worm, or the bee?
“Nay then I marvel not!
“It were as wise to bring from Ararat
“The fore-world’s[153] wood to build the magic pile,
“And feed it from the balm bower, thro’ whose veins
“The Martyr’s blood sends such a virtue out,
“That the fond Mother from beneath its shade
“Wreathes the Cerastes[154] round her playful child.
“This the eternal, universal strife!
“There is a grave-wax,[155]... I have seen the Gouls
“Fight for the dainty at their banquetting.”...
“Excellent witch!” quoth Khawla; and she went
To the cave arch of entrance, and scowled up,
Mocking the blessed Sun,
“Shine thou in Heaven, but I will shadow Earth!
“Thou wilt not shorten day,
“But I will hasten darkness!” Then the Witch
Began a magic song,
One long low tone thro’ teeth half-closed,
Thro’ lips slow-moving muttered slow,
One long-continued breath,
Till to her eyes a darker yellowness
Was driven, and fuller swoln the prominent veins
On her loose throat grew black.
Then looking upward thrice she breathed
Into the face of Heaven,
The baneful breath infected Heaven;
A mildewing mist it spread
Darker and darker; so the evening sun
Poured his unentering glory on the mist,
And it was night below.
“Bring now the wax,” quoth Khawla, “for thou knowest
“The mine that yields it!” forth went Maimuna,
In mist and darkness went the Sorceress forth.
And she has reached the place of Tombs,
And in their sepulchres the dead
Feel[156] feet unholy trampling over them.
Thou startest Maimuna,
Because the breeze is in thy lilted locks!
Is Khawla’s spell so weak?
Sudden came the breeze and strong;
The mist that in the labouring lungs was felt
So heavy late, flies now before the gale,
Thin as an Infant’s breath
Seen in the sunshine of an autumn frost.
Sudden it came and soon its work was done,
And suddenly it ceased;
Cloudless and calm it left the firmament,
And beautiful in the blue sky
Arose the summer Moon.
She heard the quickened action of her blood,
She felt the fever in her cheeks.
Daunted, yet desperate, in a tomb
Entering, with impious hand she traced
Circles, and squares, and trines,
And magic characters,
Till riven by her charms the grave
Yawned and disclosed its dead,
Maimuna’s eyes were opened, and she saw
The secrets of the grave.
There sate a Spirit in the vault,
In shape, in hue, in lineaments like life,
And by him couched, as if intranced,
The hundred-headed Worm that never dies.
“Nay Sorceress! not to-night!” the Spirit cried,
“The flesh in which I sinned may rest to-night
“From suffering; all things, even I to-night,
“Even the Damned repose!”
The flesh of Maimuna
Crept on her bones with terror, and her knees
Trembled with their trembling weight.
“Only this sabbath! and at dawn the Worm
“Will wake, and this poor flesh must grow to meet
“The gnawing of his hundred[157] poison-mouths!
“God! God! Is there no mercy after death?”
Soul-struck she rushed away,
She fled the place of Tombs,
She cast herself upon the earth,
All agony and tumult and despair.
And in that wild and desperate agony
Sure Maimuna had died the utter death,
If aught of evil had been possible
On this mysterious night;
For this was that most holy[158] night
When all created things know and adore
The Power that made them; insects, beasts, and birds,
The water-dwellers, herbs and trees and stones,
Yea Earth and Ocean and the infinite Heaven
With all its worlds. Man only does not know
The universal sabbath, does not join
With Nature in her homage. Yet the prayer
Flows from the righteous with intenser love,
A holier calm succeeds, and sweeter dreams
Visit the slumbers of the penitent.
Therefore on Maimuna the elements,
Shed healing; every breath she breathed was balm.
Was not a flower but sent in incense up
Its richest odours, and the song of birds
Now, like the music of the Seraphim,
Entered her soul, and now
Made silence aweful by their sudden pause.
It seemed as if the quiet moon
Poured quietness, its lovely light
Was like the smile of reconciling Heaven.