502
Vittoria
Father.lead us here. Few minutes have I left
To linger, dear one. My command is stern
To linger, dear one. My command is stern
Vittoria. We will not trouble you along the way
Nor ask you why you go, nor beg to come
Unto the city, since you tell us nay.
Let us go with you to the great white cliff—
Only so far!
Nor ask you why you go, nor beg to come
Unto the city, since you tell us nay.
Let us go with you to the great white cliff—
Only so far!
Father (smiling). Then you will wish to see
The next cliff and the next!
The next cliff and the next!
Vittoria.next cliff and the next! I promise, no!
For all my wandering shall I find an end
At the white cliff.
Such utter happiness
Is mine I cannot bear it! Let me share,
If but an hour, my great joy with you.
It is for this, this only I would go.
A single shadow dims the sun for me—
This undreamed gladness is not wholly yours
As it is mine. Dear, did you ever know
Content like this?
For all my wandering shall I find an end
At the white cliff.
[She puts her arms around her father's neck and whispers:
Such utter happiness
Is mine I cannot bear it! Let me share,
If but an hour, my great joy with you.
It is for this, this only I would go.
A single shadow dims the sun for me—
This undreamed gladness is not wholly yours
As it is mine. Dear, did you ever know
Content like this?
Father (putting his finger on her lip).
Hush! hush! If you must go
Make ready in all haste.
(To himself.) She springs away
Loosening her golden girdle as she moves.
Oh, may the radiance upon her face
Shine throughout life undimmed! My little one!
Alone, from you to the great mystery
I go, not to return. Never again
Shall I behold your face, above all else
Beloved, save only hers, the unforgotten,
Unforgettable!
Hush! hush! If you must go
Make ready in all haste.
(To himself.) She springs away
Loosening her golden girdle as she moves.
Oh, may the radiance upon her face
Shine throughout life undimmed! My little one!
Alone, from you to the great mystery
I go, not to return. Never again
Shall I behold your face, above all else
Beloved, save only hers, the unforgotten,
Unforgettable!
Scene III.—The road toward the city. Vittoria rides between her father and her lover. The servants are behind.
Vittoria (gayly). The yellow butterflies show us the way!
So with you two I could ride endlessly,
The fresh wind in our faces, and ahead
This road between the green hills and the sea.
So with you two I could ride endlessly,
The fresh wind in our faces, and ahead
This road between the green hills and the sea.
Father. When you are old, bambina, you will wish
Sometimes to stop and rest.
Sometimes to stop and rest.
Vittoriatimes to stop and rest. When we are old!
We shall be old together, old and glad—
Three white heads nodding early off to sleep!
When will the wrinkles come? “Too soon,” you say,
“And youth is short?” Then age is very long,
But love is longest, surely. You must rest:
The sun is growing warm. At the last bend
I saw the great white cliff, straight as a line
Dropped from a blue sky to a bluer sea,
There we shall stop, and you shall go to sleep
In some deep shadow, while we sit near by
Making our plans for all the days to come.
Soon you return to us, and I shall hear
Some day a knocking at the convent gate.
How I shall listen for it! Then we go
Back to our villa. Till I see again
The old familiar things, I shall not know
My blessedness. The dial in the grass,
The cypress shade must measure it for me,
And all the waves must tell it. Dear, my lord,
[She touches her lover's arm.
I want old places round me once again.
Life is too sacred for the new.
We shall be old together, old and glad—
Three white heads nodding early off to sleep!
When will the wrinkles come? “Too soon,” you say,
“And youth is short?” Then age is very long,
But love is longest, surely. You must rest:
The sun is growing warm. At the last bend
I saw the great white cliff, straight as a line
Dropped from a blue sky to a bluer sea,
There we shall stop, and you shall go to sleep
In some deep shadow, while we sit near by
Making our plans for all the days to come.
Soon you return to us, and I shall hear
Some day a knocking at the convent gate.
How I shall listen for it! Then we go
Back to our villa. Till I see again
The old familiar things, I shall not know
My blessedness. The dial in the grass,
The cypress shade must measure it for me,
And all the waves must tell it. Dear, my lord,
[She touches her lover's arm.
I want old places round me once again.
Life is too sacred for the new.
Luigi (looking at the father with eyes of pity).
Life is too sacred for the new. We go
Beloved, to your villa. May our life
Beat on like music, pealing strong between
The murmur of the fountain and the sea.
Life is too sacred for the new. We go
Beloved, to your villa. May our life
Beat on like music, pealing strong between
The murmur of the fountain and the sea.
Vittoria (laughing). We shall be blessèd. Now the footstep comes
For which I watched, not knowing, and shall fall
Upon our floor. Soon shall the wine be poured
In three slim glasses, not again in two;
For three the bread be broken; three carved chairs
Stand by the table. Wishing no least thing,
We shall go on forever. Now I wait
To ask Teresa of the tapestry
That shall be hung in your apartment, sir.
[She turns back.
For which I watched, not knowing, and shall fall
Upon our floor. Soon shall the wine be poured
In three slim glasses, not again in two;
For three the bread be broken; three carved chairs
Stand by the table. Wishing no least thing,
We shall go on forever. Now I wait
To ask Teresa of the tapestry
That shall be hung in your apartment, sir.
[She turns back.
Father. Your eyes still beg for sacrifice, my son.
It may not be! The bitterness of death
Already you have taken. When I see
Unshadowed in my daughter’s eyes the love
That you have lighted, I go on content.
May I but stand at my cathedral gate,
And have, from out the numbered minutes left
Of this my life, but time enough to speak!
It may not be! The bitterness of death
Already you have taken. When I see
Unshadowed in my daughter’s eyes the love
That you have lighted, I go on content.
May I but stand at my cathedral gate,
And have, from out the numbered minutes left
Of this my life, but time enough to speak!
Luigi. “My heart is full of sadness for you, sir,
And full of fear for her. We journey on
Toward a plague-stricken city. Death may pass
At any minute. Walking carelessly
Along the green grass here she may look up
To see some face borne past. How can I then
Fulfil my trust ?
And full of fear for her. We journey on
Toward a plague-stricken city. Death may pass
At any minute. Walking carelessly
Along the green grass here she may look up
To see some face borne past. How can I then
Fulfil my trust ?
Father (thinking). It may come first to her:
Not knowing, she may meet the enemy
And greet him gladly, as one greets a friend.
Oh, they are happy who thus touch his hand
Ere it is laid on the belovèd!
Not knowing, she may meet the enemy
And greet him gladly, as one greets a friend.
Oh, they are happy who thus touch his hand
Ere it is laid on the belovèd!
Luigi.it is laid on the belovèd!Yet
The risk?
The risk?
Father. My son, I know not what to say.
In the great shadow of approaching change
This old world startles me as one new-made.
I doubt where I was sure, and what was doubt
Seems trembling into hope. Blindly, perhaps,
Have I done wrong? Had she a right to know
The secret?
In the great shadow of approaching change
This old world startles me as one new-made.
I doubt where I was sure, and what was doubt
Seems trembling into hope. Blindly, perhaps,
Have I done wrong? Had she a right to know
The secret?
Luigi.secret? It may be.
Father.secret? It may be. Your smile is sad.
If I should tell her now, before I go—?
Should make her understand, if one may know
Who has not seen
If I should tell her now, before I go—?
Should make her understand, if one may know
Who has not seen
Luigi (hastily). Tell her, but not to-day!
Her wedding-day must keep her as she was.
I could not have her change, not by one shade
Of color in her cheek or difference
Of thought in her dear eyes.
Her wedding-day must keep her as she was.
I could not have her change, not by one shade
Of color in her cheek or difference
Of thought in her dear eyes.
Father.thought in her dear eyes. No, not to-day!
It is enough, if, in the danger here
We meet the unknown thing, to tell her then.
At the first sight she has of death we speak—
All that we know.
It is enough, if, in the danger here
We meet the unknown thing, to tell her then.
At the first sight she has of death we speak—
All that we know.
