thee! But thou art a god!
Then bid the fury of these flames assuage
Ere they reach thee! Who shrieked?
At the sound,
The ancient and the solitary man
Started from sleep
The cold gray dawn appeared, 138
When, standing opposite, with steadfast look,
And in the glimmer of the inmost cave,
He saw a stranger.
Whence and who art thou?
With trembling voice he asked--whence? who art thou?
Perhaps the spirit of this dismal isle!
Or, cast upon these melancholy rocks,
A poor and world-forsaken thing, like me!
The stranger gazed unmoved, and answered not:
His looks were those of pity--of respect--
As mingling thoughtful wisdom with the grace
Of beauty. In his hand he held a book: 150
He opened it; and never light appeared
So fair as that on his majestic brow,
For now the sun had risen, and its beams
Shot far into the cave.
John gazed with awe
On that majestic man, he knew not why;
And well might he have gazed with reverence,
For here, in this rude spot, he only saw
Men the most dark and savage of their kind,
Murderers, and ruthless criminals in chains. 160
He spoke to them of truth and righteousness--
He spoke of an offended God! Some looked
To the bright sun, defying; others turned
Muttering. He spoke of pity, and they heard,
Even as the relentless hurricane
Hears the last prayer of the faint mariner,
Whom wintry waves had dashed upon the rocks.
Yet ever with the gentlest offices,
With tears and prayers the holy exile strove
To wake their better feelings, for he laid 170
His hands upon the sick, and they looked up
With hope and blessed him, and, restored to strength,
Forgot the vows they made; him, too, who died 173
Hardened, and, as to human eyes, in sin,
He laid in the cold grave, and said a prayer
For mercy to the God of all, the Judge,
To whom all hearts be open, and from whom
No secret thought is hid--and, self-accused,
Mortal himself, presumed not to condemn.
So passed this ancient holy man his days, 180
Peaceful, amid the banished criminals,
Banished and poor himself, but living thus,
Among the sternest of their kind, he prayed