504
Vittoria
You knew? And yet you shut away from me,
For all these many years, this greater hope?
Oh, till he came, the sky has seemed so near,
And life so little, with no farther reach
Than daily custom, endlessly the same!
How, having known this once, could you shrink back
To smaller measure? For to grasp one thought
So great is knowledge.
For all these many years, this greater hope?
Oh, till he came, the sky has seemed so near,
And life so little, with no farther reach
Than daily custom, endlessly the same!
How, having known this once, could you shrink back
To smaller measure? For to grasp one thought
So great is knowledge.
Father.great is knowledge. How her eyes scorn me!
Vittoria. Padre, forgive, forgive! Of each white hair
I beg forgetfulness for my quick words.
Life has so suddenly grown great that I
Have lost my way therein. What I have learned
In the deep silence round him through this hour
Nothing can take away.
I beg forgetfulness for my quick words.
Life has so suddenly grown great that I
Have lost my way therein. What I have learned
In the deep silence round him through this hour
Nothing can take away.
Father.can take away. Her body glows
As with some knowledge shining through, and she
Seems not to know the very use of tears.
When will she learn her loss? Child of my heart,
I too must leave you now, not to return:
Great service draws me, and my death is near:
I may not stay to share this bitter grief.
Most cruel has this hour been to you,
But, living in the villa by the sea,
May the years teach you that the hand that struck
Wounded in vain attempt to save. Farewell!
I would have spared you sorrow like my own!
As with some knowledge shining through, and she
Seems not to know the very use of tears.
When will she learn her loss? Child of my heart,
I too must leave you now, not to return:
Great service draws me, and my death is near:
I may not stay to share this bitter grief.
Most cruel has this hour been to you,
But, living in the villa by the sea,
May the years teach you that the hand that struck
Wounded in vain attempt to save. Farewell!
I would have spared you sorrow like my own!
Vittoria (kissing his hand). Father, you, too?
What is this secret, then,
That you, my best-beloved, share, while I
Am shut outside? Into the glory you
Follow his footsteps, leaving me behind.
Oh, it means change and splendor; and the thought
Of hidden beauty waiting to be won
Quickens my pulse. My heart has never stirred
So with a sense of great approach.
What is this secret, then,
That you, my best-beloved, share, while I
Am shut outside? Into the glory you
Follow his footsteps, leaving me behind.
Oh, it means change and splendor; and the thought
Of hidden beauty waiting to be won
Quickens my pulse. My heart has never stirred
So with a sense of great approach.
Father.with a sense of great approach. Farewell!
Go to Teresa, dear, and you are safe.
[He speaks to himself as he moves away.
Even yet I fear she has no slightest sense
Of that which parting means. God, art thou there?
Watch over her when I may watch no more!
Go to Teresa, dear, and you are safe.
[He speaks to himself as he moves away.
Even yet I fear she has no slightest sense
Of that which parting means. God, art thou there?
Watch over her when I may watch no more!
Vittoria (watching, as he scales the cliff). The
poor frail hands can hardly keep their grasp
To aid the weary climbing, step by step.
When in that wrinkled face the great light breaks
That he calls death, I would that I might see!
[Her eyes follow him until he disappears; then
she turns to her lover.
Dearest, I take you in my arms again.
See, here I kiss your hair, and here your sleeve,
And then your eyelids. You would have it so
That my first kiss must fall upon your eyes:
So shall the last. Never were you my own
So much as now. I did not know you then!
This is a beauty that you did not have
Back in the garden, even the first time
You said you loved me. In the quiet here
There lingers something that I would not change
For all the sunshine and the words of love,
Thrilled through with scent of roses. Here I cross
Your hands upon your breast. I hunger, dear,
For this eternity enfolding you.
A fall from off the cliff, my father said,
Will fashion me like this. My life leaps up
Exultingly to meet this joy of death.
The silences shall not be silence now!
[She bends once more over the dead face.
I follow where you lead.
[She springs from the cliff.
poor frail hands can hardly keep their grasp
To aid the weary climbing, step by step.
When in that wrinkled face the great light breaks
That he calls death, I would that I might see!
[Her eyes follow him until he disappears; then
she turns to her lover.
Dearest, I take you in my arms again.
See, here I kiss your hair, and here your sleeve,
And then your eyelids. You would have it so
That my first kiss must fall upon your eyes:
So shall the last. Never were you my own
So much as now. I did not know you then!
This is a beauty that you did not have
Back in the garden, even the first time
You said you loved me. In the quiet here
There lingers something that I would not change
For all the sunshine and the words of love,
Thrilled through with scent of roses. Here I cross
Your hands upon your breast. I hunger, dear,
For this eternity enfolding you.
A fall from off the cliff, my father said,
Will fashion me like this. My life leaps up
Exultingly to meet this joy of death.
The silences shall not be silence now!
[She bends once more over the dead face.
I follow where you lead.
[She springs from the cliff.
