Jeremiah
[Rapturously] I hear, Lord, I hear. With all my soul I listen to thy word. Unworthy vessel that I am, I wait to be filled with thy message. I vow myself to thy service, Lord, to thine alone, for my soul is athirst to serve thee. I await thy word and thy sign.
The Voice of Jeremiah’s Mother
[Now close at hand and plainly recognizable] Jeremiah!
Jeremiah
[In ecstasy] Show thyself to me, Lord; my heart is racked with the imminence of thy coming. Pour forth thy waters, holy storm; plough me up, that I may bear thy seed; make my earth fruitful, inspire my lips; brand me with the mark of thy service! Set thy yoke upon me. See, my neck is bowed in readiness, for thine am I, thine for evermore. Make thyself known to me, Lord, even as I know thee; let me but see thy glory, even as thou lookest down upon my unworthiness in the gloom; deign only to show me the way of thy will, point the way to him who is thy servant for ever!
The Mother
[Her search has led her up the stair; her countenance shows anxiety, her voice is full of tenderness] Here at last I find you, my son.
Jeremiah
[Springing to his feet in fear and wrath] Begone! Alas the voices are stilled; the way is lost, never shall I find it again.
The Mother
Woe is me, why do you stand here so thinly clad in the chill night air? Come down, my son. The morning mist brings fever.
Jeremiah
[Wildly] Why do you follow me, why do you pester me? Unending chase. You follow me without pause, waking or sleeping.
The Mother
Jeremiah, what do you mean? I was sleeping below, and then I seemed to hear people talking on the roof.
Jeremiah
You heard, you too? God’s holy truth! You heard him speak? Understood his call?
The Mother
Whom do you mean? You have no companion.
Jeremiah
[Seizing her arm] Mother, tell me I beseech you. Death or joy hangs upon your words. Did you hear a voice; did you hear it after you had awakened?
The Mother
I heard a voice on the roof and went to summon you. But your bed was cold and empty. Then fear came upon me, and I called your name.
Jeremiah
[Trembling] You called my name?
The Mother
Thrice did I call you. But why …
Jeremiah
Thrice? Mother, are you certain …
The Mother
Thrice did I call you.
Jeremiah
[His voice breaking] Disaster and derision! Fraud everywhere, without and within. There came an earnest call, and in my terror I thought it was God.
The Mother
How strange you are! I meant no harm. Since there was no answer, I came to the roof to see if there was anyone here. I found no one.
Jeremiah
Nay, you found a madman. The torture of these visions! Sense and nonsense join in cheating me. I am befooled by my own fantasy.
The Mother
What are you talking about? What is troubling you?
Jeremiah
Nothing, Mother, nothing. Pay no heed to my words.
The Mother
I must heed them, Jeremiah; but they are dark to me. An evil mood has beset you, and has estranged you from me. What has happened; what is tormenting you?
Jeremiah
Nothing is tormenting me, Mother. I was too hot in bed, and sought the roof for coolness.
The Mother
You are closing your heart to me, and yet I can read you. I know that night after night for months past you have been wandering about. I have often heard you groaning in your sleep. When you have left your bed to walk restlessly in the darkness, my heart has followed your every step. Tell me your troubles. Shut not yourself away from me.
Jeremiah
Do not concern yourself about it, Mother.
The Mother
How can I help but concern myself about it? Are you not the day of my days and the prayer of my nights? You have outgrown the arms which used to carry you; but I still hold you in my soul, which watches over your life. I knew, ere you yourself were aware; I saw months ago, before you yourself had seen. I saw the shadow upon your brow and the anguish of your soul. You have become a stranger to your friends; you shun merrymakings; you keep away from the marketplace and from the dwellings of men. Buried in thought, you renounce life. Jeremiah, bethink yourself. You were trained for the priesthood. Your father’s mantle awaits you, that you may praise the Lord with psaltery and song. Look forth from the darkness into the daylight. The hour has come for you to begin your life’s work.
Jeremiah
Not now the time for beginnings. The end draws nigh.
The Mother
It is time! It is time! Long since have you grown to manhood. The house has need of a wife, and of children to raise up seed to your father.
Jeremiah
[In bitter distress] Lead a wife home to desolation? Beget children for the slaughter? In sooth, it is not the bridal hour that approaches!
The Mother
I do not understand.
Jeremiah
Shall I build a house in the abyss? Shall I build my life in death? Shall I sow corruption, and sing the praises of disaster? I say unto you, Mother, blessed is he whose heart is now free from ties to the living, for whosoever breathes this day is already drinking the waters of death.
The Mother
What mad fancy has seized you? When were the times more propitious? When was the land more peaceful?
Jeremiah
No, Mother, the fools say: Peace, Peace. But their words do not bring peace. They lie down to sleep unheeding, and as they sleep they are on their way to death. A time is coming such as Israel has never yet known, a war such as the world has never yet seen. The living will covet the peace of the dead in their graves, and those who can see will envy the darkness with which the blind are stricken. Not yet can the fools see, not yet is it manifest to the dreamers; but I have beheld it night after night. Higher leap the flames, nearer comes the foe; the day of tumult and destruction is at hand; war’s red star is rising on the night.
The Mother
[Greatly moved] How know you these things?
Jeremiah
A word has come to me in secret,
For I have seen faces in the night,
I have wandered in my dreams.
Fear and dread fell upon me,
I trembled in every limb,
And like a crumbling wall
My heart fainted within me.
Mother,
Such sights have I seen,
That, if they were written,
Men’s