Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 5.djvu/246

218 Save what I am. He conquered; let him reign!
 * Cain. Who?
 * Lucifer. Thy Sire's maker—and the Earth's.
 * Cain. And Heaven's,

And all that in them is. So I have heard His Seraphs sing; and so my father saith.
 * Lucifer. They say—what they must sing and say, on

pain Of being that which I am,—and thou art— Of spirits and of men.
 * Cain. And what is that?
 * Lucifer. Souls who dare use their immortality—

Souls who dare look the Omnipotent tyrant in His everlasting face, and tell him that His evil is not good! If he has made, As he saith—which I know not, nor believe— But, if he made us—he cannot unmake: We are immortal!—nay, he'd have us so, That he may torture:—let him! He is great— But, in his greatness, is no happier than We in our conflict! Goodness would not make Evil; and what else hath he made? But let him Sit on his vast and solitary throne— Creating worlds, to make eternity Less burthensome to his immense existence And unparticipated solitude; Let him crowd orb on orb: he is alone Indefinite, Indissoluble Tyrant; Could he but crush himself, 'twere the best boon He ever granted: but let him reign on! And multiply himself in misery! Spirits and Men, at least we sympathise— And, suffering in concert, make our pangs