Part 14 (1/2)

WALTER.

I yearned for love, As earnestly as sun-cracked summer earth Yearns to the heavens for rain--none ever came.

VIOLET.

Oh, say not so! I love thee very much; Let me but grow up like a sweet-breathed flower Within this ghastly fissure of thy heart!

Do you not love me, Walter?

WALTER.

By thy tears I love thee as my own immortal soul.

Weep, weep, my Beautiful! Upon thy face There is no cloud of sorrow or distress.

It is as moonlight, pale, serene, and clear.

Thy tears are spilt of joy, they fall like rain From heaven's stainless blue.

Bend over me, my Beautiful, my Own.

Oh, I could lie with face upturned for ever, And on thy beauty feed as on a star!

[_Another pause._ Thy face doth come between me and the heaven-- Start not, my dearest! for I would not give Thee in thy tears for all yon sky lit up For a G.o.d's feast to-night. And I am loved!

Why did you love me, Violet?

VIOLET.

The sun Smiles on the earth, and the exuberant earth Returns the smile in flowers--'twas so with me.

I love thee as a fountain leaps to light-- I can do nothing else.

WALTER.

Say these words again, And yet again; never fell on my ear Such drops of music.

VIOLET.

Alas! poor words are weak, So are the daily ills of common life, To draw the ingots and the h.o.a.rded pearls From out the treasure-caverns of my heart.

Suffering, despair, and death alone can do it: Poor Walter! [_Kisses him._

WALTER.

G.o.ds! I could out-Anthony Anthony! This moment I could scatter Kingdoms life halfpence. I am drunk with joy.

This is a royal hour--the top of life.

Henceforth my path slopes downward to the grave-- All's dross but love. That largest Son of Time, Who wandered singing through the listening world, Will be as much forgot as the canoe That crossed the bosom of a lonely lake A thousand years ago. My Beautiful!

I would not give thy cheek for all his songs-- Thy kiss for all his fame. Why do you weep?

VIOLET.

To think that we, so happy now, must die.

WALTER.

That thought hangs like a cold and slimy snail On the rich rose of love--shake it away-- Give me another kiss, and I will take Death at a flying leap. The night is fair, But thou art fairer, Violet! Unloose The midnight of thy tresses, let them float Around us both. How the freed ringlets reel Down to the dewy gra.s.s! Here lean thy head, Now you will feel my heart leap 'gainst thy cheek; Imprison me with those white arms of thine.

So, so. O sweet upturned face! (_Kisses her._) If G.o.d Told you to-night He'd grant your dearest wish, What would it be?

VIOLET.

That He would let you grow To your ambition's height. What would be yours?