Reveal it, chosen one. Cry your words aloud.
Baruch, do you see the camp and the tents; do you see this sleeping ocean surging down from the north?
[Shuddering] I see the enemy; I see the tents.
You see the night, sleep, and the false quiet of repose. But in my ears the trumpets blare and the arms clash as the Chaldeans arise and storm the city. The walls whereon our feet are now planted, crumble at their onslaught; the cries of the fugitives ring in my ears. The brazen flood foams over us. I hear the beating of Death's wings o'er city and walls; I see the destruction of Zion. Baruch, waking I see it, for God hath opened an eye within the darkness of my body; my heart maketh a noise in me; my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Why sleep they still? Time is it they should wake, ere their sleep pass into death. Verily the hour is come to awaken Jerusalem!
[Stirred by his words] Yea, yea, Jeremiah, awaken Jerusalem!
O foolish people, afflicted town, How, ah how, can you sleep at peace When Death's cold winding sheet is spread Beneath you where you lie. O foolish people, afflicted town, How can you rest when thunder rages? How can you drowse, Lost in dreams, When Ashur's rams Are battering the gates? Who shall waken the fools? Who make the deaf hear?
[Ecstatically] You, master. Cry aloud. Awaken them. Save them from the jaws of death.
Awaken, awaken, up and away! The land is afire, the foe holds the town! Flee ere his wrath wholly consume you, Flee from the sword, flee from the flames, Leave your possessions, abandon your homes, Gather your households, your women and children; Ere he can seize you take refuge in flight. Up and away! The land is afire, the foe holds the town! Up and away!
[Coming forward from the shadows] Who shouts here? You will waken the sleepers.
Oh that I could awaken them. Up, Jerusalem, awake! City of God, save thyself.
I must not sleep. No one must sleep. I am the watchman. Woe to him who hinders me.
[Taking him by the shoulder] You must be moonstruck to think yourself watchman. I am the watchman. Away with you.
Touch him not, the chosen of the Lord, the prophet.
[Loosing JEREMIAH] Are you Hananiah, the prophet of God?
Jeremiah, who leads the people astray? Jeremiah, who cried through the street that Ashur would prevail? Have you come hither to gloat over the fulfilment of your vision? Too soon, faint-heart, too soon; and yet in an apt moment, prophet of evil, to feel the weight of my anger. I will reveal you something.