Pedro the Cruel
Dare but to wish for her—and she shall be yours!
The Pope abhors our brother, whose profaneness
Befriends us with the Church—let me be King,
And at my prayer he shall undo that marriage—
The mockery that it is—set you two free,
And place the white sweet hand of Blanche in yours,
Then shall your sickly conscience grow in health,
Braced with a manly love and manly hate.
Oh, I have moved you now! That trembling lip
Shows that your heart is human.
Fad. I will own
That you have moved me to the utmost. How
Could it be else, when you have mixed for me
In one cup all that's bitterest in my life?
I deny not that I love Blanche, nor yet
That for her sake this eve is as a saint's
Sacred to me.
Enri. How so?
Fad. It was this day
Six years ago, I gave my hand to her,
For Pedro at Narbonne knelt at her side
Prayed with her, vowed to her another's faith,
And seemed her husband, then, when we rose up,
I hailed her queen and sister. And that night
I wandered in the dark aisles of the church
When all was over. 'Twas because I loved her
I flew into rebellion, not with hopes
The Pope abhors our brother, whose profaneness
Befriends us with the Church—let me be King,
And at my prayer he shall undo that marriage—
The mockery that it is—set you two free,
And place the white sweet hand of Blanche in yours,
Then shall your sickly conscience grow in health,
Braced with a manly love and manly hate.
Oh, I have moved you now! That trembling lip
Shows that your heart is human.
Fad. I will own
That you have moved me to the utmost. How
Could it be else, when you have mixed for me
In one cup all that's bitterest in my life?
I deny not that I love Blanche, nor yet
That for her sake this eve is as a saint's
Sacred to me.
Enri. How so?
Fad. It was this day
Six years ago, I gave my hand to her,
For Pedro at Narbonne knelt at her side
Prayed with her, vowed to her another's faith,
And seemed her husband, then, when we rose up,
I hailed her queen and sister. And that night
I wandered in the dark aisles of the church
When all was over. 'Twas because I loved her
I flew into rebellion, not with hopes
179
