OEDIPUS AT COLONUS
Untended; for this frame is all too weak
To move without the help of guiding hand.
Ismene
Then I will go perform these rites, but where
To find the spot, this have I yet to learn.
Chorus
Beyond this grove; if thou hast need of aught,
The guardian of the close will lend his aid.
Ismene
I go, and thou, Antigone, meanwhile
Must guard our father. In a parent’s cause
Toil, if there be toil, is of no account. [Exit Ismene
Chorus
(Str. 1)
Ill is it, stranger, to awake
Pain that long since has ceased to ache,
And yet I fain would hear—
Oedipus
What thing?
Chorus
Thy tale of cruel suffering
For which no cure was found,
The fate that held thee bound.
Oedipus
O bid me not (as guest I claim
This grace) expose my shame.
Chorus
The tale is bruited far and near,
And echoes still from ear to ear.
The truth, I fain would hear.
