the zincali-第62章
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We have licence; we have power
To obtain a glorious prey。 …
I with horror turn away;
Tumbles house and tumbles wall;
Thousands lose their lives and all;
Voiding curses; screams and groans;
For the beams; the bricks and stones
Bruise and bury all below …
Nor is that the worst; I trow;
For the clouds begin to pour
Floods of water more and more;
Down upon the world with might;
Never pausing day or night。
Now in terrible distress
All to God their cries address;
And his Mother dear adore; …
But the time of grace is o'er;
For the Almighty in the sky
Holds his hand upraised on high。
Now's the time of madden'd rout;
Hideous cry; despairing shout;
Whither; whither shall they fly?
For the danger threat'ningly
Draweth near on every side;
And the earth; that's opening wide;
Swallows thousands in its womb;
Who would 'scape the dreadful doom。
Of dear hope exists no gleam;
Still the water down doth stream;
Ne'er so little a creeping thing
But from out its hold doth spring:
See the mouse; and see its mate
Scour along; nor stop; nor wait;
See the serpent and the snake
For the nearest highlands make;
The tarantula I view;
Emmet small and cricket too;
All unknowing where to fly;
In the stifling waters die。
See the goat and bleating sheep;
See the bull with bellowings deep。
And the rat with squealings shrill;
They have mounted on the hill:
See the stag; and see the doe;
How together fond they go;
Lion; tiger…beast; and pard;
To escape are striving hard:
Followed by her little ones;
See the hare how swift she runs:
Asses; he and she; a pair。
Mute and mule with bray and blare;
And the rabbit and the fox;
Hurry over stones and rocks;
With the grunting hog and horse;
Till at last they stop their course …
On the summit of the hill
All assembled stand they still;
In the second part I'll tell
Unto them what there befell。
PART THE SECOND
When I last did bid farewell;
I proposed the world to tell;
Higher as the Deluge flow'd;
How the frog and how the toad;
With the lizard and the eft;
All their holes and coverts left;
And assembled on the height;
Soon I ween appeared in sight
All that's wings beneath the sky;
Bat and swallow; wasp and fly;
Gnat and sparrow; and behind
Comes the crow of carrion kind;
Dove and pigeon are descried;
And the raven fiery…eyed;
With the beetle and the crane
Flying on the hurricane:
See they find no resting…place;
For the world's terrestrial space
Is with water cover'd o'er;
Soon they sink to rise no more:
'To our father let us flee!'
Straight the ark…ship openeth he;
And to everything that lives
Kindly he admission gives。
Of all kinds a single pair;
And the members safely there
Of his house he doth embark;
Then at once he shuts the ark;
Everything therein has pass'd;
There he keeps them safe and fast。
O'er the mountain's topmost peak
Now the raging waters break。
Till full twenty days are o'er;
'Midst the elemental roar;
Up and down the ark forlorn;
Like some evil thing is borne:
O what grief it is to see
Swimming on the enormous sea
Human corses pale and white;
More; alas! than I can write:
O what grief; what grief profound;
But to think the world is drown'd:
True a scanty few are left;
All are not of life bereft;
So that; when the Lord ordain;
They may procreate again;
In a world entirely new;
Better people and more true;
To their Maker who shall bow;
And I humbly beg you now;
Ye in modern times who wend;
That your lives ye do amend;
For no wat'ry punishment;
But a heavier shall be sent;
For the blessed saints pretend
That the latter world shall end
To tremendous fire a prey;
And to ashes sink away。
To the Ark I now go back;
Which pursues its dreary track;
Lost and 'wilder'd till the Lord
In his mercy rest accord。
Early of a morning tide
They unclosed a window wide;
Heaven's beacon to descry;
And a gentle dove let fly;
Of the world to seek some trace;
And in two short hours' space
It returns with eyes that glow;
In its beak an olive bough。
With a loud and mighty sound;
They exclaim: 'The world we've found。'
To a mountain nigh they drew;
And when there themselves they view;
Bound they swiftly on the shore;
And their fervent thanks outpour;
Lowly kneeling to their God;
Then their way a couple trod;
Man and woman; hand in hand;
Bent to populate the land;
To the Moorish region fair …
And another two repair
To the country of the Gaul;
In this manner wend they all;
And the seeds of nations lay。
I beseech ye'll credence pay;
For our father; high and sage;
Wrote the tale in sacred page;
As a record to the world;
Record sad of vengeance hurl'd。
I; a low and humble wight;
Beg permission now to write
Unto all that in our land
Tongue Egyptian understand。
May our Virgin Mother mild
Grant to me; her erring child;
Plenteous grace in every way;
And success。 Amen I say。
THE PESTILENCE
I'm resolved now to tell
In the speech of Gypsy…land
All the horror that befell
In this city huge and grand。
In the eighteenth hundred year
In the midst of summertide;
God; with man dissatisfied;
His right hand on high did rear;
With a rigour most severe;
Whence we well might understand
He would strict account demand
Of our lives and actions here。
The dread event to render clear
Now the pen I take in hand。
At the dread event aghast;
Straight the world reform'd its course;
Yet is sin in greater force;
Now the punishment is past;
For the thought of God is cast
All and utterly aside;
As if death itself had died。
Therefore to the present race
These memorial lines I trace
In old Egypt's tongue of pride。
As the streets you wander'd through
How you quail'd with fear and dread;
Heaps of dying and of dead
At the leeches' door to view。
To the tavern O how few
To regale on wine repair;
All a sickly aspect wear。
Say what heart such sights could brook …
Wail and woe where'er you look …
Wail and woe and ghastly care。
Plying fast their rosaries;
See the people pace the street;
And for pardon God entreat
Long and loud with streaming eyes。
And the carts of various size;
Piled with corses; high in air;
To the plain their burden bear。
O what grief it is to me
Not a friar or priest to see
In this city huge and fair。
ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE GITANOS
'I am not very willing that any language should be totally
extinguished; the similitude and derivation of languages afford the
most indubitable proof of the traduction of nations; and the
genealogy of mankind; they add often physical certainty to
historical evidence of ancient migrations; and of the revolutions
of ages which left no written monuments behind them。' … JOHNSON。
THE Gypsy dialect of Spain is at present very much shattered and
broken; being rather the fragments of the language which the
Gypsies brought with them from the remote regions of the East than
the language itself: it enables; however; in its actual state; the
Gitanos to hold conversation amongst themselves; the import of
which is quite dark and mysterious to those who are not of their
race; or by some means have become acquainted with their
vocabulary。 The relics of this tongue; singularly curious in
themselves; must be ever particularly interesting to the