Olga
Safe sheltered from the storm—could you bear this,
Content that humble thousands whom you knew not,
Some future day, unheard by you, should rise
And call you blessed?
Olga.If I could believe
That i should merit this, I would—I think,
I am sure—bear all the rest.
Dim.But more, much more—
Say, would you sacrifice your very soul,
Its gracious womanliness, its limpid truth,
Its tender pitifulness, its pure pride,
Its sacred "Touch me not," that delicate shrine
Of crystal which invisibly divides you
From the coarse, common world? Could you be false?
Flatter bad men? be cruel? fling aside
The selfish pedantry of cautious conscience
In pity to the groans of humankind?
Say, Olga, would you do this?
Olga.Let me think
What your words mean.
Dim.Yous hall know all in time.
Have trust in us, and when the hour shall strike
Be crowned the true Saint of a loftier Faith
Than martyrs died for in the flames of old.
They died to save their single souls; they bore
Torments on earth to purchase endless Heaven.
Content that humble thousands whom you knew not,
Some future day, unheard by you, should rise
And call you blessed?
Olga.If I could believe
That i should merit this, I would—I think,
I am sure—bear all the rest.
Dim.But more, much more—
Say, would you sacrifice your very soul,
Its gracious womanliness, its limpid truth,
Its tender pitifulness, its pure pride,
Its sacred "Touch me not," that delicate shrine
Of crystal which invisibly divides you
From the coarse, common world? Could you be false?
Flatter bad men? be cruel? fling aside
The selfish pedantry of cautious conscience
In pity to the groans of humankind?
Say, Olga, would you do this?
Olga.Let me think
What your words mean.
Dim.Yous hall know all in time.
Have trust in us, and when the hour shall strike
Be crowned the true Saint of a loftier Faith
Than martyrs died for in the flames of old.
They died to save their single souls; they bore
Torments on earth to purchase endless Heaven.
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