Count Alarcos | Page 5

think Thou ever loved'st me as thou did'st profess, And that's
the bitter drop.
I:3:28 ALAR. Indeed, indeed --

I:3:29 SOL. I could bear much, I could bear all, but this My faith in thy
past love, it was so deep, So pure, so sacred, 'twas my only solace; I fed
upon it in my secret heart, And now e'en that is gone.
I:3:30 ALAR. Doubt not the past, 'Tis sanctified. It is the green fresh
spot In my life's desert.
I:3:31 SOL. There is none to thee As I have been? Speak, speak,
Alarcos, tell me Is't true? Or, in this shipwreck of my soul, Do I cling
wildly to some perishing hope That sinks like me?
I:3:32 ALAR. The May-burst of the heart Can bloom but once; and
mine has fled, not faded. That thought gave fancied solace, ah, 'twas
fancy, For now I feel my doom.
I:3:33 SOL. Thou hast no doom But what is splendid as thyself. Alas!
Weak woman, when she stakes her heart, must play Ever a fatal chance.
It is her all, And when 'tis lost, she's bankrupt; but proud man Shuffles
the cards again, and wins to-morrow What pays his present forfeit.
I:3:34 ALAR. But alas! What have I won?
I:3:35 SOL. A country and a wife.
I:3:36 ALAR. A wife!
I:3:37 SOL. A wife, and very fair, they say. She should be fair, who
could induce thee break Such vows as thine. O! I am very weak. Why
came I here? Was it indeed to see If thou could'st look on me?
I:3:38 ALAR. My own Solisa.
I:3:39 SOL. Call me not thine; why, what am I to thee That thou
should'st call me thine?
I:3:40 ALAR. Indeed, sweet lady, Thou lookest on a man as bruised in
spirit, As broken-hearted, and subdued in soul, As any breathing wretch
that deems the day Can bring no darker morrow. Pity me! And if kind
words may not subdue those lips So scornful in their beauty, be they
touched At least by Mercy's accents! Was't a crime, I could not dare
believe that royal heart Retained an exile's image? that forlorn,
Harassed, worn out, surrounded by strange aspects And stranger
manners, in those formal ties Custom points out, I sought some refuge,
found At least companionship, and, grant 'twas weak, Shrunk from the
sharp endurance of the doom That waits on exile, utter loneliness!
I:3:41 SOL. His utter loneliness!
I:3:42 ALAR. And met thy name, Most beauteous lady, prithee think of
this, Only to hear the princes of the world Were thy hot suitors, and that

one would soon Be happier than Alarcos.
I:3:43 SOL. False, most false, They told thee false.
I:3:44 ALAR. At least, then, pity me, Solisa!
I:3:45 SOL. Ah! Solisa, that sweet voice, Why should I pity thee? 'Tis
not my office. Go, go to her that cheered thy loneliness, Thy utter
loneliness. And had I none? Had I no pangs of solitude? Exile! O! there
were moments I'd have gladly given My crown for banishment. A
wounded heart Beats freer in a desert; 'tis the air Of palaces that chokes
it.
I:3:46 ALAR. Fate has crossed, Not falsehood, our sweet loves. Our
lofty passion Is tainted with no vileness. Memory bears Convulsion, not
contempt; no palling sting That waits on base affections. It is
something To have loved thee; and in that thought I find My sense
exalted; wretched though I be.
I:3:47 SOL. Is he so wretched? Yet he is less forlorn Than when he
sought, what I would never seek, A partner in his woe! I'll ne'er believe
it; Thou art not wretched. Why, thou hast a friend, A sweet companion
in thy grief to soothe Thy loneliness, and feed on thy bright smiles,
Thrill with thine accents, with impassioned reverence Enclasp thine
hand, and with enchained eyes Gaze on thy glorious presence. O,
Alarcos! Art thou not worshipped now? What, can it be, That there is
one, who walks in Paradise, Nor feels the air immortal?
I:3:48 ALAR. Let my curse Descend upon the hour I left thy walls, My
father's town!
I:3:49 SOL. My blessing on thy curse! Thou hast returned, thou hast
returned, Alarcos?
I:3:50 ALAR. To despair.
I:3:51 SOL. Yet 'tis not the hour he quitted Our city's wall, it is the tie
that binds him Within those walls my lips would more denounce, But
ah, that tie is dear!
I:3:52 ALAR. Accursed be The wiles that parted us; accursed be The
ties that sever us
I:3:53 SOL. Thou'rt mine.
I:3:54 ALAR. For ever. Thou unpolluted passion of my youth, My first,
my only, my enduring love!
[They embrace.]
[Enter FERDINAND, the PAGE.]

I:3:55 PAGE. Lady, a message from thy royal father; He comes --
I:3:56 SOL.
[Springing from the arms of Alarcos.] My father!