Chadwick
Ay, I raise thee by twenty thousand!
Francis
Poor beggar, did I not clean thee well enough?
Or did I by chance not open those sewn-shut pockets
hiding some gem precious, or jewel long in heirloom?
Adolph
It seems another must litter money in your stead.
Chadwick
No, damn you rascals, raise me by twenty: see you,
when I gather all the pool into my hands and
unburden you of this heavy golden yoke!
Francis
Raise him, he never learns.
Chadwick
And you, so smart? Luck is fickle, and I hope
you remain as wise when you are broke.
[Passing out cards]
Well then, straight game of poker it is?
All
Ay!
Chadwick
Make it quick. Even this business of losing
house doth tire me.
Adam
You would gamble the world away, if it were
in your grasp, and would succeed in placing
wager on the air, or some errant rabbit far away.
Chadwick
Is not the world within our grasp? Indeed,
you do me insult Adam, when you so poorly judge
my abilities! Not on hares or airs, or even piece of shit
do I make what I so freely distribute to thee in this game,
generous as I am, but on things imaginary, pure constructs
of some genius mathematical, which neither I or the
poor bastard who buys these trades doth understand.
But it is like magic: win or lose, it coins gold from nothing:
a God-like power! That is why I am so unused to defeat,
nor surrender without begging for another fight, to gain
back what by my taste for fortune I had lost, even though
tomorrow I will come to find the fruit regrown, and what
mere farthings is for me today, twice replenished. A marvel!
Adolph
Marvel indeed, but I swear: we shall not leave the
confines of thy house, without bond for all of this!
Francis
And deed!
Chadwick
And deed? That I may join Lazarus before my time in ditch.
Adam
It will be all the better for your eternal soul.
Chadwick
Blaspheme not, though I care mostly for my skin.
Shall you be so mean, unkind, as to not let me rent
at least these walls, which you take tonight by
wager misplaced?
Kate
Not wager but mind misplaced.
What new designs do you devise, my husband,
that you talk of homelessness for us and child?
Chadwick
Us and child? Ay, yes, dear Kate, bless you.
Adam
Save him from himself.
Chadwick
He sees himself as some lording god, descended
from high Olympus to the mortal realm of men.
He has never known poverty, blessed as he is,
and thus I think he always sought it as a strange
and fascinating thing, in these games of his.
But he can play like this without much ruin:
richer than Croesus is he and all his kinsmen.
But I fear, despite my kisses and good direction,
he may once so great and sound a fortune lose,
whoring himself as he does to some bad luck,
or by streak of evil eye, destiny, or judgment of God.
But come now, let us go to bed, and send all
our friends home, safely and with blessing for return.
Chadwick
If they return, they should truly then be triumphant
in their quest to conquer our hearth, this our nest.
Francis
Nay, to so low a conduct we would not sink,
not for thee, anyways. Last game then, Chadwick?
Chadwick
Yes, raise the cards... A flush then! Ah, fortune
smiles yet again, as it did upon the heroes of more
ancient a time. Pay my debts, give me the rest!
Adam
A thousand.
Francis
And a thousand more.
Adolph
Five for me, and release from earlier obligation.
Chadwick
All done then, my merry gentlemen. Take another
tenth, I am feeling easy with the cash – perhaps
you too, someday, will ope your purse a little wider.
Francis
On my honor! A gift denied is insult far worse
than curse upon one’s benefactor. Sleep well.
Adam
Yes, sleep well.
Chadwick
Good morrow, gentlemen.
[Exeunt.]
To my bed, Katherine, the wine takes hold of sense.
SCENE TWO. THE BANK.
Chadwick
Good morrow, Daniel. Give me the market.
Daniel
Good morrow, Sir. It is twenty points up, and rising.
Chadwick
The debt, Daniel. How does the debt sell?
Daniel
Very well, Sir, it rises as steadily as hot air.
Chadwick
Then all is well with the world. Come hither,
and bring me my dawn brew, at the instant.
[Exit Daniel]
Adam, come into my office. Why do you
wander so about all this with thine judging
eye, perceiving as it is?
Adam
All things new must
well examined be, to test their strength and
know their weakness. Would you lunge first
at the chasm, without first seeing if the sun-ray
doth touch its depth, and thus ensure not too
awful a fall, should you trip and fail?
Chadwick
Voice of reason! So how doth you judge
this our chasm here?
Adam
I have not yet studied its every crack and pebble.
Chadwick
Well then study, discerning judge, and I will teach
thee the trade and business we do around here.
Adam
I hear you have great gift at making coin
multiply, and handsome profit pay to those
who place their trust with their treasure in your keep.
Chadwick
Indeed it is so: I place it in the surest stay there is,
the home. I give it to the poor, and they pay the debt,
their debt I give to the rich, and they the interest donate.
One with house, the other with cash is rewarded,
and in all this we make our cut and premium, a small
reward for so much pain to bring joy to the whole world.
Adam
The rich donate interest? The first report of such occurrence
I hear from you, generous Chadwick.
Adolph
They demand no such usury as we do from the poor.
Adam
Then thy thrive on misery, and thus provoke great
wrath and retribution from Heaven’s realm.
Chadwick
Speak not thus, for Heaven has blessed this enterprise
with ringing success! What sin is there in making the
homeless full homeowners, if only they add a little
in gratitude for such fortune, to their repayment?
Adam
Either Heaven has blessed you, or the Devil sprinkles
gold on this whole misadventure, readying the whole
as one does ready some roast, a fine dinner from hell.
Adolph
Why now abuse me so? Speak, fo
r I fear confusion
begets the disgust and vitriol in what you speak.
Adam
Will they who have nothing pay what you demand?
Chadwick
They do, aye, dear Adam.
Adam
With what? The air they breathe or crop they raise?
For the sums given them one generation by industry
diligent, and wise restraint cannot gather half what
they so happily to themselves bind. They become thus
Sysiphus, condemned as he is to ever push and wrestle
with their burden to the summit, only to see it fall.
Chadwick
Such sly and cynic presumption! Yet you are proven
wrong.
Adam
Time will tell how deep and wide this chasm grows.
Chadwick
First a mountain, now a ditch. Be content to insult
this our noble undertaking with but one comparison.
Adam
If insult it is to see the thing through for what it is,
then I am little surprised to see the wise be shortened
by head’s length first.
Chadwick
So I consider you would not suffer
to remain here, blessed as you are in sharp tongue but
sound judgment, if still by dim perception of things blinded?
You are my friend, Chadwick, thus I speak plain,
sparing nothing, though it may perturb. For the truth
is blood enemy of falsity, and once it shines its light
it burns that thing awful, which prefers to work in secret
the demise of men. If you feel its claw and stirring,
banish it now, before you cannot so easily dispatch it.
If you wish my counsel and employ, you have it,
but I will be here to correct and instruct, to root out
clear this lie which will cost many so dearly. Do you consent?
Chadwick
I am thine subordinate.
Adolph
But by what means of instruction you seek to correct
perceived faults?
Adam
Those harsh but effective, for luxurious and easy
has become you means of living and reward.
Adolph
Explain, good master Adam.
Adam
Exit this game, while still bit of fortune is left,
and return to your previous occupation, diminished
for now in proceeds, but intact with honor, guaranteed
to last past an storm fickle fortune may send your way.
Adolph
Wise, though intractable.
Adam
If you hear such counsels, my words are useless thus,
and wish to waste no more breath than is couth here.
Chadwick
Patience, Adam, why you prejudice? Your course
takes time, much consideration, and holds little allure.
Adam
Good not often is glamorous upon the Earth.
Adolph
Aye, good sir, and often unpaid for its charity.
Adam
It expects none if it is true.
Chadwick
Adam, prithee return anon, I will first step take tomorrow.
Adam
Great reward you purchase, with so paltry a donation.
Till tomorrow then, adieu.
[Exit Adam]
Adolph
Be pleased too, my master, give me leave. There is
much work to do.
Chadwick
Go, Adolph, and consider what was said.
Adolph
[Aside] I will.
SCENE THREE. ADOLPH’S OFFICE
Adolph
Maurice! Come hither boy!
Maurice
Yes, good Sir Adolph, what office you desire
that I fulfill with all haste and every care?
Adolph
No need now for flattery, dear boy, I know
you do me good service, and do not forget.
Maurice
You do me honor, sir, by such kind words uttered.
Adolph
Well now, go and see if another needs use
of your expedient office. A grave matter
before me lies, and I need quiet in contemplation.
Maurice
As unseen, unheard wind I go, to fill other sails.
[Exit Maurice.]
Adolph
He too, my young servant, may prove handy
in the designs I hatch this very evening. Now,
at last, is the time to seek means by which to gain
those ends which just yesterday seemed as daydream,
as high above my head as the fix’d stars that draw
their course upon the dark orb of the night. Adam
speaks yet the truth, and knows well what we all do
but yet not speak, for if we should, such great terror
would strike within the hearts of men, such clamor
would be raised at this our great heist and perversion
of all trust, we should be all jailed, hanged, and quartered.
For we play with lives not merely our own: we merely
bid the time well and seek to escape before this poor
house of cards doth fall, and crush the world beneath
the weight of fouled, worthless paper.
But I still may
find both safety and profit in this fall, advance myself
beneath this and future master, until at last I command
a great galleon of state myself, rich in no mere money
but power and authority. I must conspiracy hatch against
Chadwick, reveal all the stinking corpses and the bones
long bereft of flesh long ago feasted away by the maggots
in this nest. He has quite a few, and he, least of all men,
has many faults to bear against him, which shall prove
fatal in the public view of men. I will be the hidden hand
revealing all these dealings, and as doth the setting sun
by the recess of its rays reveal the millions multitude
of the stars, and the moon, once pale as it shared the
celestial court with day’s governor, assume both supreme
splendor and sway of the sky in his recess and absence,
so will I retire my enemy and take his place, making my rule
permanent and everlasting, as the unceasing polar night.
But in this a special genius is requir’d, a power not given
to one man alone. In this I must enlist, purchase or extort
the aid of greater powers and multitude to do my bidding.
But it shall be done: if God not bless and give the power,
then let hell endow its awesome pow’r, make me a mortal
instrument, for only in Chadwick’s demise I will seek
and find satisfaction of the lust within my heart, quenching
of a passion far truer and stronger than love, my envy.
Pray, who doth knock my door, and disturb me thus?
Daniel
A message, Sir, it cannot wait.
Adolph
If it cannot wait, it is a thing greater than myself.
Daniel
There is vicious rumor that Chadwick conducted
trade on privy knowledge, and thus assumed God’s office,
and fleeced the rest of hefty gain, raising for the sum his mansion.
Adolph
[Aside] The dark angel works much swifter than High Heaven,
answering first my bid and offer: the chests already stink of rot.
I should myself punish you for uttering such accusation!
I will not hear of it, and you shall not spread it.
Daniel
Ay, Sir, I spread nothing else but what I heard,
and not for nau
ght purpose. Chadwick demands counsel
with all the worthy bankers and partners of this institution.
Adolph
Come you then to call me to this office?
Daniel
Ay, Sir, indeed. He says your word in this is decisive.
Adolph
Unhappily thus, I accept so grave a burden.
[Aside] Even today I begin to dig the man’s grave.
SCENE FOUR. THE COUNSEL-ROOM.
Chadwick
Gentlemen, are we in our conclave assembled?
All
Ay, Chadwick.
Chadwick
Bid the servants leave.
[Exeunt servants.]
A strange poison seeps from unknown source,
as such poisons often do, to do their evil work.
They say I committed high theft against this bank
and all the world, and upon such crime built
for self and family some castle in the clouds.
Adolph
An accusation surely no one believes.
Grey
Ay, no one in these four walls.
Francis
It is not these walls nor their limit I worry breached,
good Chadwick, for a poison contained within its
proper place is soon expelled, and touches neither
heart nor brain, or other vital organ, and keeps all
senses secure in their offices, health unperturbed.
The truth, whatever it may be, is safe within our
confidence. But be honest with us, that whatever
story is invented to appease the plebs in the least
agrees from all out mouths, and gives it integrity’s
appearance in the unity of our falsehood. Need thee
confess some crime hidden, or must we avail ourselves
of so great a weapon as truth against these insidious lies?
Chadwick
Good Sirs, my friends, as I count you and you count me:
an impropriety indeed there is, but not as awful as one
may judge. It was no trifling thing, no doubt, but it was
long ago, when I was still lieutenant to my predecessor.
Francis
Did you use such coin obtained by fraud to construct
your house?
Chadwick
Ay, and thus sought to hide it from public eye.
Francis
For us it is nothing then, if it occurs no more.
Chadwick
Ay, good friends, I have not thought it since, and close
forgot the whole affair, shamed as I was and blind to
what vexation may it cause when I am greater, and
entrusted with more serious concerns.
Adolph
Why you did it then?
Francis
Adolph, this is court of mercy, not of inquiry.
Adolph
This may be, but wish these questions asked by public’s
shameful court, rude as it is, and easy in accepting hearsay
for fact, and discounting fact as perjured lie, fickle as it is?
Francis
The affair shall never be submitted for their consideration.
Adolph
And yet, not you, Francis, not you my fellow equals,
but those beneath us summoned hither, aware already
of the complaint provocative against generous Chadwick.
Francis
Adolph, even in his piercing question, doth raise the matter.
Chadwick
Which is?
Adolph
This chamber never held the rumor as sole possession:
the wind now strews the feathers of the pierced pillow
all about our fair citadel, sowing ambiguity and suspicion.
It requires but one to bring the residue as evidence against you,
and you shall find yourself summoned before merciless rabble.
Chadwick
Then command them speaketh not, to anyone, lest they
purchase thus for themselves my wrath and disgraceful exile.
Grey
Thou would better succeed in herding the wind into a sack.
Adolph
Gentlemen! Let me propose another course of action.
This news can be the end of Chadwick, or the end of
another undesired. Let us see the evil thwarted in good
Chadwick’s stead, they who seek to forge this mere red
dust into lethal sword to cut down so great a leader.
The source, as you did teach, Chadwick, is unknown,
but let a wellspring of such dark thought be put to test,
and seen as the beginning of our worries: master Adam.
Francis
Adam? Why do you make such bold accusation?
Adolph
He dared to utter libel under guise of friendship,
as I witnessed that gross transaction, wherein Adam,
considering all with an envious eye proceeded to
judge our profession like that of common thief,
liar, cheat, and counterfeiter!
Chadwick
He said no such word.
Francis
But he judged? He uttered such contempts?
Chadwick
Ay, as a true friend doth judge his brother’s step,
that he may place it well.
Francis
Why did he issue such counsel?
Adolph
He sought to raise him to our rank, even as he is
servant of other masters.
Chadwick
Besmirch him not so, Adolph,
with him I would trust more than cash, for I already
shared so great and true a portion of my boyhood with him,
and with him entered our like profession, though long ago.
Francis
And you sought to do this elevation in secret?
Chadwick
Why should I so eagerly seek to be brandished traitor?
Nay, my friends, it is not so. Merely did I wish convince him
that he should so great a mind and talent use to our advantage.
Francis
And did you gain him for us? He indeed would be as gold.
Chadwick
Under one condition he sought to serve, that he may work
as surgeon doth excise and extirpate some cancer he sees
feeding and growing, seeding death throughout the body.
Francis
What he seeks to reform?
Adolph
That which brings us riches more surely than mine of diamond.
See it not, that Adam, knowing that such prize which he covets
for himself he cannot have, and seeking thus that rival house
relinquish it for his masters’ benefit, and to so redeem the value
of his friendship, plucked this bone from past and dangled it
as threat and revenge for our refusal to such poisonous advice enact?
Even if it is not true, let me be devil’s advocate, and thus leave no
stone unturned, in seeking the movement behind the rumor’s cause.
Chadwick
It is not true, wise Adolph, as convincing as thine argument sounds.
For this I vouch, and stand not deceived.
Francis
But we are moved,
Chadwick, the motive is not invalid. You may now defend
Adam, divorce him from this releas’d rumor, but be not startled:
truer friends were found to be authors of more vicious plots.
But beside the argument, how do we ease reception of such news.
Adolph
Money quells all clamor. Let their temper and harsh words
by generosity be soothed. The profit is within our reach.
Gray
Ay, Adolph speaks true. We have been gentler in the practice
&nbs
p; than have been others, and picked the most meager share
of all the fruit that hangs close to hand unassisted. Let it be.
Francis
Such a course is wise, even if for fleeting moment. Chadwick?
Chadwick
It is what Adam counseled against, which fills me with doubt.
Adolph
There is no danger in the plan.
Francis
Not yet.
Adolph
We need not then, tax good Chadwick’s conscience:
his heart must be moved by some wisdom the mind
cannot yet put to word, polished and reasoned. By some
other means we shall justify ourselves to the authorities.
Grey
Not merely Chadwick’s heart is bit by anxiety: mine too
at the prospect we should defend a crime with dishonesty,
and thus bring us into conspiracy, with all its just punishments.
Francis
It is settled then. Chadwick, dismiss Adam by the gentlest
of means, pledge him friendship, but keep him at a distance.
When history reveals further the evidence unseen to us now,
we shall surely judge him friend, and with embrace admit him
to our rank. But now, let fresh breath of wealth banish these
stupid thoughts, and thus abort any thought of uneasy question.
Chadwick
By my own past I am bound to consent to so unsavory an action.
SCENE FIVE. THE BANK.
Adam
Good morrow, good Chadwick.
Chadwick
Ah! Adam, my friend, ever so punctual!
How doth begin this day for you?
Adam
I awoke richer, that is one good way to rise.
Chadwick
Indeed, Adam. Come with me.
Adam
Tell me thus thine judgment, I am inpatient,
as you well know.
Chadwick
And zealous, unceasing
in your worthy passions. Oh that I should find
among my own measure of goodness as divers
and beauteous virtues as I find in thee.
Adam
What is the matter that you use such sweetness?
Chadwick
Is it disagreeable that I should praise you thus?
Adam
Perhaps it is the more gently strike my cheek.
Chadwick
Speak not thus, my dear Adam, you do me injury.
Adam
And you, my good Chadwick, speak not the verdict
I know in my heart already. But I know it is not
you who walk me back to the portals of this hall.
Another thing guides all this, forces you into a bind.
Chadwick
Adam, you were ever to discern the sorrows and
joys of my heart, with skill equal to a mother’s
or a father’s! Will thou then forgive my awful office.
Adam
You have not sinned, and thus need no forgiveness.
But it is another yet. I will not inquire, for it is not
my business to go where I am unwelcome. Yet
I cannot fail to fear for you, as for a brother in battle,
who though excellent is soon slain by the assassin’s
hidden hand.
Chadwick
Yes, there must be another.
Adam
And they name him Adam?
Chadwick
They do, dear friend.
Adam
Let them baptize their sceptres with whatever name
or curse they wish, but I have never known thee inconstant.
If you are unmoved by these, I too am at gentle peace.
Chadwick
Embrace me, Adam.
Adam
And with prayer for your wellbeing I part. But beware.
There is a danger with high price in your works.
Chadwick
Anon, Adam, bless you.
Act the Second. The Fall.
SCENE ONE. THE BANK.
Chorus:
Two months’ time would pass between all these counsels
and proceedings, their object was made moot and buried
by far greater calamity, which had sprouted from the ground.
Yea, what was sown is now made awful harvest, such that
it would be more merciful than if dragon’s tooth had given
rise to a vicious race of warriors: for flesh could always be
cut away from life, and give no more trouble. But deadly fear
doth fly from mind to mind, takes possession of all reason,
and when truth is discovered that once fabulous wealth,
as true as the heavy weight and clink of golden coin upon
the bank-bench, is but feverish vision of a diseased body-politic,
the horror consumes the rest. The whole is by violent chill
and spasm shaking, returning from the drug’s realm into
unforgiving darkness, ever seeking, yet failing in its illness
to the warm and green pastures of the dream make retreat.
Thus it was, with the gluttonous nation, and its dark servants,
who supplied a ready mixture for new heights of pleasure,
and who now demand for lack of specie and precious gem
blood and flesh, ready to take the slaverous yoke in hand.
Adolph
Where two know a affair, a third one added to their company
the whole weal of the world brings in tow, that no secret
to three so divulged long retains its confidence and nature.
What is plainly known by myself and few others, kept shut
for our mutual benefit, no longer serves as well nor pays
as satisfying dividend than as to let drop the furtive fact
in the hands of another, that he may be its spread serve
as destroyer of my enemy. Thus I shall purchase my object!
But it must be well directed. Maurice shall be the agent
of this transaction. He, though good in every respect,
is want to say too much, or too little in easy conversation.
If not forewarned by some sign or indication, by virtue
of his youth and untrained tongue, he may let slip my
stock of knowledge into the rude and common gossip-market.
He shall be unknown, nor the source of such vicious truths.
But should he be named, I shall use his diligence and work
against him, marking him as culprit, a spy caught red-handed,
listening and reading where he should not, for the handsome
benefit of his previous masters in bitter rival’s bank-house.
Come hither, Maurice.
Maurice
Yes, sir Adolph.
Adolph
Stay a while, boy. I must make sense of these papers.
Maurice
Surely, sir. Where must I begin?
Adolph
Read them briskly, and according to their subject
divide them in their proper place.
It is such joy to have a helping hand, Maurice.
Maurice
It is good to serve such generous masters.
Adolph
I am of late both exhausted and saddened.
Maurice
If thy admit a servant’s compassion, I am sorry.
Adolph
Oh, it is truly nothing. Yet it taxes the mind.
You see, I have been Chadwick’s roommate
in University, and have been his friend since
that fateful day when we first met. I have seen
him as a meteor brilliant rise to such heights!
But it seems his vices have gotten the better
of the man, and serve to soon bring him low
Maurice
It is indeed sorrowful, to see the great made
handicap and mortal by some fatal flaw.
Adolph
In truth. Even now he has reverted to old habit,
deadly in its consequence, of finding solace
and sweet dream in poppy-milk, unlawful
as its surely is. Not merely that, but the weight
of so heavy a burden as he carries he has sought
to share not with his faithful Kate lawful wife
and mother of his young son, but instead betwixt
the legs of another sought release and consolation
for his lot. For shame, that he should so descend!
Maurice
I am not to judge, but mind moves to consider
how those who even have as much, and are so
richly blessed, are yet still wanting in spirit.
Adolph
Happy am I to be your mentor, young Maurice.
Maurice
But I feel as if this is a thing most confident, sir.
Adolph
Ay! How I wish it were! But it is a silent shame,
well known in all circles, and made evident by
his tiredness, absences from work, and voyages.
Your eye is yet untrained, but to us it is plain
that Chadwick courts a dangerous end with this all.
Maurice
Indeed, sir Adolph. Behold, my task is done.
Adolph
Good! Go then, and attend to those beneath you.
Maurice
Ay, sir. [Exit Maurice.]
Adolph
Wrong boy, thy task is yet begun!
SCENE TWO. THE STREET.
Francis
Speak to me the word – quick!
Daniel
The bank has fallen from three to two apiece.
Francis
Good God! So it is all crashing indeed?
Daniel
Ay, sir!
Francis
Where is Adolph? He was behind us.
Adolph
I am here.
Francis
Send for Chadwick when we get to the bank.
Adolph
I figured as much.
Francis
How do you weigh this day?
Adolph
As any person with mind sound should:
a dark day, though the weather’s fair.
Francis
Let us amble. See you any profit in this
that yet may be made?
Adolph
We are yet safe. But the masses grow restless,
seeking cause for their late displacement.
Francis
See that there? What is that sordid affair?
Adolph
We must ask the Officer.
Hello! Who happens here?
Officer
Mind not, kind sirs! This vexing woman,
still inside, refuses to vacate what to bank-house
by virtue of debt dishonored does belong.
It is a foreclosure, and soon to be completed.
Francis
Prithee, sir, which bank doth own it now?
Officer
Brothers’ Bank, governed by Chadwick.
Widow
Oh, that God Almighty should accurse you,
for exiling a widow, bereft not two weeks ago
of her husband, how in Heaven’s arms! Not since
Judas and Pilate were cowards such as these,
that they from poor woman and poor children
take what little legacy by industry her deceased half
hath stored up for family’s care! And the usury
of bank, not satisfied with such seizure, pretends
to hold right to take our abode, and presses these
men who must not have been born of mothers,
to under guise of law so rudely expel us onto cold.
I swear, I shall as yet burn these walls, than let them
rot from want and misuse: you shall surely keep it
empty, a nest of freaks and criminals, rather than
let me be thine humble tenant till all is made good.
Officer
The order has come: now go to the court-house
and plead thine case. See if a judge shall render
in your favor. Till then, begone! Away, quick!
Adolph
Suffer not, good upholder of the law, to abuse thus
this poor mother, a widow too! Give me the name
of the counsel which thus orders foreclosure executed.
Officer
I pray, what is you business in this affair?
Adolph
I am vice-president of the owning bank,
and beside me is its chairman. Surely we
hath power to do as we please with the house?
Officer
This is not opportune.
Adolph
Stay, while I call the counsel to thus rescind your order.
Francis
Come into my confidence.
What is this show? You mean to give her house for free?
Adolph
She merely desires time. What difference does one house
or a thousand like it make? Ah this, that her curses now
shall be converted into blessing, and for so cheap a price
as this woman’s word we should purchase just reputation
that could not be with endless debate and wasted gold bought.
Have your servant catch her record – it shall be our defense.
Francis
But it is unseemly.
Adolph
Perhaps now, it is. But if my word is done, it shall be as
some wondrous legend, and shall endow us with perception
of good and humility useful traits when it comes to begging
for the public coin from the likes of those as the woman.
Francis
Then make it swift, we hat not time. Who is the counsel?
Adam
I know him well. It will be but a moment. Servant?
Send message to Edward, to release this house at once
and write up a new contact, with a year to spare for the widow.
Servant
It is done already.
Officer
Good sirs, if you truly are who you say you are,
I must protest that even your action finds its
proper place, but not on the street.
Adolph
Proper place?
Is it proper that you should drag the widow
from her ancient bed, even as we wish to show
clemency in her need? You must listen to law
and to commander, and from the latter soon
word shall come that will draw you hence,
and away from the woman you so distress.
Widow
And who are you, that doth decide me fate?
Adolph
Officer of the bank that owns your house.
Widow
I should strike thee now, even as I cannot
strike the bank you govern! You cannot own
this my home, built by my father from the ground
upwards, as wedding-gift for my mother, seventy
and eight years ago. It is of birthright my seisin.
Adolph
Speakest then: did you not use it as security
for some great treasure which has thoust enjoyed?
Widow
Ay, treasure I did receive, but gave it to my daughter,
who used it to rid herself of the poisonous cancer
in her life-giving breast. Faithfully I have made every
obligation, till of late death did burden us with expense,
which took what my husband left, and now what father left.
Adolph
Be not afraid! You shall have another year to pay.
Widow
Another year to live, if God grant me that.
Adolph
Why is there no joy in thine voice?
Widow
Should I be as a beggar, joyous on demand,
that this mercy, which costs thee nothing,
was shown to woman who deserves it so by
divine command, and under divine punishment?
Listen: I have survived the greatest war man
in his possession by evil could devise, and this
is not the first time I was forced to flee and call
the street my home, appoint cobblestones as my bed.
Even if chance had not brought you here, and the
whim you now entertain not given me a year
to stay within my house, I would have gone out
and made the cold my warmth, survived the long
and brutal night, or else have met my end and
thus been speeded on my way to join my beloved.
Adolph
Insolent are you? Should I withdraw my offer?
Widow
Do as you please. Another hath power to judge thee.
Adolph
Blessed are you, that I am moved to mercy
by my pity. Even at this, I confirm my offer.
Widow
Thank you, great sir. Now bid the rude officer
leave me be at peace.
[Exit Widow.]
Adolph
The command was received?
Officer
Indeed, sir. We go away now.
Adolph
Be well. Let us go, Francis.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE THREE. CHADWICK’S TOWN-HOUSE
Francis
I fold, good Chadwick. Let me rise, and bid you good morrow.
Blessed be with long life, and for my part, absolved of this debt.
Let me add to it some handsome part, a jewel’s worth of money.
Perhaps at last it will mean something to us.
Grey
Me too, Chadwick. The night, though young, seizes me
with some drug, that makes Morpheus’ touch hath power
of this mind you know is wont to watch till dawn with you
thine birthday celebrations. Add to the heap my gift, this watch.
Chadwick
So soon! Ah well, good and true friends, come, embrace me.
My thanks cannot repay the honor and the love your gifts
express, monuments as they are of our long association.
Francis
Well spoken, Chadwick. Anon, friend.
Chadwick
Anon.
And you, Adam, fold thee not?
Adam
Fold and forfeit, when I still wish to win that glittering
pile of gold you were just given, and now at last good
fortune has given me a hook by which to hoist up the catch?
Chadwick
Ah, Adam, you are my rock! And a boy as ever, mischievous.
Adam
At last, I have accomplished my design!
Chadwick
What, my utter ruin at this damn’d game?
Adam
Nay, a smile upon thy face.
Chadwick
Have you thus spied my countenance all night?
Kate
It is true, dear Chadwick, you seemed more at funeral
than at anniversary of birth all this time, till now.
Chadwick
Ay, you discerning souls, I felt as if the corpse in coffin.
Kate
How so?
Chadwick
There is such a multitude that doth torment me.
Adam
Give him peace, sweet Kate, not thus he shall be won
and be made merry. The wounds may fester, but cut them not,
as they did before our time. There is a simpler effect: wine.
Chadwick
Bless your heart, Adam, my physician.
Adam
Of mind, dear friend, I am your deliverer.
Enjoyest thou the draught?
Chadwick
As honey does it slip on tongue, to the heart.
Come, dear Kate.
Kate
Ah, my husband, shall I make thee the merrier
by the gift only a woman can grant in her good time?
Adam
This is a night for two – how fortuitous the others have left.
Chadwick
Ha, dear Kate you inflame the senses. Yes, good Adam,
as you have graced us with your honest and unending devotion,
now go and bless us with you kind good-night, and absence.
Adam
I go forth, anon to you both.
Kate
Ay, Anon Adam.
Chadwick
Kate, shall thy be true to your promise.
Kate
Indeed, it is within a wife’s office and obligation,
and my promise I already before God and men made
at our wedding celebration, near ten years ago.
Chadwick
You as beauteous remain as that wondrous night,
woman as there is none on Earth, and only the beauty
of thine spirit doth excel in grace and loveliness
thy sight, crowned with a happy motherhood.
Kate
If Adam so eased your mind to now with such
sonorous words woo me again, let me relieve thy
spirit, before I make whole thine body once more.
Come, to the balcony.
Chadwick
Even in the kalends of September
the airs seem that of summer, and light breeze alone
disturbs the peace of night. It is indeed pleasant,
and reminiscent of our previous country days.
Kate
It brings thee mellow thought? I go there always,
wandering in spirit when flesh must stay and tend
home in city. Do you remember the starry night?
Chadwick
It is that greatest pain about life here in this town,
that by such multitude of man’s poor light the sky
should be bereft of its beauty, reduced but to rare star
and the Moon, abandoned by her throng of courtesans.
Kate
Then let us start anew, shut our eyes, and open sight:
in that soft darkness of the mind recreate with word
the light we both remember in our hearts.
Chadwick
Thus hear,
and place first Orion, making his first headway about
this fall-time upon the night sky, as he embarks on
great wintry sojourn to the West. Next, the Bear
with its cub place about the pole, the two ever chasing
in gentle play, as beneath them the hero Perseus rides
his starry chariot in the milky river spilled from Hera’s breast.
In the North, place a crown of stars, set into celestial diadem,
beside it the Lion ever guarding its keep, with the Dragon
in whole quadrant of the sky making its lair and residence.
Forget not the joyous Sisters, ever dancing, the crab,
the scorpion, the scales of justice. And what I failed supply,
teach me, for it is you who traced first their outline for me.
Kate
My eye doth sparkle, though you cannot see, with a brilliant
sea of stars, fixed as they are by decree divine, in proper place.
Chadwick
Then I pleased thy soul?
Kate
Beyond fair and decent measure, my love.
Chadwick
Let us then retire to bed, and make another heir.
What tomorrow may bring cannot for instant touch
or spoil this our hour of renewed love, and passion.
SCENE FOUR. THE BANK.
Mes
senger
Wherefore, good man, is Adolph’s keep?
Daniel
Beyond there, fellow. What is the haste?
Messenger
The whole world has gone to ruin, see it not?
And we, curs’d or bless’d, are chosen to be
first witness and first victim of the calamity.
Daniel
Only they haste who saw not the famine coming.
Messenger
Villain! Or they who seek yet to find salvation.
Adolph!
Adolph
Yea, who seeks me with such wide report?
Messenger
It is I, a messenger from the Secretary.
Adolph
Pray thee, sit and catch breath, for thine heart
will give before you give me word of thine master.
Messenger
We are all as men who struggle to drink of airs
above the rushing waters, closer as they rise to meet
the vault of some great treasure-chamber which has now
become as an awful prison, a pillory, and means of awful death.
Adolph
Speak not thus but plainly! What is your business here?
Messenger
The Secretary has convened a council, to thus judge
but also lend all aid to your embattled money-house,
seeing as it soon will be stripped of money and roof,
should action be not taken, and idleness aid destruction.
Adolph
And when should this occur, faithful servant that bring
news of a most welcome and joyous salvation?
Messenger
Two days before the ides, good lord Adolph, in the strictest
of confidences. For the market rabble cast’s its jury power about
on the slightest inclinations of money imprisoned in the banks.
At six the captains of all the houses are congregated.
Only good Chadwick need come, so is the command.
Adolph
Rest assured, it shall be done.
Messenger
Ah, good sir, high and powerful as you are, admit me
to Chadwick, for I know you are his privy friend and advocate.
To no other would I divulge the purpose of my journey hence,
nor who sent me in this errand, nor a word would I permit
let slip my teeth that such venerate Senate for grim but good
purpose is convened, as the knavery feeds on scraps of rumor.
Adolph
Friend, trusty servant as you are, your plea is fair,
your reason well justified, proof it is of a shrewd dealing,
by which the affairs you speak of are well accomplished.
But it may serve against your purpose, for if an eye should spy
this strange messenger, tight-lipped and hurried, rushing
between first Adolph’s study, and then that of Chadwick,
it would serve to confirm every vicious fantasy and promote
treason against our stock and power. Keep calm and return.
I shall fill thine office in thy stead, covered by my daily dealing
with the man with whom you wish to speak in confidence.
I am his ear, and the command has been heard. He will fail not
to be at so momentous an assembly, you have my surety.
Messenger
Who would fail to give you faith and honor, good Adolph.
I go then, and bid thee adieu.
Adolph
The hour of birth is matched only, in man’s life, by the last
whence he draws his breath. But the hour spoken of the servant
exceeds even these in their marking the limits of poor life.
For it is then that does Destiny touch affairs of humans so
that it should seal one fate and discard another, guided by
a helping hand. Let me thus conjure the ancient goddess
by an act of such subtle misplacement, that Chadwick should
by his own means and orders prepare a consequence of doom.
Maurice, come!
Maurice
I am at the ready, Sir Adolph.
Adolph
Maurice, should I such devoted and unfettered service
reward with the flowers of trust upon your confidence?
Maurice
I dare not say, even though I am far unworthy of the honor.
Adolph
No, dear Maurice, let me thus sit you farther up this time,
many a feast have you scarce sat from the floor, offering
your place to those greater than yourself.
Maurice
I am treasury untouched, not to be pried open.
Adolph
Maurice, then quickly fulfill what I say. A messenger
from the Secretary came, seeking audience with Chadwick.
A great council is convened at the Palace on the second day
before the ides of the month, and this house is its object.
Tell him that is shall be before sunset, at seven in the evening.
Maurice
Not a light burden, to deliver such news.
Adolph
Yet lighter it is for the young one, who are not suspect.
Such awesome power does this yoke have, that wielded
by right hand and sure power, it ought lift by its terror
the very institution from its founding stones, convert
what today is solid and with mass into air tomorrow.
I, having been bearer, would seem to be the portent
of some awful ending.
Maurice
Tis’ true, my lord.
Adolph
Go then, and speak the truth.
Maurice
And what if he demands thine presence?
Adolph
When we shall dine, he shall discuss what questions
or angers he will most certainly spit in thine face,
not out of hatred but of terror. What whipping you may get
will compare as nothing to so awful a tirade from friend.
For I know him to be tempestuous where he is judged.
All other queries excuse by need of secrecy in all these affairs.
Maurice
Thus assured, I take my leave, my lord.
Adolph
Be still! Do another business, until you have time and
reason opportune, to otherwise slip the news to Chadwick.
Carefully now, walk, good boy. And when you hath finished
the day’s work, instruct the beginners who hath today come,
even after hours. Thus prove to others your true worth.
Maurice
Ay, wisdom incarnate, my lord! I shall fulfill all.
Adolph
[Aside] The boy proves useful yet again. He shall for my lie
pay the price in spilled or flustered blood, or both.
I say he may even take it willingly, for good word
at his death. To sleep I go, having clenched Destiny’s
cruel hand within my own, cutting the golden thread too soon.
Act the Third. The Council.
SCENE ONE. THE CAR.
Chadwick
Away now, Matthew! It musn’t be missed!
Matthew
Let me be thine wing, good Chadwick.
Where should I mark the path of our car?
Chadwick
Upon the swiftest way to the Palace of the Treasury.
Matthew
Sir, it is at the very crest of island. Even in
and hour’s limit I scarce conceive we shall
make our way through the thick of the traffic.
Chadwick
Within the hour I make twenty league’s distance!
It is six precisely, according to my timepiece.
Matthew
Within the hour twenty streets and alleyways crossed<
br />
is a blessing at the exodus-hour of the city.
Chadwick
Damn the rabble! Find another way!
Matthew
There is none but the public way, for I hath not
the power to ply the air with steel wing, nor place us
in the waters of the river, and thus pleasantly by the wharves
convey you speedily. There! The highway stands, surely
by the work of two stupid men, who touched and called
some authority to witness their stupidity for bit of profit.
Chadwick
Were you not part of the guardsmen?
Matthew
Ay, sir, but three years before.
Chadwick
And you had no means to ply through the same
standing sea of cars, to make way to some emergency?
Matthew
The law demands the people part at siren’s call.
Chadwick
Do then the same! If I could confide for what purpose
I am called, you would know I must answer a crisis
far worse than is to be found in blazing fire, or in murder.
Matthew
The same, Sir, but I must obey the crowd, if not the law.
Should I crash, and thus surely delay by double hour your arrival?
Chadwick
See there! An open lane – enter it thus.
Matthew
It is for those that bicycle.
Chadwick
What! Three hundred horses at your disposal,
and they are all made dumb and lame by red light
of the fools before us, starting and stopping without mind?
Have you not the power or the will?
Matthew
I lack the right.
Chadwick
Damn you! The right is wrought from power
and hand ready to command it. If thy fail, get out!
I shall myself violate the pleasure of the others,
and risk arrest, but you shall never drive again!
Matthew
Be still! I go as you command.
SCENE TWO. THE TREASURY.
Where is Chadwick?
Is he not the first at the door? It is his fate that is
here decided, and the fate of all he loves.
I have seen him not. Perhaps there is reason
behind this.
Surely you would not have the victim flogged before his death.
Here comes the Treasurer, the Secretary. Let us sit.
Secretary
My grave lords, I have to this last fortress and
surest defense of finance summoned thee, not for mere
Sunday affairs, to speak of children and easy things.
What occurs here shall be a judgment on generations
yet unborn, to speak nothing of those we hold already
in our hands, by God’s most generous grace. Let His
light guide these deliberations, for I have had yet to see
a greater fall from power such as this: a Titan stricken
by some mighty sword, or seized by some paroxysm
of the heart – either way with such demise the world shakes.
Relieve thyselves of any enmity, strife, greed. Let not
the mind be burdened by envy, and good within you
maimed by some hidden joy to see your rival spasm in death.
Revive him thus, and your charity shall not be forgotten
by those with power to do like in your grief and mortal throe.
Let your particle of good make you greater than evil ever could.
Let too love for country sweeten and justify what seems now
unnatural, but will soon prove to be unthinkable left undone.
But if you fail in this, and prove thyself opposed to our
intention, my hatred for you will teach others the same,
and all will be idle when gods become men, and die.
James
A speech noble and moving, but what do you expect?
That our services be by sweet words cheaply purchased?
You seek not our counsel, but our submission to decree
already rendered. Speak now thus with presidential authority?
Ay, I am as he is, and what difference there may be between
my mind and his after this our council, I shall reconcile
without fail and bring to bear. Listen thus to the task,
for it is not my master’s decree that must be fulfilled,
but destiny’s unchanging letter thus understood and spoken
as to lay the great among us to dignified rest, if not in union
they shall be joined to life with bond to the living, or will not
be revived by our infusions to its health, full as it was year ago.
Nestor
Speak, excellent Minister, we listen.
Secretary
It is best, in all estimation, that the great banking-house
that now is endangered by unclean debts be rid of its
lecherous disease by unblemished money. Thus strengthened,
it would have time to cleanse itself of what our intervention
did not erase, and reward thee, its noble physicians, with
a most generous fortune.
Nestor
What is our part?
Secretary
From each a thousand millions to start.
Lawrence
You are truly mad, I have no more my silent doubts.
Are we by such expense purchasing sickly slave, or meat?
James
Meat, good sir, it seams, for even a share such as this
from all those gathered here will not stay the bankruptcy.
It is worse than stacking from such cash a pyre, and burning it.
Secretary
Will you remember that you all share the same ailment?
Lawrence
It has proven fleeting melancholy, not some lethal disease.
Secretary
And are you unawares of how another has fallen just weeks before?
James
Did the world end? No, we are still here, painful as it was.
Secretary
The pains with this end shall be tenfold, and will surely cause yours.
Nestor
Gentlemen, I presume not to speak with authority among
such august and mighty assembly. We have thought ourselves
masters once of world’s affairs, and brought all to share in
our gamble. Now there are accounts to settle, the hazard
cut short and before its time by some divine intervention.
And is it not? With this intervention comes not awful judgment
upon all our heads? We, who first caused the misery of multitude,
you believe we shall escape their wrath scot-free? They are the least
of our punishers: above the mighty powers stir to strike at our hearts
and rob us of the breath of life. The rich shall become richer,
and the plebs shall sink further in their slums. We who are now
equals shall find ourselves servants of our former fellows:
look to your left and to your right, for of your triplet only one
shall emerge as master over both. Thus with slavery shall we be
rewarded, at least the lot of us. Let the others be generous to the damned.
Lawrence
And I shall find myself not numbered among those poor fellows!
James
Neither myself!
All
Ay, each man shall seek his own salvation.
Nestor
Quiet down, you rabble! You steal my utterance and replace it
with yours. In this, your true intention uncovered, you seem
more base than pack of wolves, for they can claim no reason
to guide their passion for life at all cost, and so can be excu
sed
for resorting to such violent egoism. But we with spark of truth
and commandment of charity are empowered, to find our salvation
in common survival. See it not? Even as what our governors demand
seems as shaming extortion to help blood enemy, I believe we should
soon find it bargain for our own skin. Let us purchase now this
security, while it is still cheap, otherwise much more bloody token
of repentance shall be forced by unflinching vengeance from our chests.
James
I find myself the more unconvinced.
Treasurer
Then, if not by godly stirrings you shall be moved, perhaps
by love of country you shall be brought into this enterprise?
I will make it plain, that the great Assembly hath foreclosed
any access to the public coin, be it not married with greater part
of thine treasure, so illicitly wrought, to save yourselves.
Lawrence
So illicitly wrought? And you claim to hold sway over the
treasury of this land? Why, the same Assembly which now
so harsh and contrary a decree doth deliver, hath given us
the right and the law by which to pursue our adventures,
and we have followed to the letter every proscription so exacted.
Blame yourself, for thine own slumber, when by our actions
money flowed as water, making green and pleasant the pastures
of our country! We have done our part, to increase the stores
of all the granaries.
Nestor
Perhaps to fill all those that belong to thee.
You would prove a villain to both God and to country! For shame,
old Nick’s advocate, for shame you, James, who with him prove
so obstinate, and harden the hearts of all us gathered here. Let
your eye wander father than your own nose and business, be not
the poor myope who stumbles into ditch, and then for his own
fault seeks assistance from the blind! See you not, how destiny
doth begin its irresistible grind towards that awful time of famine,
panic, pain, and all-round destruction we all knew would come?
They who speak so easy have prepared themselves at the others’
expense, thinking they would be in castle far away, unperturbed,
when this would all come to pass. Even those stones and bullets
that you think shall be your shield, as they were wielded by hand
human and hoisted into their proper place, by a like multitude of
hands, with employ of fire and treachery could tear them down,
leaving you exposed. And even if you should fly from human law,
or the wrath of the mob, do you think you shall escape the justice
from above? Even in golden house a man struck mad by tragedy
doth consider it more a prison, a dark gaol, and its richness an insult
to the unseen wound festering in his spirit, there first accomplished
by mortal sin’s blow. And if our conspiracies should be uncovered,
how the law by our desire was thrown into fire and remade into
an instrument of our liking, should we not fear death within our homes,
even those that come of desperate extremity striking at its own heart?
James
Strengthen thus, your high oratory with act. Give all our donation
from your own purse.
Nestor
Be not fool. I pledge instead the first portion of what’s asked.
Benedict
I too, am moved to action, and join wise Nestor.
Secretary
What of others?
Give us time, Secretary, you shall hear our verdict in the morrow.
Benedict
[Aside] I, though outsider, by this end seek full admission to this college.
Even with full submission to the demand, the great house shall fall.
It is best that I here claim the spoils, and take the better part.
Secretary
Go then, and return with proper answer.
[Exeunt.]
Chadwick
Servant, I seek the Secretary, on urgent business.
Servant
Good sir, high as you must be to dare make such prayer,
he has ended a council, and dismissed them who gathered.
Chadwick
Jest not, for a hand mov’d to anger is ungoverned.
Servant
Be at peace! Doth must know the time?
Chadwick
I was told, by a secret emissary, all are to gather at seven.
Servant
Clearly then, the news by crucial detail has been chang’d.
All were here at six, with one still absent when the doors shut.
Chadwick
Did they seek one named Chadwick?
Servant
Ay, with an eager eye, and wanting place.
Chadwick
Admit me to the Secretary! I am him who was sought!
Servant
He is gone, Sir, on urgent business called back to capital.
Chadwick
Presume thee, to be barrier between myself and him?
I shall easily remove, for I am enraged at this outrage!
That you should have the power to keep me from his presence!
Servant
I doubt not the justice of your business, nor any of your right.
But doth thine range have power to remove what far distance,
beyond river, hill, and cloud doth already between you and him lie?
It even, with every moment, grows larger.
Chadwick
Shall I call on him, then?
Servant
He gave me no means by which to do so. He spoke that he
shall not be stirr’d, by any man, for heavy things weigh his mind.
Chadwick
Had you report of what was decided in my absence?
Servant
None, but that which I could from their grim countenance observe,
as if they some ghastly sentence wrought, upon a finish’d convict.
Chadwick
Ah! Away I fly, for surely an untimely end is nigh!
SCENE THREE. THE BANK.
Chadwick
Who remaineth in this accursed house!
Maurice
Ah! My lord! That you should come in the night,
to witness me end day’s work. Pardon me, I was showing
those in my keep a better method by which to gain their ends.
Chadwick
You damn’d knave! You had far better method devised by which
to end all this and our lives!
Maurice
I pray ignorance, and know not
in what ways I may have crossed thee, being ever your servant.
Chadwick
A fool, not servant, and now a traitor! Speak plain, why doth
you mill about this late hour?
Maurice
Out of passion, sir, for profession.
Chadwick
Ay, out of passion! Scoundrel1 You are a spy, a thief, a liar!
Maurice
On my honor, sir, I know not what you speak of!
Chadwick
You delivered news of this night’s council to mine ear!
Paid, surely, and purchased cheaply was your service,
to one word change, and thus bring all into ruin!
Now you stay the night, many as such must have been,
under friendly guise and false smile, serving always
another purpose and end. Speak thus, what serpent
is thine master!
Maurice
What accusation is this, awful and wild?
Chadwick
Wild! I strike thee!
Maurice
Be pleasing, kind sir! Let me all
enlighten by soft light of truth!
Chadwick
Forsooth, die!
Maurice
My intellect! From thy violence it grows dim, drenched
in blood.
Chadwick
Let me thus speed you, with this crystal shard:
let it sink softly between thy vein and head, gushing forth
hot torrent! Speak no more, thy speech is drowned in red.
He is no more. He is no more.
SCENE FOUR. CHADWICK’S TOWN-HOUSE.
Chadwick
My hands! My bloodstained hands! Eres’t not
I see in these accomplished an unholy baptism,
a crimson mark that doth join me to the company
of the damn’d! A common-wealth of sorrow and pain
for one moment of murderous assault upon the youth!
It is just, that now I reel in horror, seeing plain the
dark work accomplished by none other than myself.
Should I again take the mantle of judge, and wield
the sword of the executioner, and upon myself drive
the same sharp point, which hasty was to fancy
Maurice as the author and mediator of these plots?
Kate
Chadwick, be you in the house?
Chadwick
[Aside] Now time has made itself improper for such thoughts.
Quietly, the corpse is stowed. Upon another I made call,
one unmoved by such sights, as I had scarce imagined
I would have need of him. But till all will be in order,
some sickness I shall feign, for my spirit already rots,
and indeed brings malaise upon my fever’d brain and body.
Dear Kate! I am in my room, lately seiz’d by sickness,
come near not, nor let child see his sickly father lying.
Kate
I shall not disturb thy night.
Chadwick
Disturb not the torments. I must by trusty means,
so lately known again, dispatch this awful pain.
Where is heaven? It is but in the vein, a mere
pinprick away. Not up in the sky, where God
doth hold His court, is my bit of paradise: how would
God admit so vile a creature as I? No, for me,
for my pains is given sweet relief, not through
the rough and narrow gates of pearl, but through
the red river within me that leads to heart and brain.
I must merely mix with the ruddy stream sweet milk
of poppy flower bulb, that comes as does a morning
mist upon the meadow of the mind. It heals the eye
of all the gloomy sight of world, heightens senses,
grants a sublime perception: what is real becomes
as insubstant as a dream, and what by intellect liberated
is woven is granted firmer existence than flesh.
All the wise men, all the oracles and shamans
found in like herb an inspiration from Heaven
or from hell. I do not judge, do not distinguish now,
I merely sink upon a cloud, and fly upon hidden wing....
When Gods Were Men Page 3