RAPHAEL and URIEL.
RAPHAEL: The Heavens all, from ground to topmost sphere,
Are overjoyed at Michael’s chanticleer
And bravely fluttering flag. The battle’s won!
Each glittering shield reflects the rising sun,
With rays betokening triumphant day.
Here’s Uriel himself, fresh from the fray,
Wielding his fiery sword, whose double blade –
Sharpened by Heaven’s wrath and vengeance – made
Short work of chainmail, shield and stoutest helm
And, slicing left and right, did overwhelm
All those who dared lock horns with Heaven’s might!
Stern Uriel, empowered by celestial right,
With single blow, deservedly to fell
All who against the eternal Law rebel –
Blest be your weapons, blessed be those arms
Safeguarding Angeldom from all alarms
And earning God’s most bounteous recompense!
Relate the battle, tell us the events
Of Heaven’s first campaign. We long to hear!
URIEL: Your wish inspires me to attempt a clear
Account of that horrendous fratricide!
Blessed are they who fight, with God allied!
Archangel Michael, our Commander, knew
By word of heavenly messenger who flew
From above, more speedily than shooting star,
That a revolt was planned by Lucifer,
Leading a mob who, flouting God’s decree,
To Morning-Star had sworn fidelity.
So Michael, at loyal Gabriel’s behest,
Donned coat of mail, his officers addressed,
Colonels, Commanders, Cornets briefed for action –
In God’s great Name, to purge the rebel faction
From heavens blue and pure celestial light,
Drowning the upstart scum in darkest night
Before they had a chance to realize
Their plan to capture Heaven by surprise.
Accordingly, God’s Hosts, in utmost haste,
Like arrows swift, to action stations raced.
Unnumbered hordes of troops in armour gleaming,
Were ranged in three enormous wings, so seeming
A force triangular that met the eye –
Like triple-pointed star athwart the sky,
Smooth as a mirror or some polished stone –
Of strength conceivable to God alone!
Michael, about whom lightning flashes dart,
Raises God’s banner, at the army’s heart:
To foster courage and success ensure,
That heart must be sustained and rest secure!
RAPHAEL: What of the upstart host that planned to storm us?
URIEL: Why, they advanced with confidence enormous:
Obedience, honour, loyalty cast aside,
Hating both God and us, and flushed with pride!
Their force grew swiftly, crescent shape assuming,
With two sharp horns in our direction looming –
As does fierce Taurus, in the sky by night,
Threaten all heavenly beasts that heave in sight,
With starry horns … To Beelzebub’s direction –
That he might clip our wings – the righthand section
Was entrusted … Belial led the other –
In armour fit to dazzle one another!
God’s Lord Lieutenant – now the chief dissenter –
Field Marshal Lucifer, controlled the centre –
Their army’s focal point in his design.
His standard proud – for daylight seemed to shine
From Morning-Star – Apollion held high,
Riding behind him, catching every eye,
Resplendent in his chariot of war.
RAPHAEL: How dared that great Archangel covet more?
Had I but timely forced him to refrain!
But tell me, nonetheless, of the campaign:
How did the Prince command his rebel rout?
URIEL: Green-clad retainers ringed him all about
While he, implacable with rage and spite,
His golden breast-plate seeming to ignite
Against a purple vest, his chariot mounted,
With wheels of gold, inlaid with gems uncounted.
Leo and Draco fierce, primed for attack.
Each lit by glittering stars upon its back –
Harnessed between the shafts with pearly thongs,
Scented the prey. Each for destruction longs …
His battle-axe in hand, round buckler raised –
Embossed on which, the Day-Star’s emblem blazed –
Proud Lucifer rode forth to take his chance.
RAPHAEL: O Lucifer, you’ll rue your arrogance!
You Phoenix, glorified by God on high,
How – mid the Heavenly Host you caught the eye:
Noble of bearing, head and helm, with armour-plate
So neatly wrought, it might have been innate!
O sovereign Angel, strive no more! Draw back!
URIEL: There stood the opposing legions, poised for attack;
All aerial strongpoints held, all warriors tied
By orders from the chiefs on either side.
As frenzied drums and clarions commingle,
Making all weapons and their bearers tingle –
The mounting clamour reached the Source of Light,
Whereat a bellying cloud of bolts in flight
Bursts and a myriad fiery shafts descend –
A storm that Heaven sweeps from end to end,
Shattering palaces … Spheres and Stars, perplexed,
Pause in their endless round and falter, vexed,
Swooning on duty, lost for where to go –
Whether to East or West? Above? Below?
No sight nor sound, but lightning flash and thunder!
Nothing is safe. The storm tears all asunder.
The troops, reacting to the Godhead’s dudgeon,
Clash hand to hand, with halberd, pike and bludgeon.
They slice and stab with sabre, spear and dirk!
Who’s bent on slaughter, gaily sets to work –
Disfiguring, destroying, mutilating!
No longer brothers, fellow-citizens, but hating
Each other. Head-dress of mother-of-pearl,
Stray braids of hair fly wild! Wing-feathers swirl
And smouldering flicker, singed by lightning blast –
Gold, diamonds, turquoise, in confusion cast –
All manner of gems and pearls to grace the hair,
Smashed arrows, severed wings, cluttered the air,
When, all at once, a gruesome war-cry rose
From out the ranks of Heaven’s green-clad foes.
The hard-pressed rebel host had fallen back,
But Lucifer three times renewed the attack,
Putting fresh heart into his battered force –
Which, like a tide by cliffs refused its course
Time and again, at last could rise no more.
RAPHAEL: No easy task to beat despair in war!
URIEL: Bold Michael sounds his trumpet “Praise the Lord!”
His regiments, encouraged and restored
By the watchword, join in swift ascent,
Siezing fair winds their foes to circumvent.
They, too, make swift to climb – but wearily –
And, outmanoeuvred, fall upon the lee:
As when a hungry falcon heavenward rises
Before the hapless heron realizes,
Which, trembling with fright, in wood or meadow,
When it at last perceives the threatening shadow,
Fearing those talons, screaming, quits the nest,
With beak upraised to stab the falcon’s breast,
As earthward it plunges to destroy its prey.
RAPHAEL: Woe unto Lucifer! For him, no way!
Here, in the open plain, no gate … no wall!
That fearsome tempest must engulf them all –
The rebels drown in bottomless abyss!
URIEL: The prospect that confronted us was bliss!
Half-moon below, three-pointed star above:
Our units joining up, or on the move,
As signalled by their captains – posts defined,
Defences firm, like walls of steel aligned.
It seemed some aery balance held the ring,
With gun, siege-engine, catapult and sling,
Safely suspended, like some cloud imagined
Wherein the sun’s rays staged a pretty pageant
Of rainbows pied, with colours ever-changing.
Michael, the heavenly Eagle, upward ranging,
Surveyed God’s enemy in flight below
And bravely clapped his wings to let him know.
He grudged the gesture not, before attack,
Though yearning to bestride that feathered back
And pluck that once-proud plumage in disgrace!
Curved beak and claw must hurtle down through space
And seize the prey before it’s lost to sight!
So down we poured, like water from great height,
Much like an inland lake in vast cascade,
Foaming through rocks, so great the noise we made,
As would affright dumb beasts in valleys deep,
Where torrents gush and mighty boulders leap
And trees, uprooted, shatter, smash and twist –
What force can water, wooed and stone resist?
Thus did our vanguard fierce, the navel gore
Of their half-moon, and flaming sulphur pour,
While bombards rained upon them without rest.
Their screaming filled the skies. Robbed of all zest,
The rebel nerve at last began to wane.
The crescent-bow was cracking with the strain –
Both horns already drawn so tightly back,
The middle could not hold, unless let slack,
And must collapse were not some respite given.
Lucifer, boldly backwards and forwards driven,
Answered all calls, risking his neck, indeed,
To cheer the fainthearts in their hour of need –
For all to see, athwart his chariot:
No blow, no bolt too sharp for him to parry it,
Saving the heads of his ferocious team –
The raging Lion, Dragon blue which seem
To fly at their Lord’s command in wild pursuits:
One roars, bites, tears; the other, poison shoots
With its forked tongue, infecting as it goes,
And fouls the air with smoke, puffed from its nose!
RAPHAEL: The flood must sieze him, Lucifer must drown!
URIEL: He plied his axe, God’s standard to strike down –
In vain! God’s Name shone forth the fairest yet.
Still brighter rays the rebel’s glances met,
Which happy omen doubtless fuelled his spite.
Swinging his axe, he darted left and right,
A hail of bolts deflecting with his shield,
Till, suddenly, Prince Michael stood revealed,
In gleaming breast-plate, god-like, ‘gainst the sun!
“Dismount, O Lucifer, for God has won!
Lay down your arms and standard! Bend the knee!
Dismiss these impious mobs of soldiery!
Or – look to your head!” So Michael cried on high.
The Arch-foe, at God’s Name, stung to reply,
More stubbornly than ever did attack.
Wielding his battle-axe, he made to hack
The diamond shield and God’s device to shear.
But he who taunts his God must vengeance fear!
The war-axe struck the General’s shield and flew
To bits. Right hand outstretched, Prince Michael threw
A lightning-bolt, augmented by God’s grace,
Which seared the Rebel’s helmet, head and face
And sent him reeling backwards, burned and blinded,
To tumble from his chariot which, upended,
With Master, Lion and Dragon sank from sight –
Whereat, the Day-Star’s banner doused its light …
Apollion scarce felt my flaming sword,
Than he let go the flag, while thousands poured
In fiery retinue, after their Lord infernal,
To save the standard from disgrace eternal.
Here, Beelzebub fought on; there – Belial –
Their strength, however, vanished with the fall
Of Lucifer. The crescent’s bow snapped sheer!
Yet did Apollion once more appear
With every monster Heaven’s globe contains:
Orion, set on beating out our brains,
Brandished his club and bellowed many a threat –
But neither giant nor cudgel caused us fret!
The Great and Little Bears on tip-toe sway,
Hoping to kill us in their clumsy way,
While fifty-throated Hydra poison spews.
I can foresee a gallery of martial views,
Culled from this battle and our victories!
RAPHAEL: Praise ye the Lord! Give thanks upon your knees!
Alas, for Lucifer and trust misplaced!
How does he look now, finally disgraced:
Whither that glory, once surpassing bright?
URIEL: As when clear day succumbs to darkest night,
Sun having set, so gold forgets to shine –
Thus did his beauty, as he fell, decline.
A hateful transformation came about:
That noble visage grew a monstrous snout,
With fangs that iron bars might well have gnawed.
His hands and feet were talons multi-clawed;
Once pristine skin, a hide of scaly black,
While dragon-wings sprang from his bristly back!
Lucifer, honoured once by all his kind
Completely changed and seven beasts combined,
In one foul shape that mirrored all their traits:
The lion’s Pride, the Glutton’s swinish ways,
The donkey’s Sloth, the rhinoceros mad with Ire,
The ape consumed with Lust and lewd desire –
Both fore and aft, indecent and obscene –
The dragon Envious; the wolf, surpassing Mean.
What once was fair’s now horrid and defiled,
To be by Angels, God and Man – reviled!
Spying himself, the Monster sought to cloak
His gruesome countenance in steam and smoke!
RAPHAEL: Thus God rebukes those who’d usurp His Seat!
What of Apollion?
URIEL: Seeing the tide retreat
With Lucifer’s fall, he and the others fled.
Heaven’s artillery, firing from overhead.
With crashing thunder, lightning flickering white,
Contrived to speed the Monsters in their flight
And revelled in their rout. Whirlwind and squalling
Rain beat on their backs! What caterwauling!
How brisk the flood-tide ran! Our forces blest
By God, randomly striking, onwards pressed,
While they, forlorn, attempted to escape.
What desolation broke as they changed shape –
Body and soul! We heard their barks and roars,
The howls and yelps of creatures on all fours
And, as they fled, Hell-bent, what dire grimaces
Disfigured all those once angelic faces!
But here comes Michael, with the spoils of war –
An Angel-Chorus marching on before,
Strewing the victor’s laurels, chanting praise,
While cymbals, shawm and drum their voices raise!
Enter ANGEL CHORUS, MICHAEL.
CHORUS: Of him all blessings shower,
Who fought the godless power –
And his might, and his right, and his standard
Laid low and forced to cower!
Who reached for God’s High Throne
Has now been overthrown –
With his might, into night, he’s been banished.
Now shines God’s Name alone!
Fierce burned the rebel blaze
But Michael, whom we praise,
Every flame, in God’s Name, did extinguish.
All upstarts he dismays!
God’s Flag he’s bravely borne;
With laurels him adorn!
Now shall peace never cease, nor our State
By enmity be torn!
To God all praise we bring,
Unconquerable King!
Glory be unto Thee, Lord of All –
Who’s given us cause to sing!
MICHAEL: Thanks be to God for changes here in Heaven:
The Arch-Fiend from among us has been driven,
Leaving his banner, Day-Star, helm and shield
As trophies which before you stand revealed,
Mid canticles of praise, triumphant cries,
Bugle and trumpet-blast to symbolize
How rebellion and ambition did combine
To challenge God, the steadfast Source Divine,
Father, Creator of all things that be,
Who gave to each, nature and quiddity.
No more we’ll see God’s shining Majesty
Veiled by the fumes of thankless travesty!
They’re tumbling now, head over heels through space –
Into the nether depths, far from this place –
Blinded and fog-bound, fearsomely deformed –
As they deserve, God’s Heaven having stormed!
CHORUS: So perish all who dare usurp God’s Throne
And Man – in God’s own image made – disown!
Enter GABRIEL.
GABRIEL: (Deeply distressed.)
Alas, alas! We’ved been played false by fate!
Our triumph’s vain! No cause to celebrate!
Boast not of weapons or of standards won –
MICHAEL: What’s this I hear?
GABRIEL: Adam has sinned! God’s Son!
The Founding Father of the human race –
Already fallen – and in deep disgrace!
Adam’s been conquered!
MICHAEL: Surely it can’t be so!
I’m overcome! Tell me – I must know –
Did the accursed Rebel Earth attack?
GABRIEL: The battle lost, he made to rouse his pack:
Chief’s first, appalled at sight of one another!
The light of God’s all-seeing gaze to smother,
They sought a hollow cloud, a murderer’s cave
Of mist to huddle in, dull-eyed and grave …
Infernal counsellors to left and right,
Lucifer then held forth, consumed with spite:
“You Powers, who in our righteous cause sustained
Grave injury, it’s time revenge we gained
For all we’ve suffered! Heaven, let’s persecute
With hate implacable and wiles astute …
God’s chosen creature and the human clan
We’ll smother in the crib, before they can
Grow strong enough their birthright to enjoy:
My aim is – Adam and his offspring to destroy!
By tempting Man, God’s first command to flout,
A stain so deep that nought can wash it out,
I’ll plant in Adam and his progeny,
So poisoning them, that they will never be
Admitted in our stead to Heaven’s court –
Though just a few might, in the last resort,
To seize the Crown and State they covet, rise
Through travail, pain and death in varied guise.
Undreamt of ills shall spread in Adam’s wake
Throughout the whole wide world! Nature shall quake,
Thrown out of balance, harmony destroyed,
Revert towards the Chaos of the Void!
I see Man, in God’s image first created,
Forfeit that likeness and, alienated,
His will, imagination, wits grown dim –
Bereft of that inborn light God gave to him –
Loath, in his mother’s pangs, to draw first breath,
Knowing he can’t escape the jaws of death!
Ever more bold, I’ll spread my rule of fear …
Henceforth, my sons, idols we shall revere,
From temple-altars in the sky extolled,
With offerings of livestock, incense and gold –
And humans so numerous, none could keep the score –
Mankind entire, condemned for evermore,
God’s Name with deeds atrocious to besmear …
His victory and my Crown shall cost God dear!”
MICHAEL: Accursed wretch! The Lord you still defy?
We’ll bring you to your senses by and by!
GABRIEL: Thus Lucifer spoke and sent Count Belial,
Without delay, to engineer Man’s Fall!
Evil itself he donned, the guise of snake,
Subtlest of beasts. With honeyed words to make
The lure appeal to innocent Mankind,
His coils about the Tree of Knowledge twined.
“Did God on pain of death, free will deny?
Forbid you this – the sweetest fruit – to try?
No, surely, Eve – fair dove – you are confused!
I beg you, look upon this Apple, all suffused
With lustrous sheen of crimson and of gold.
A feast awaits you! Daughter, come, be bold!
No venom lurks in this immortal Tree …
Exquisite fruit! Taste it! I guarantee
Knowledge and Light you’ll share. You shrink from sin?
Take it, if Glory and Wisdom you would win
To equal God’s omniscient Majesty!
He may resent it – but that’s how you’ll see
That all things differ – nature, type and form.”
At this, the young bride’s heart began to yearn.
Her eye was charmed, then lips and mouth in turn
Her trembling hand, commanded by desire,
Did pluck and eat, with Adam: trespass dire
For all their offspring! Both at once enlightened,
Perceived their nakedness, then, shocked and frightened,
With fig-leaves clothed the shame of that first Sin.
They sought a shady wood to shelter in,
Striving in vain to cheat the All-seeing Eye.
The heaven’s frown … a rainbow spans the sky,
Which God’s great wrath betokens and portends.
Angels bewail their fate, but no amends,
No wringing of hands, no pleas can save the pair.
The thunder crashes, lightning flashes flare!
They moan in terror, racked by misery;
They flee their shadows, but they cannot flee
The worm of guilt that gnaws through heart and head,
As, stumbling and staggering, they plunge ahead,
Both pale as death and blinded by their tears,
They see no light, no refuge from their fears,
Who lately walked in pride, with blameless poise,
Whom now a rustling leaf, the slightest noise,
Affrights. When, suddenly, a mighty cloud swoops low,
Splits open to emit a gleam – a glow –
Whence God appears and speaks with thunderous sound
That strikes the hapless couple to the ground.
CHORUS/MICHAEL: Better had Man not seen the light of day,
Than for a bite of apple lose his way!
GABRIEL: “O Adam,” thunders God, “What means this flight?”
“Lord, I was naked, so I fled your sight!”
“Who told you nakedness was shameful?” God demands,
“You plucked the forbidden fruit with sinful hands!”
“Alas, the Woman tempted me to eat!”
Said Eve: “The serpent lured me by deceit!”
Thus did they each attempt to shift the blame.
CHORUS/MICHAEL: What sentence did God pass upon their shame?
GABRIEL: Woman, who misled Man, by God’s decree,
Shall suffer birth-pangs and Man’s subject be;
While Man must toil and moil, must sweat and slave.
The earth he tills – and, in the end, his grave –
Thistle and thorn shall grow; the snake, meanwhile,
For having so misused its fork-tongued guile,
Shall on its belly creep and live on dust!
But, to give wretched Man first grounds for trust,
God promised that, in future there should spring
From Woman’s blood and Woman’s seed, a King –
A Saviour, who should crush the Serpent’s head
In enmity, through centuries unshed.
Although the snake the Saviour’s heel may bite,
Yet shall He be victorious in the fight …
I’ve come at God’s behest to tell you all
And bid you act, worse mischief to forestall!
MICHAEL: Shiel-bearer Uriel, watchman for the Lord,
Scourge of the reckless, grip your fiery sword,
Fly down to Eden, cast the sinners out,
Who blindly dared, God’s first command to flout!
Upon their Paradise profaned, mount guard;
By force, ensure the banished pair are barred
From all approach to theat Eternal Tree,
The fruit of which grants immortality.
I post you sentry over Tree and Gate!
Let Adam work outside, early and late,
Ploughing the fields and clay of which he’s made.
Ozias, in whose fist the Godhead laid
That heavy diamond hammer, sculpted fair –
Go forth, with ruby-chains and sharp-toothed snare,
And overcome those hellish beasts of prey –
The Lion and Dragon who, amid the fray,
Raged at our banners! Sweep them from the plains!
Bind the foul beasts, both neck and claw, with chains!
The key to the Pit of Hell, its caverns deep,
You, Azarias, I will trust to keep!
Consign to the Abyss all who resist our might!
Maceda, take this torch and set alight
The lake of sulphur, deep within the Earth!
Torment the Fiend, who gave all Evil birth,
With ever-lasting fire and freezing cold,
Woe, horrors, hunger, thirst, distress untold,
Hopeless despair and conscience-pangs allied
With isolation, curse of sinful pride,
From God’s bright presence hid, in smoke and scum:
Sentence is passed on rebel Angeldom,
Till, pacifying God, the promised Christ,
With love redeems what Adam sacrificed!
CHORUS/GABRIEL: Saviour, whose foot the Serpent’s head shall cleave
And fallen Man from Adam’s Sin retrieve,
Who, to Eve’s children – for so long denied –
The Gates of Paradise shall open wide –
The centuries we’ll count, year, day and hour –
Until, by virtue of Your grace and power –
Nature revived, bodies and souls made well,
Man mounts the Throne from which the Angels fell!
The End.