Polyeucte | Page 8

gain,?Yet memory for aye is linked with pain!?I feel the charm that binds me still to thee;?If duty great, yet great thy worth to me:?I see thee still the same, who waked the fire?Which waked in me ineffable desire.?Begirt by crown of everlasting fame?Thou art more glorious--yet art still the same.?I know thy valour's worth,--well hast thou justified?That bounding hope of mine, though fruitage was denied,?Yet this same fate which did our union ban?Hath made me, fated--wed another man.?Let Duty still be queen! Yea, let her break?The heart she pierces, yet can never shake.?The virtue, once thy pride in days gone by?Doth that same worth now merit blasphemy??Bewail her bitter fruit--but praised be?The rights that triumph over thee and me!
SEV.?Forgive, Pauline, forgive; ah! grief hath made me blind?To all but grief's excess, and fortune most unkind.?Forgive that I mistook--nay, treated as a crime?Thy constancy of soul, unequalled and sublime;?In pity for my life forlorn, my peace denied,?Ah! show thyself less fair,--one least perfection hide!?Let some alloy be seen, some saving weakness left,?Take pity on a heart of thee and Heaven bereft!?One faintest flaw reveal, to give my soul relief!?Else, how to bear the love that only mates with grief?
PAUL.?Alas! the rents in armour donned and proved?Too well my fight proclaim; yes, I have loved;?The traitor sigh, the tear unbid, attest?The combat fierce--the warrior sore distrest.?Say, who can stanch these wounds, that armour mend??Thou who hast pierced, thou, thou alone defend!?Ah, if thou honourest my victory?Depart, that thou may'st still defender be!?So dry the tears that, to my shame, still flow--?So quench the fire would work my overthrow!?Yes, go, my only friend, with me combine?To end my torture, for thy pain is mine!
SEV.?This last poor drop of comfort may not be?
PAUL.?The cup is poisoned both for me and thee!
SEV.?The flower is gone--I cherish but the root!
PAUL.?Untimely blossom bears a fated fruit!
SEV.?My grief be mine! Let memory remain!
PAUL.?That grief might hope beget, so leave a stain!
SEV.?Not mine to stain what Heaven hath made so pure!?For me one offering left: 'tis this: Endure!?Thy glory shall be mine, my load I bear,?So, spotless, thou thy peerless crown shalt wear!?Farewell, my love, farewell; I go to prove my faith,?To bless, to save thy life, so will I mate with death!?If prostrate from the blow, there yet remains of life?Enough to summon death, and end the piteous strife!
PAUL.?My grief, too deep for voice, shall silent be,?There, in my chamber, will I pray for thee!?When thou art gone, great Heaven shall hear my cry;?Grief's fruit for thee be hope--death--immortality!
SEV.?Now with my loss alone let Fate contented be.?May Heaven shower bliss and peace on Polyeucte and thee!
PAUL.?Stern Fate obeyed, end, Death, his agony,?And Jove receive my hero--to the sky!
SEV.?/Thou wast/ my heaven!
PAUL.?My father I obeyed--
SEV.?O victim pure, obedient, undismayed!?Pauline--too fair--too dear--I can no more!
PAUL.?So must I say--depart--where I adore!
(Exit Severus.)
STRAT.?Yes, it is hard--most sad--behold my tears!?But now, at least, there is no cause for fears:?Thy dream is but a dream--is naught, is vain;?Severus pardons. Gone that cause for pain!
PAUL.?Oh, if from pity start thy easy tear,?Add not that other woe--forgotten fear!?Ah! let me breathe, some respite give from trouble,?Those fears, half-dead, thou dost revive, redouble!
STRAT.?What dost thou dread?
PAUL.?Heaven--hell--earth--empty air!?All, all is food for dread to my despair,?As thou unveil'st, begirt in lurid light,?The pallid ghost that slew me in the night!
STRAT.?Severus he by name, yet noble in his heart!
PAUL.?Ah, Polyeucte bathed in blood! Depart! depart!
STRAT.?For Polyeucte's welfare did Severus pray!
PAUL.?Yes, yes, his heart is great; be that my stay!?Yet, tho' his truth, his faith, well-proved be,?Most baleful is his presence here to me;?Yea, tho' he would all ill for me undo?Yet he hath power, he loves--he came to woo.
(Enter Polyeucte and Nearchus.)
POLY.?The source of tears is dry, oh, weep no more,?Thy grief lay down, thy fearful heart restore!?Let night's dark dream with superstition die,?The dream is past, for here in life am I!
PAUL.?The day is young, and oh, the day is long,--?And half the dream is true, and Fate is strong;?Severus have I seen, who thought him dead!
POLY.?I know it! Let no tear for this be shed!?Secure with thee am I! Tho' great the knight,?Thy father will command to do me right;?The general is a man of honour,--he?Would ne'er that honour dim by treachery!?He comes in amity, our friend, our guest;?To greet his worth and valour now my quest.
PAUL.?Radiant he came, who left me hopeless, sad,?But he will come no more,--this grace I had.
POLY.?What? Thinkest thou that I can jealous be?
PAUL.?An outrage this on him, on thee, on me!?He came in peace, who all my peace hath marred.?Who would run safely, every step must guard;?The wife who danger courts but courts her fall?My husband, aid me!--I would tell thee all!?His worth, his charm, do my weak hearth enflame?A traitor here! And he is aye the same!?If I should