Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 5.djvu/244

Rh Yet of a sterner and a sadder aspect Of spiritual essence:why do I quake? Why should I fear him more than other spirits, Whom I see daily wave their fiery swords Before the gates round which I linger oft, In Twilight's hour, to catch a glimpse of those Gardens which are my just inheritance, Ere the night closes o'er the inhibited walls And the immortal trees which overtop The Cherubim-defended battlements? If I shrink not from these, the fire-armed angels, Why should I quail from him who now approaches? Yet—he seems mightier far than them, nor less Beauteous, and yet not all as beautiful As he hath been, and might be: sorrow seems Half of his immortality. And is it So? and can aught grieve save Humanity? He cometh.

Enter.
 * Lucifer. Mortal!
 * Cain.Spirit, who art thou ?
 * Lucifer. Master of spirits.
 * Cain.And being so, canst thou

Leave them, and walk with dust ?
 * Lucifer. I know the thoughts

Of dust, and feel for it, and with you.
 * Cain. How!

You know my thoughts? Lucifer. They are the thoughts of all Worthy of thought;—'tis your immortal part