'Twas night, and all about, the winds Swayed, and shook the fir-tops drear, And through the billowy cloud, the moon Shone coldly down; Until the night, deepened into morn, And all across the sky, There flushed the crimson dawn; When fell a hush, And sleep did lay her hand upon my eye-lids, And a vision brake before me. I thought upon a mountain height One stood; in raiment purple-dyed, And kings and princes of the earth, And they who 'stablished great in power, Obeisance to her made. And on her brow a seal was set, Mystery.[1]
And gazing o'er a fertile plain, I saw A father at his toil; his children 'round his knee, And conscious pride upon his brow; A home of love and peace, And she, the mother, tossing high in arms, A babe. Thereat, the adulteress spake; "I bow men's hearts unto my will. Invade the homes of peace, and sow The seeds of wantonness."
I saw a maiden in a field, Where gleamed the autumn sheaves; The quail piped its shrill note, Among the grainless stubble. And on a bough, the whistling black-bird sung. As if to rival her whose voice Like sweetest lute was strung. The flush of beauty on her brow, The light of heaven in her eye.
I heard a voice, and lo! One stood who drew With hurrying feet, the multitude. For words of fire and eloquence came forth, From lips that owned no tyrant's sway. And farther on, a wood I viewed, And there an altar. From which rose the smoke of sacrifice, And she, the great mother of harlots spake; "These are my sacrifices. Babes slaughtered before their birth, For where I rule, there lust and woe, Cumber all earth. I passed again the toiler's cot; The father sat, dark-browed Hard by his desolate hearth-stone, His children, motherless; For she whom he loved had caught, The glamor of the sorceress' wiles, And so departed.
The field that late in golden beauty bloomed Lay desolate, and she Whose starry eyes did mock the heaven, Stood with bared breast, and in her arms a babe. Then casting to the earth her gaze, She lifted up her voice and wept. "Ah me! that e'er I saw thy face, thou fiend, Or listened to thy smooth, fair seeming tongue, My babe, fatherless. For he who gave thee being, worships her."
And he who held entranced With words of truth, the multitude; Did grovel in the dust, His splendid brow fronting a brain, wherein reigned chaos. Then thought I, where two roads did meet, There stood a holy man, whose hoary locks Did reverence command. He, lifting up his voice, cried "Hear ye, Oh! righteous God. Thine altars are defiled, Thy pleasant places laid waste; And where Thy sons and daughters trod In reverence, adoring thee; Where Honor held her sway, Now wantonness runs riot through thy land."
"And love thou gavest, And sanctity of unity, The inviolable marriage vow, Lies trampled in the dust of falsity. False creeds that fill thy children's hearts, Then lust that bringeth forth all deadly things By this adulteress. who standeth Even at the doors of them who preach thy word." Thereat, the earth did quake, And One whose voice was like The rushing of many waters, spake. "Let her who sitteth on the mountain Purple-clothed, perish in outer darkness. Blessed is he whose faith abideth. For to him who endureth to the end Behold! the crown."
