From far-off Lebanon, with cedars crested,
To where the waters of the Asphalt Lake
    On its white pebbles break,
And the vast desert, silent, sand-invested,
These kingdoms all are mine, and thine shall be,
    If thou wilt worship me!

CHRISTUS. 
Get thee behind me, Satan! thou shalt worship
The Lord thy God; Him only shalt thou serve!

ANGELS MINISTRANT. 
The sun goes down; the evening shadows lengthen,
The fever and the struggle of the day
    Abate and pass away;
Thine Angels Miniatrant, we come to strengthen
And comfort thee, and crown thee with the palm,
    The silence and the calm.

III

THE MARRIAGE IN CANA

THE MUSICIANS. 
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
Rise up, and come away,
For lo! the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone,
The flowers appear on the earth,
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

THE BRIDEGROOM. 
Sweetly the minstrels sing the Song of Songs! 
My heart runs forward with it, and I say: 
Oh set me as a seal upon thine heart,
And set me as a seal upon thine arm;
For love is strong as life, and strong as death,
And cruel as the grave is jealousy!

THE MUSICIANS. 
I sleep, but my heart awaketh;
’T is the voice of my beloved
Who knocketh, saying:  Open to me,
My sister, my love, my dove,
For my head is filled with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night!

THE BRIDE. 
Ah yes, I sleep, and yet my heart awaketh. 
It is the voice of my beloved who knocks.

THE BRIDEGROOM. 
O beautiful as Rebecca at the fountain,
O beautiful as Ruth among the sheaves! 
O fairest among women!  O undefiled! 
Thou art all fair, my love, there’s no spot in thee!

THE MUSICIANS. 
My beloved is white and ruddy,
The chiefest among ten thousand
His locks are black as a raven,
His eyes are the eyes of doves,
Of doves by the rivers of water,
His lips are like unto lilies,
Dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.

ARCHITRICLINUS. 
Who is that youth with the dark azure eyes,
And hair, in color like unto the wine,
Parted upon his forehead, and behind
Falling in flowing locks?

PARANYMPHUS. 
                       The Nazarene
Who preacheth to the poor in field and village
The coming of God’s Kingdom.

ARCHITRICLINUS. 
                         How serene
His aspect is! manly yet womanly.

PARANYMPHUS. 
Most beautiful among the sons of men! 
Oft known to weep, but never known to laugh.

ARCHITRICLINUS. 
And tell me, she with eyes of olive tint,
And skin as fair as wheat, and pale brown hair,
The woman at his side?

PARANYMPHUS. 
                  His mother, Mary.