LALAGE
Now Earl of Leicester!
Thou lovest me, and in my heart of hearts
I feel thou lovest me truly.
POLITIAN
Oh, Lalage!
(Throwing himself upon his knee)
And lovest thou me?
LALAGE
Hist! hush! within the gloom
Of yonder trees methought a figure passed-
A spectral figure, solemn, and slow, and noiseless-
Like the grim shadow Conscience, solemn and noiseless.
(Walks across and returns)
I was mistaken- 'twas but a giant bough
Stirred by the autumn wind. Politian!
POLITIAN
My Lalage- my love! why art thou moved?
Why dost thou turn so pale? Not Conscience' self,
Far less a shadow which thou likenest to it,
Should shake the firm spirit thus. But the night wind
Is chilly- and these melancholy boughs
Throw over all things a gloom.
LALAGE
Politian!
Thou speakest to me of love. Knowest thou the land
With which all tongues are busy- a land new found-
Miraculously found by one of Genoa-
A thousand leagues within the golden west?
A fairy land of flowers, and fruit, and sunshine,
And crystal lakes, and over-arching forests,
And mountains, around whose towering summits the winds
Of Heaven untrammelled flow- which air to breathe
Is Happiness now, and will be Freedom hereafter
In days that are to come?
POLITIAN
O, wilt thou- wilt thou
Fly to that Paradise- my Lalage, wilt thou
Fly thither with me? There Care shall be forgotten,
And Sorrow shall be no more, and Eros be all.
Pages:
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21