LUCIFER, BEELZEBUB.
LUCIFER: You Spirits swift! Our chariot’s flight is halted!
Our banner “Day-Star” overlong exalted –
Too proudly flown! It’s time for Lucifer
To set, before this rising double-star
Shoots from below to seek a place on high
Where earthly gleam will dazzle Heaven’s eye!
No more embroider crowns on my attire,
Nor gild my brow with day-break’s lustrous fire
Of sunbeams, which Archangels reverence!
The Godhead’s light another radiance
Invades, snuffing our brilliance, as below,
The rising sun forbids the stars to glow.
The future’s black for Angels here above,
Since Man has captured God Almighty’s love.
In this new Paradise Man takes first place:
We Angels shall be slaves to this new race –
Lackeys to honour, pamper, serve Man’s whim!
This Man was made for God – and we for him!
He’ll walk all over us but, lest he fall,
We’re there to bear him up and to instal
Him regally on Heaven’s highest throne,
While he usurps our birthright for his own.
The first-born in this Kingdom shall be last;
The sixth-day son – so like his Father cast –
Shall wear the royal crown and rightly take
The sceptre before which all first-born quake!
Gabriel you heard, at Heaven’s golden gate?
No argument! His trumpet sealed our fate!
BEELZEBUB: O Lucifer, the Viceroy of the Lord!
We heard him all too well, and at his word,
Gloom fell upon our Angels’ endless feast!
He spoke explicitly – no call, at least,
For Cherubim to clarify the sense.
What need Apollion to brave the elements
By flying down before the Moon’s bright sphere
To study Adam’s homestead? It is quite clear
How generously God’s gifts have been extended
To Man – by hosts of bodyguards defended –
Angels’ respect more sure guaranteed
Than had our subject status been decreed!
For Adam, Heaven’s gates wide open stay:
The earthworm, sliding from its hunk of clay,
Your power dares challenge and this Man you’ll see
So high above you that you’ll bend the knee,
And, eyes downcast and humble in his sight,
Worship his glory, grandeur and his might!
By God enobled, at the Godhead’s side,
Shall Man in all his majesty abide,
His rule transcending the confines of space
Eternal, neither bound by time nor place,
Which God encompasses – centre and rim –
In ceaseless revolution … As for Him,
Could God His aim more clearly demonstrate:
Man to honour, us to humiliate?
We’re born to serve and Man is born to reign!
Your sceptre lay aside, for now it’s plain –
A commoner is he who wears the crown –
Or shortly will. So lay your mantle down,
Your Day-Star quench and hail this rising Sun,
In godlike pomp, with song and orison.
Heaven’s about to change. The stars burn low,
Made weak by yearning to salute the glow!
LUCIFER: That, they will not, as long as I’m alive!
BEELZEBUB: There speaks our Lucifer, whose power can drive
The shadows of black night from Heaven’s face!
When he appears, the day grows light apace;
His waxing radiance at God’s right hand
Shall never wane! His word is our command:
His will, his wish – our Law, by none ignored!
By Lucifer is God well served, by him adored,
With incense lauded. Now above his head,
Is Man to thunder from God’s Throne instead?
Shall then a younger son, of Adam’s race,
Out-rank you and the first-born’s place
Usurp and rob your post of honour due?
For next to God, was none so great as you,
In glory seated at the Godhead’s foot!
Let no man dare our Orders to uproot,
Our fealty’s rights revoke without a reason –
Or all of Heaven will combat the treason!
LUCIFER: You judge aright! Ordained by law to rule,
Who would let slip his kingdom, but a fool?
Since God’s own law constrains the Godhead’s might,
Change should become Him least. As Son of Light
And Lord of Light, my status I’ll protect –
Yield to no force, no tyrant leave unchecked!
Succumb who will, I’ll not be budged as Master!
This is my Fatherland! No set-back or disaster,
No curse shall frighten me, still less restrain:
Either I’ll perish, or dominion gain!
I fall I must – rank stolen, honour shed –
Then let me fall with crown upon my head,
This sceptre in my grip, stout hearts about me –
And thousands more besides, who’ll never doubt me!
So glorious a death wins fame undying.
Better be first in some kingdom lower-lying
Than second – if that – in this Realm of Radiance!
Fearing no hurt or pain, I’ll take my chance …
But here comes Heaven’s mouthpiece, Gabriel:
God’s Book of Secrets, his – to keep or tell!
It might repay to find out what he knows …
I’ll just dismount and catch him as he goes.
Exit BEELZEBUB. Enter GABRIEL.
GABRIEL: How now, my Lord Lieutenant, roving yet?
LUCIFER: In search of Heaven’s spokesman – so well met!
GABRIEL: I think I guess the subject from your looks –
LUCIFER: You, whose keen brain can light the darkest nooks
Of God’s deep secrets and His aim attest,
Enlighten me, I pray –
GABRIEL: I’ll do my best!
LUCIFER: The Godhead’s last decision, which the worth
Of Heaven rated less than that of Earth,
Oppresses us! Earth, in some puddle grown,
Is lifted to the stars, Man on the throne
Of Angels set; we’re robbed of our possession
And bidden slave and sweat at Man’s discretion!
We Spirits, long assigned as Heaven’s court –
Officials, are now called on to support
An earthworm, bred of matter and to serve it –
Worse, while it overshadows us, preserve it!
Why did the Source of Grace downgrade our state?
Some slothful Angel came on duty late?
How came the Godhead to select Mankind –
The nature of His chosen Angels find
Disposable? His life and soul inject
Into a body – birth and eternity connect –
Highest with lowest linking: God with Man?
Could anyone make sense of such a plan?
Shall now perpetual light succumb to night?
Shall I, Lieutenant of the Godhead’s might,
To this unnatural being – this dwarf – kow-tow?
Unnumbered, fleshless, godlike Spirits bow
To such a creature – sinister and crude –
With God’s own grace and majesty imbued?
Mystery too deep for Angelkind to measure!
You hold the key to the Almighty’s treasure –
Resolve for us this hidden contradiction:
From Holy Writ, explain God’s jurisdiction!
GABRIEL: As far as I’m allowed to quote, I will …
But too much knowledge often serves one ill.
God lets us know what seems enough to Him:
Too bright a flash could blind the Seraphim!
True wisdom keeps its goal in part concealed,
While part disclosing. To obey and yield,
As Laws prescribe, befits a faithful servant,
At all times, of his master’s will observant.
Reason and aim a mystery must remain,
While family-trees, unnumbered, wax and wane!
The Lord, who’ll rule in time, as God and Man
Made one, and whose authority will span
The Earth, stars, oceans and all life we know,
Heaven hides from you. Why? … Time will show.
Meanwhile, obey! God’s edict you have heard!
LUCIFER: Why, then, it’s true! This foreign earthworm’s word
Shall here prevail and Heaven’s Sons be faced
With alien domination, Man be placed
So high above our God?
GABRIEL: Accept your fate!
Your dignity’s God-given, like your state.
Above all Angelkind, the Lord set you –
But not to grudge another glory due!
A rebel hazards crown and head the day
He flouts the Lord’s commandments! Need I say,
Your brilliance stems from that of God alone?
LUCIFER: I’ve bowed to none save God upon His Throne!
GABRIEL: Then bow to God’s decision! He made all
From nothing, all that lives or ever shall!
He steers all towards a goal beyond our knowing.
LUCIFER: Exalting Man – God’s light on him bestowing!
To see this Man, God-equal – and so soon,
Enthroned in clouds of incense, to the tune
Of umpteen thousand choirs intoning praise,
Drowning the majesty and diamond-rays
Of Day-Star, Lucifer – no longer shining –
While heavenly bliss gives way to sad repining.
GABRIEL: True blessedness from calm content derives:
Of glad acceptance of God’s will, it thrives!
LUCIFER: God’s majesty is being severely slighted
If nature divine with human blood’s united –
United and constrained! We spirits, rather,
Approach God’s nature, than do sons a father,
Bred by and like him. It is not unfair,
Like with unlike in this way to ensnare –
Finite with infinite, power circumscribed
With boundless power? What if the Sun described
A faulty orbit, mantled itself in clouds
To light the world, or steamy shrouds
Of vapour black? No cause for joy on Earth!
Man’s paltry glow would be of little worth!
Sun’s progress robbed of all its majesty,
The heavens blind, the stars in jeopardy,
Order dispelled, legality expunged,
If once the source of light in brilliance plunged
Into a swamp! Forgive me, Gabriel!
You speak for the Almighty, I know well:
So, if I quibble or resistant seem,
Zeal to preserve God’s rights and His esteem
Alone emboldens me thus far to stray
From pure obedience –
GABRIEL: I’ll not gainsay
Your valour in God’s cause; but, bear in mind,
God’s a far better judge than Angelkind
Of where His glory lies! In vain you look …
When God’s made Man, shall He His secret book –
All seven seals – unlock, His secrets tell:
Taste then the nut, where now you bite the shell!
Then only, reason and cause – no longer guesses –
For all this secrecy we’ll learn. The far recesses
Of Heaven’s Holy of Holies we’ll explore.
Till then, we must believe, respect, adore
In gratitude, till knowledge by its might,
Doubt overcomes, as daylight conquers night!
The Godhead’s Wisdom, towards which, through the ages,
We reverently advance, enlightens us in stages
With scientific learning, but requires us,
Each to his post, to honour what inspires us:
Be first, my Lord Lieutenant, to comply!
I go where God ordains –
Exit GABRIEL.
LUCIFER: We can but try!
Enter BEELZEBUB.
BEELZEBUB: You’ve heard what lies behind this whole affair,
So proudly trumpeted by Gabriel back there?
He told you God’s objective, near enough –
To clip your wings and power; the rest is bluff!
LUCIFER: It won’t be all that easy, as they’ll see:
Let no one think to lord it over me!
BEELZEBUB: He warned the rebel’s head and crown would fall –
LUCIFER: Then, by my crown, I swear to stake my all.
And hoist my Throne to Heaven’s highest place –
Through all the spheres and starry twinkling space!
My palace shall be Heaven’s lofty sky;
My Throne – a rainbow; stars for canopy!
To use the Earth as footstool, I’ll make shift,
Then, in a chariot of clouds, borne high and swift,
By light and air, with lightening and with thunder –
Who dares oppose us, I will tear asunder,
Utterly destroy – God’s General no exception!
Heaven’s blue vault, so vast in its conception,
So proud, so overwhelming in its splendour –
We’ll blast to pieces, rather than surrender!
We’ll leave Earth’s Kingdom a dismembered ruin!
God’s wondrous universe we’ll leave to stew in
The Chaos which once ruled it, far and wide!
I’ll teach them to insult the Day-Star’s pride!
Summon Apollion!
BEELZEBUB: He’s just in time!
Enter APOLLION.
APOLLION: Lieutenant of the Godhead’s will sublime,
Sage spokesman for His Councillors of State!
Yours to command, your orders I await:
So, may your subject know his lordship’s pleasure?
LUCIFER: Your insight and opinion I would treasure
Upon a plan that brooks of no mistake!
Archangel Michael’s mainspring we must break,
So that his strength our goal shall not deny.
As many an edict as the Deity
Inscribes, his arm is charged to implement.
The latest whisks Man from his element
To Heaven’s topmost heights, beyond the Spheres,
Whence Angeldom, so far below, appears
A carpet at his feet, where midgets swarm!
That pinnacle I mean to take by storm!
Counting upon success in that adventure,
Status, star and crown – my all, I’ll venture!
APOLLION: A noble undertaking! May your crown
Thereby grow mightier yet – and your renown!
I’m honoured to advise on such a deed,
Whether or not success is guaranteed.
The aim is worthy, even if it’s frustrated.
Our struggle, though, must be well-calculated –
Not reckless. How best to broach so tough a foray –
Most safely try conclusions with our quarry!
LUCIFER: With cunning! Turn the flank to strike the van!
APOLLION: Well reasoned! For, if borrowed power you plan
To pit against the Almighty’s, you could fail
By proving somewhat light to tip the scale …
BEELZEBUB: Not all that light! We’ll make the pointer quiver!
APOLLION: But who? How? Where shall we the blow deliver?
The very thought offends God’s Majesty!
LUCIFER: Perish the thought, then! Let’s act cautiously:
Not well-worn paths, but precipices scale!
Over all danger, nerve and guile prevail.
APOLLION: But challenge not the Almight’s Crown or State,
Unless prepared to feel remorse too late!
To greater power, a lesser must submit.
LUCIFER: Leave God aside! Like against like, we’ll pit.
You’ll see who wins the day with greater might:
I see the Heavens empty, foes in flight,
Routed by our assault … Our forces, decked
With victory’s palm, take counsel and reflect …
APOLLION: You know the strength the General can command:
God’s regiments at his disposal stand!
He holds the key to Heaven’s weapon-store;
Security is his concern, what’s more.
Under his watchful eye, no sentry dare
In all the cosmos sleep, and stars beware
Of shifting but an inch from constellation!
Easy to start a war, but its continuation
Would be beyond us and an endless trail
Of troubles bring. What engines could prevail
Against him, his battalions decimate?
Wide open stands the Heavenly castle’s gate,
Of stratagem or treason unafraid.
BEELZEBUB: If we our purpose strengthen with the blade,
I see the Day-Star’s banner fluttering high –
The heavenly order changing by and by!
APOLLION: God’s blessed Name, Archangel Michael bears
Upon his standard and his flag-staff wears
The sun on top!
LUCIFER: A name writ large in light?
What use is that? Heroic deeds requite,
Not pompous words, but courage and resource,
Craft, cunning, common-sense – combined with force!
You understand the art of roping Spirits in –
Of instigation and incitement; you could win
Over even the staunchest guards, I’ll warrant –
Implanting doubt, where doubt was once abhorrent!
God’s army in two parts will be divided –
The head and limbs in uproar, undecided;
The greater part blindfolded, deaf, confused,
With Colonels shouting, leaderless, bemused!
If you can lure a quarter to our cause,
Honours and high appointments shall be yours
For leadership. Go, hear what Belial has to say!
However dark the night, he’ll find a way …
That face of his, smooth varnished with deceit,
Is matchless in the art of counterfeit!
I’ll take my chariot. You and he discuss.
The Council’s met and waiting now for us.
When you arrive we’ll call you in, of course!
Commander, guard the main-gate with your force!
Exeunt LUCIFER and BEELZEBUB. BELIAL and APOLLION confer.
BELIAL: God’s Deputy counts on us to help him grow …
APOLLION: We’ll fly together – arrows from his bow!
BELIAL: Aimed at a target dangerous to attack …
APOLLION: Courage! Under our onslaught, Heaven will crack!
BELIAL: Maybe so … We’ll see … It all depends.
APOLLION: How can we best contrive to gain our ends?
BELIAL: Weapons we need – with the Army let’s begin …
APOLLION: Commanders first; the stoutest hearts let’s win …
BELIAL: With something harmless – easy to digest –
APOLLION: Indeed, quite so! But what would you suggest?
BELIAL: Our Angels’ Charter, rank and honour to protect!
Let them all choose a leader they respect.
APOLLION: Well said, I know no finer stuff or seed
For mutiny: nobles or commoners guaranteed
To egg each other on, in factions banding,
Determined to preserve their rank and standing –
Those legal rights, conferred by the Creator,
Before he made Mankind – a good deal later!
This heavenly palace is our promised heirloom.
Spirits who, winged and bodiless, through the air zoom.
Unburdened by the force of gravity,
Are here far more at home than Man could be,
Too slothful such unnatural habitat
To choose: our light’s too bright. The radiance that
We’ve long accustomed to would blind him!
So let Man stay below where God assigned him,
Like other creatures. Let him be content
With that rich Garden as his element
Where, rising and setting, sun and moon
Divide the months and years. Let him attune
His life-style to the stars’ bold revolution,
Enjoy his harvest and the distribution
Of plant-life; travel North, South, East and West
To pass the time. What more could Man request?
We want no Earth-Lord here! To be precise –
BELIAL: We mean to keep Man out of Paradise!
APOLLION: The word will spread through Angeldom like fire –
Leaping from mouth to ear, from choir to choir,
Through all nine Orders and the Hierarchies!
BELIAL: That way, we’ll not be slowed by sophistries:
For safety and success, speed’s of the essence!
APOLLION: Courage, no less, and thoughtful prescience!
BELIAL: Both will increase as we gain more supporters!
APOLLION: They’re grumbling now; let’s fish those troubled waters,
Discretely mix, inciting to dispute …
BELIAL: Beelzebub – so great is his repute –
Could take up arms as champion of their pleas …
APOLLION: Not right away – obliquely … by degrees …
BELIAL: The Day-Star’s presence would in Angels’ eyes,
Lend powerful backing to the enterprise!
APOLLION: His plans and thoughts in Council he’ll present:
He’d best pretend reluctance, then, consent,
When all, in turmoil, vainly seek a chief.
BELIAL: That’s all-important. It’s my firm belief,
Without a leader, madness to begin!
APOLLION: But what’s already won, no need to win!
Who’s suffered loss of status most sublime –
Has every right to lead and beat the time
For all the countless thousands –
BELIAL: Reason, fairness
Confer the crown on him, but full awareness
Of all the dangers we’d do well to savour –
Nor act unless the Council votes in favour!
STROPHE.
CHORUS OF ANGELS: Why are the starry outposts glowing
Red? Why shines the Holy Light
So crimson in our sight,
Through clouds of murky vapour flowing?
What fog and mist obscure
The silver once so pure –
Incomparable sapphire –
The flame, the gleam, the fire
Of God’s serenity?
Why does the Godhead’s light instead
Now stream towards us here blood-red,
Which, until recently,
All eyes rejoiced? Who can explain
The mystery to Angeldom,
Which, far removed from Man’s domain,
In songs and chants of praise has swum,
In fragrant air and radiance, gilding
Pinnacle, battlement and building,
Vaulted choirs and garden fair –
Joy inspiring everywhere
To all that here above belong!
Pray, who can tell us what is wrong?
ANTISTROPHE ?
When we, by Gabriel’s trumpeting
Aroused, poured forth with fresh acclaim,
New hymns to laud God’s Name,
Rose-gardens, pastures surfeiting
The length and breadth of Heaven,
With such sweet dew and leaven
Of praise and gladsome trill,
It seems that envy’s ill
From down below seeped through,
And many Spirits, silent, cowed
And deathly pale – a motley crowd –
In discontent withdrew.
Their eyelids drooped in dismay,
Smooth foreheads wrinkled in disgust,
Those doves of Heaven, once so gay,
Son innocent and full of trust,
Now seem in disaffection sunk,
As though our Paradise had shrunk;
Since God chose Adam for preferment,
His love for Man has caused a ferment.
The Light, impaired by such disgrace,
Has crimsoned the Almighty’s face.
In brotherly love, we’ll seek the malcontents
And calm restore amid this turbulence.
End of Act Two.