Part 10 (2/2)

Such evils, issuing from the double source, Have whelmed them both, confounding man and wife.

Till now the storied fortune of this house Was fortunate indeed; but from this day Woe, lamentation, ruin, death, disgrace, All ills that can be named, all, all are theirs.

CHORUS But hath he still no respite from his pain?

SECOND MESSENGER He cries, ”Unbar the doors and let all Thebes Behold the slayer of his sire, his mother's--”

That shameful word my lips may not repeat.

He vows to fly self-banished from the land, Nor stay to bring upon his house the curse Himself had uttered; but he has no strength Nor one to guide him, and his torture's more Than man can suffer, as yourselves will see.

For lo, the palace portals are unbarred, And soon ye shall behold a sight so sad That he who must abhorred would pity it.

[Enter OEDIPUS blinded.]

CHORUS Woeful sight! more woeful none These sad eyes have looked upon.

Whence this madness? None can tell Who did cast on thee his spell, prowling all thy life around, Leaping with a demon bound.

Hapless wretch! how can I brook On thy misery to look?

Though to gaze on thee I yearn, Much to question, much to learn, Horror-struck away I turn.

OEDIPUS Ah me! ah woe is me!

Ah whither am I borne!

How like a ghost forlorn My voice flits from me on the air!

On, on the demon goads. The end, ah where?

CHORUS An end too dread to tell, too dark to see.

OEDIPUS (Str. 1) Dark, dark! The horror of darkness, like a shroud, Wraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud.

Ah me, ah me! What spasms athwart me shoot, What pangs of agonizing memory?

CHORUS No marvel if in such a plight thou feel'st The double weight of past and present woes.

OEDIPUS (Ant. 1) Ah friend, still loyal, constant still and kind, Thou carest for the blind.

I know thee near, and though bereft of eyes, Thy voice I recognize.

CHORUS O doer of dread deeds, how couldst thou mar Thy vision thus? What demon goaded thee?

OEDIPUS (Str. 2) Apollo, friend, Apollo, he it was That brought these ills to pa.s.s; But the right hand that dealt the blow Was mine, none other. How, How, could I longer see when sight Brought no delight?

CHORUS Alas! 'tis as thou sayest.

OEDIPUS Say, friends, can any look or voice Or touch of love henceforth my heart rejoice?

Haste, friends, no fond delay, Take the twice cursed away Far from all ken, The man abhorred of G.o.ds, accursed of men.

CHORUS O thy despair well suits thy desperate case.

Would I had never looked upon thy face!

OEDIPUS (Ant. 2) My curse on him whoe'er unrived The waif's fell fetters and my life revived!

He meant me well, yet had he left me there, He had saved my friends and me a world of care.

CHORUS I too had wished it so.

OEDIPUS Then had I never come to shed My father's blood nor climbed my mother's bed; The monstrous offspring of a womb defiled, Co-mate of him who gendered me, and child.

Was ever man before afflicted thus, Like Oedipus.

CHORUS I cannot say that thou hast counseled well, For thou wert better dead than living blind.

OEDIPUS What's done was well done. Thou canst never shake My firm belief. A truce to argument.

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