THE GLORIOUS CANTICLES: CANTICLE 2

CANTICLE 2

¹In the days of steel and smoke did the Lord descend upon the high places, and lo, He beheld Ivalice, and His heart was grieved.
²For where once the flocks did graze, now the spears of men did glitter; and where the children sang, now the trumpets of war did wail.
³He walked the ruins of what had been a city, and there saw no living thing but the flies and the fire.
⁴The stones were blackened, the walls cast down, and the bones of the slain lay unburied in the dust.
⁵And the Lord spake, saying, Where now is the joy I kindled? Where is the peace I planted in thy hearts?
⁶I gave unto thee the blade for the harvest, yet thou hast turned it to thy brother’s throat.
⁷I showed thee the flame for warmth and bread, yet lo, ye have fed it with houses and flesh.
⁸Did I not form thee from the clay and breathe into thee mercy? Yet thy hands are full of cunning and cruelty.
⁹The Heavens trembled with His voice, and the stars withdrew their gaze, ashamed at the violence below.
¹⁰The Lord stood upon the mountain where once He had taught the sons of men, and He wept aloud.
¹¹I came to thee as a shepherd to a scattered flock, but ye have bitten the hand that gathered thee.
¹²I dwelt in thy midst and walked thy paths, yet thou hast lifted the heel against Me.
¹³In the time of the first harvest, I rejoiced with thee; now I mourn, for thou hast made harvest of thy kind.
¹⁴And He saw the kings of Ivalice clothed in pride and armored in dominion, and their hearts were as stone.
¹⁵He looked upon their scribes and diviners, who named His name but knew Him not.
¹⁶He beheld the temples made by hands, gilded without but hollow within, where no prayer rose untainted by ambition.
¹⁷The poor were crushed, the just were slain, and the innocent turned their faces from the light.
¹⁸Shall I abide forever in the company of murderers? said the Lord. Shall I make My throne amidst treachery and blood?
¹⁹Nay, I shall not remain where I am not loved, nor dwell where I am forgotten.
²⁰Then did the wind rise, and the thunder utter its voice, and all creation paused to hear His judgment.
²¹The beasts were silent, and the waters ceased their running, and the sky bowed low.
²²And the Lord declared: The time is come for Me to make the Great Decision, and to ascend unto the heights.
²³Then the Lord turned His face from the valley of broken altars, and from the high towers built in vain, and He set His gaze toward the Heavens.
²⁴I fashioned the world with wisdom, saith He, and I watered it with mercy, and I sowed it with righteousness.
²⁵But ye have reaped sorrow, and have gloried in the yield of destruction; the work of thy hands is a blight.
²⁶Did I command thee to slay thy neighbor? Did I delight in burnt flesh and pillaged storehouses?
²⁷Yet ye set My name upon banners, and march forth in wrath, claiming vengeance in the guise of devotion.
²⁸If thy mouth doth praise Me, but thy feet run to bloodshed, art thou Mine?
²⁹The Lord stretched forth His hand over the waters, and they roiled beneath His grief.
³⁰He lifted His voice upon the winds, and it carried through the farthest reaches of Ivalice.
³¹Let it be known among all peoples and tongues: I have walked with men, and they have spurned Me.
³²I made thee little lower than the stars, yet ye have descended to depths not known among beasts.
³³The lion slayeth for hunger, but thou for pride; the serpent striketh in fear, but thou in sport.
³⁴What shall I do with thee, O children of dust, that lovest the sword more than the sower’s plough?
³⁵Ye have set a king above Me, and bowed before idols of metal and man.
³⁶Ye break bread in secret, and speak peace with thy lips, but in thy heart there is malice.
³⁷Therefore shall I remove My presence from thee, as the sun doth hide from a land of shadows.
³⁸The breath of My spirit shall no more stir in thy councils; I shall be as one afar off.
³⁹The Heavens darkened at His word, and Ivalice shuddered beneath the weight of His mourning.
⁴⁰The trees bent low, and the rivers ceased their murmuring, and all things were hushed in sorrow.
⁴¹Then spake the Lord again, and His voice was low and terrible: This is the Great Decision.
⁴²I shall take up My place in Paradise, and none shall see Me save those who walk in truth.
⁴³Let them that love Me keep My commandments, though I be hidden from their sight.
⁴⁴Let the righteous endure, and let the pure remain steadfast, for unto them shall I return in the end of days.
⁴⁵And the Lord turned Himself away from the face of the mountains, and the hills were cast in gloom.
⁴⁶The wind ceased its singing, and the birds of the air folded their wings in silence.
⁴⁷For the joy of the world was dimmed, and the light of His presence was withdrawn from among the peoples.
⁴⁸No longer did Ivalice bloom in His footsteps, neither did the waters glisten with His smile.
⁴⁹And there arose a great stillness in all the lands, for the Lord had made His going known.
⁵⁰The sons of men sought Him in the high places, and found only the echo of their own voices.
⁵¹They searched in the deep places, and found only the ruins of their pride.
⁵²Then came prophets and madmen, crying aloud: Lo, He is here! and: Lo, He is there!
⁵³But the Lord was not in their cries, neither in their temples built by violence and vain boasting.
⁵⁴For He dwelt no more in the tabernacles of the unclean, nor in the assemblies of the unjust.
⁵⁵Yet He left not the world without witness, for His law endured as fire in the bones of the faithful.
⁵⁶And His spirit moved still in the secret places, like dew upon the hidden root.
⁵⁷Blessed were they who kept His precepts, though the Heavens were brass and Ivalice iron.
⁵⁸Blessed were they who fed the hungry and clothed the naked, though no angel called their names.
⁵⁹Blessed were they who spake peace in the hour of war, and mercy in the day of wrath.
⁶⁰For unto such as these did the Lord whisper in the night, and they were not utterly forsaken.
⁶¹Though He tarried, He forgot them not; though He withdrew, His eye did not slumber.
⁶²For the Lord setteth apart a remnant, that the world be not utterly consumed.
⁶³In their hearts He hid His remembrance, and in their hands the seed of His promise.
⁶⁴And they walked humbly through the desolation, bearing the name of the Most High in silence.
⁶⁵And when they stumbled, He upheld them unseen; and when they wept, He gathered their tears.
⁶⁶For though He chastened the nations, His mercy burned still, like a coal beneath the ash.
⁶⁷And it came to pass that the Lord set His face unto Heaven, and the veil was drawn between the world and His glory.
⁶⁸The trumpets of the cherubim were stilled, and the gate of brightness was closed with seven seals.
⁶⁹From the highest mount unto the deepest chasm, a silence spread that none could break.
⁷⁰For the glory of the Lord had departed, and Ivalice groaned beneath the shadow of its sorrow.
⁷¹Yet in the highest Heaven was there weeping, and the angels mourned for the fall of man.
⁷²And the Lord spake not again in the whirlwind, nor in the fire, nor in the trembling of the mountains.
⁷³But in stillness He prepared the day of salvation, and in hiddenness the hour of mercy.
⁷⁴For the Lord is just, and His judgments are true; yet in His heart is love eternal.
⁷⁵He remembereth the dust from whence we are made, and forgetteth not the breath He did breathe.
⁷⁶Therefore shall Ivalice not perish forever, neither shall the promise be forgotten in the grave.
⁷⁷For the Lord shall return in power and glory, and the light of His countenance shall cover the world as a flame.

▷THE SEVEN SCRIPTURES OF THE CHURCH OF GLABADOS
    ▷THE CANTICLES
        ▷THE GLORIOUS CANTICLES
            ▶1—2—3—4—5—6—7

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