The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 136

The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 136

_Naomi._ Comfort her, Alla!

_Alhadra._ I stood in unimaginable trance And agony that cannot be remembered, Listening with horrid hope to hear a groan! 80 But I had heard his last: my husband's death-groan!

_Naomi._ Haste! let us onward.

_Alhadra._ I looked far down the pit-- My sight was bounded by a jutting fragment: And it was stained with blood. Then first I shrieked, My eye-b.a.l.l.s burnt, my brain grew hot as fire, 85 And all the hanging drops of the wet roof Turned into blood--I saw them turn to blood!

And I was leaping wildly down the chasm, When on the farther brink I saw his sword, And it said, Vengeance!--Curses on my tongue! 90 The moon hath moved in Heaven, and I am here, And he hath not had vengeance! Isidore!

Spirit of Isidore! thy murderer lives!

Away! away!

_All._ Away! away!

[_She rushes off, all following her._

LINENOTES:

[1-24] om. Edition 1.

[Before 25]

_The mountains by moonlight. ALHADRA alone in a Moorish dress; her eye fixed on the earth. Then drop in one after another, from different parts of the stage, a considerable number of Morescoes, all in Moorish garments. They form a circle at a distance round ALHADRA._

_A Moresco, NAOMI, advances from out the circle._

_Naomi._ Woman! may Alla, &c.

Edition 1.

Stage-direction after 24 [_She fixes . . . and remain silent till the Second in Command, NAOMI, enters, distinguished by his dress and armour, and by the silent obeisance paid to him on his entrance by the other_ Moors. Editions 2, 3, 1829.

[Before 28] _Alhadra (lifting up eyes, and looking, &c.)._ Edition 1.

[35] _Alhadra (in a deep low voice)._ Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

[54] _there_ Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

[65]

'Twas dark and very silent. [_Then wildly._

Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

[72] _light_ Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

[After 77] _All._ Haste, let us seek the murderer. Edition 1.

ACT V

SCENE I

_A Dungeon._

_ALVAR (alone) rises slowly from a bed of reeds._

_Alvar._ And this place my forefathers made for man!

This is the process of our love and wisdom To each poor brother who offends against us-- Most innocent, perhaps--and what if guilty?

Is this the only cure? Merciful G.o.d! 5 Each pore and natural outlet shrivelled up By ignorance and parching poverty, His energies roll back upon his heart, And stagnate and corrupt, till, chang'd to poison, They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot! 10 Then we call in our pampered mountebanks: And this is their best cure! uncomforted And friendless solitude, groaning and tears, And savage faces, at the clanking hour, Seen through the steam and vapours of his dungeon 15 By the lamp's dismal twilight! So he lies Circled with evil, till his very soul Unmoulds its essence, hopelessly deformed By sights of evermore deformity!

With other ministrations thou, O Nature! 20 Healest thy wandering and distempered child: Thou pourest on him thy soft influences, Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets; Thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters!

Till he relent, and can no more endure 25 To be a jarring and a dissonant thing Amid this general dance and minstrelsy; But, bursting into tears, wins back his way, His angry spirit healed and harmonized By the benignant touch of love and beauty. 30

I am chill and weary! Yon rude bench of stone, In that dark angle, the sole resting-place!

But the self-approving mind is its own light And life's best warmth still radiates from the heart Where love sits brooding, and an honest purpose. 35

[_Retires out of sight._

_Enter TERESA with a taper._

_Teresa._ It has chilled my very life----my own voice scares me; Yet when I hear it not I seem to lose The substance of my being--my strongest grasp Sends inwards but weak witness that I am.

I seek to cheat the echo.--How the half sounds 40 Blend with this strangled light! Is he not here--

[_Looking round._

O for one human face here--but to see One human face here to sustain me.--Courage!

It is but my own fear! The life within me, It sinks and wavers like this cone of flame, 45 Beyond which I scarce dare look onward! Oh!

If I faint? If this inhuman den should be At once my death-bed and my burial vault?

[_Faintly screams as ALVAR emerges from the recess._

_Alvar (rushes towards her, and catches her as she is falling)._ O gracious heaven! it is, it is Teresa!

Shall I reveal myself? The sudden shock 50 Of rapture will blow out this spark of life, And joy complete what terror has begun.

O ye impetuous beatings here, be still!

Teresa, best beloved! pale, pale, and cold!

Her pulse doth flutter! Teresa! my Teresa! 55

_Teresa (recovering)._ I heard a voice; but often in my dreams I hear that voice! and wake and try--and try-- To hear it waking! but I never could-- And 'tis so now--even so! Well! he is dead-- Murdered perhaps! and I am faint, and feel 60 As if it were no painful thing to die!

_Alvar._ Believe it not, sweet maid! Believe it not, Beloved woman! 'Twas a low imposture Framed by a guilty wretch.

_Teresa._ Ha! Who art thou?

_Alvar._ Suborned by his brother--

_Teresa_. Didst thou murder him? 65 And dost thou now repent? Poor troubled man, I do forgive thee, and may Heaven forgive thee!