Classic Poem

As the cold metallic Ocean
Swings and clangs around the drowning,
So the solid air around me
Swung, till sense and sight departed;

Dimly, darkly, I was conscious
That I floated swiftly onward,
Moving to a rhythmic motion
Like the beat of mighty pinions.

Suddenly, like one in slumber
Falling wildly till he wakens,
Down like lead I seem'd descending
Dizzily I knew not whither,

Till at last, I shriek'd and struggled
Blind and breathless, and awaken'd,
And beheld him standing by me
Pointing with a spectral finger.

" Look," he said. " The Hell thou doubtedst
Burns for evermore around thee —
Wheresoever human creatures
Wail in anguish, is my Kingdom!"

Then, methought, the moonlit houses
Everywhere became transparent,
And I saw the shapes within them
Hopeless, aimless, and despairing:

Dead and dying; woeful mothers
Wailing o'er afflicted children;
Creatures hollow-eyed with famine
Toiling on from dark to dawn;

Haggard faces from their pillows
Gazing, as the pale nurse flitted
On from bed to bed in silence,
'Mid the night-light's ghostly gleam:

Shapes sin-bloated from the cradle
Thrown in heaps obscene together,
While from gulfs of desolation
Rose the sound of idiot laughter!

Under arches dark and dreadful
Lay the murder'd corpse still bleeding,
While the murderer stood and listen'd
Wildly, with uplifted hair.

Everywhere Disease and Famine
Held their ghastly midnight revel —
Even in the darken'd palace
Rose the moan, the lamentation.

Everywhere a spectral Angel
Moved, with terrible forefinger
Touching shapes that shrank in anguish
With the flame that burns for ever:

On the cheeks of men and women
Fell the mark of that dread finger,
Burning inward, while the vitals
Gnaw'd with hell-fire life-consuming.

Then I turn'd to him who led me
Thither, and behold! his features
Misted were with tears of pity!
Falling from his woeful eyes!

Not on me those eyes were gazing
But at something far above us;
Not to me his lips were saying:
" Lord, I loathe Thy Works and Thee!

" Just such measure as the Father
Metes to his afflicted children,
Would I mete to Thee, the Father,
In the name of those I rule!

" Thou hast given me my kingdom.
I accept its crown of sorrow,
Scorning still to kneel and thank Thee,
Pulseless, null Omnipotence!"

As I listen'd, horror seized me.
" Nay," I cried, to Heaven upgazing,
" Blame not Him who first created
All things beautiful and fair —

" He, the holy Heavenly Father,
Mourns the woe of things created —
Out of sin that woe was fashion'd,
And our sin arose from thee! "

Pityingly he gazed upon me.
" Sin," he said, " was God's invention!
He created Hell, my kingdom,
Tho' I wear its earthly crown!

" I, the eternal Prince of Darkness,
Found it ready for my coming —
Pestilence, Disease, and Famine
Burnt there, by the will Divine!

" Since that hour of my accession
I, the Devil, have ruled benignly,
Seeking like a kindly monarch
To improve my woeful realm.

" Thus, in spite of the Almighty,
I have leaven'd its afflictions,
Teaching men the laws of Nature, —
Wisdom, Love, and Self-control.

" Every year the Hell-fires lessen,
Every day the load is lightened,
'Neath my care the very devils
Grow benign and civilised!

" This I have achieved entirely
By the very means forbidden
At the first by God Almighty, —
Teaching men to see and know.

" Prince of liars was the pedant
Who aver'd that man's afflictions
Came from eating that first apple
From the great Forbidden Tree!

" From its seeds, by me ungather'd,
Many a living tree hath sprouted —
Where those trees bear fruit, believe me,
Even Hell resembles Heaven!

" Whoso eats that fruit forbidden
Knows himself and finds salvation,
Stands erect before his Maker,
Claims his birthright and is free.

" Thus, for ages after ages,
I, the Devil, have drain'd the marshes,
Cleansed the cesspools, taught the people,
Like a true Progressionist!

" By the living Soul within me
I have conquer'd! — tho' for ages
I have been most grossly libel'd
By the foolish race of mortals.

" All my errors have proceeded
From a sympathetic nature;
Prince of Evil men have styled me,
Who alone am Prince of Pity!

" Never man-god, Christ or Buddha,
Ever anguish'd more sincerely
For the sufferings of others,
Than myself, whom men call Devil.

" What is further to my credit,
I'm not merely sentimental —
I have practically labour'd
To improve the world's affairs.

" I'm the father of all Science, —
Master-builder, stock-improver,
First authority on drainage,
Most renown'd in all the arts.

" While the Priests have built their Churches
To a God who does not heed them,
I have fashion'd decent dwellings,
Public hospitals, and baths.

" " Take no heed about To-morrow, "
Said the man-God, " do no labour,
Be content with endless praying
And eternal laisses-faire . "

" But the Devil, being wiser,
Knows that he who fails to reckon
With the morrow, will discover
That To-morrow is To-day!

" And To-day is, now and ever,
All Eternity or nothing —
He who sits and twiddles fingers
Now , hath done it evermore! ...

" From which statement you may gather
I, the Devil, am transcendental —
Wise in all the ways of knowledge
Even down to metaphysics.

" This I merely state en passant ,
Lest you deem me uninstructed, —
All philosophers I've studied,
From Heraclitus to Hegel."