Rosamund | Page 9

shall not: all our trust is set on
thee. What eyes and ears are keen about us here Thou knowest not.
Love, my love and thine for her, Shall deafen and shall blind them. Be
but thou A bridegroom blind and dumb--speak soft as love, And ask
not answer louder than a sigh - And when to-morrow sets thy bride and
thee Here face to face again, thy soul shall stand Amazed: thy joy shall
turn to wonder. This Thy queen, whose power may seal her promise
fast, Swears for thine oath again to thee. Good night. [Exit.
ALMACHILDES.
I cannot think I live. Our Sigurd loved not Brynhild as I love her, and
even this hour Shall make us great as they. No spell to break, No fire to
pass, divides us. Blind and dumb, Love knows, would I be ever while I
live For love's sake rather than forego the joy That makes one godlike
power of spirit and sense, One godhead born of manhood. God requite
The queen who loves my love and cares for me Thus! How may man or
God requite her? Ah!
[Bell rings softly from without.
There sounds the note that opens heaven on me, And how should man

dare heaven? But love may dare. [Exit.

ACT III

An eastward room in the Palace.
Enter ALBOVINE.
ALBOVINE.
This sun--no sun like ours--burns out my soul. I would, when June
takes hold on us like fire, The wind could waft and whirl us northward:
here The splendour and the sweetness of the world Eat out all joy of
life or manhood. Earth Is here too hard on heaven--the Italian air Too
bright to breathe, as fire, its next of kin, Too keen to handle. God,
whoe'er God be, Keep us from withering as the lords of Rome -
Slackening and sickening toward the imperious end That wiped them
out of empire! Yea, he shall.
Enter HILDEGARD.
HILDEGARD.
The queen would wait upon your majesty.
ALBOVINE.
Bid her come in. And tell her ere she come I wait upon her will. [Exit
HILDEGARD.] What would she now?
Enter ROSAMUND.
By Christ, how fair thou art! I never saw thee So like the sun in heaven:
no rose on earth Might think to match thee.
ROSAMUND.
All I am is thine.
ALBOVINE.
Mine? God might come from heaven to worship thee. Thine eyes
outlighten all the stars: thy face Leaves earth no flower to worship.
ROSAMUND.
How should earth Worship her children? Nought it is in me, My lord's
dear love it is, that makes me seem Fair.
ALBOVINE.
How thou liest thou knowest not. Rosamund, What hast thou done to be
so beautiful?
ROSAMUND.
The sun has left thine eyes half blind.

ALBOVINE.
I dare not Kiss thee, or stare straight-eyed against the sun.
ROSAMUND.
Kiss me. Who knows how long the lord of life May spare us time for
kissing? Life and love Are less than change and death.
ALBOVINE.
What ghosts are they? So sweet thou never wast to me before. The
woman that is God--the God that is Woman--the sovereign of the soul
of man, Our fathers' Freia, Venus crowned in Rome, Has lent my love
her girdle; but her lips Have robbed the red rose of its heart, and left No
glory for the flower beyond all flowers To bid the spring be glad of.
ROSAMUND.
Summer and spring May cleanse and heal the heart of man no more
Than winter may, or withering autumn. Sire, Husband and lord, I have
a woful word To speak against a man beloved of thee, A man well
worth all glory man may give - Against thine Almachildes.
ALBOVINE.
Has the boy Transgressed again in awless heat of speech And kindled
wrath in thee against him--thee, Who stood'st between my wrath and
him?
ROSAMUND
I would His were no more transgression than of speech. He hath
wronged--I bid thee ask of me no more - A noble maiden. Till her
shame be healed, Her name is dead upon my lips and his, Who is yet
not all ignoble.
ALBOVINE.
He shall die Except he wed her, and she will to wed.
ROSAMUND.
That surely will she.
ALBOVINE.
Bid him hither.
ROSAMUND.
See, There strides he through the sunshine toward the shade. How light
and high he steps! He sees thee. Bid him - Beckon him in.
ALBOVINE.
He knows mine eye. He comes.
ROSAMUND.

Obedient as a hound is.
ALBOVINE.
As a man That knows the law of loyal manhood.
ROSAMUND.
Ay? God send it be so.
Enter ALMACHILDES.
ALMACHILDES.
Queen and king, I am here. What would you?
ALBOVINE.
Truth. Hast thou not borne thyself Toward any soul on earth disloyally
Ever?
ALMACHILDES.
Never.
ALBOVINE.
I would not say thou liest.
ALMACHILDES.
Do not: