Cale Young Rice

“ SONGS TO A. H. R. I THE WORLD'S, AND MINE
The world may hear
The wind at his trees,
The lark in her skies,
The sea on his leas;
May hear Song rise
On words as immortal
As any that sound
Thro' Heaven's Portal.
But I have a music they can never know—
The touch of you, soul of you, heart of you, Oh!
All else that is said or sung 's but a part of you—
Be it forever so!
[Pg 96] II LOVE-CALL IN SPRING
Not only the lark but the robin too
(Oh, heart o' my heart, come into the wood!)
Is singing the air to gladness new
As the breaking bud
And the freshet's flood! ”

“ Yolanda. Save her?
Vittia. The surety flies
Out of your cheek and dead upon your heart:
Yet you are innocent—oh innocent!—
O'er what abyss she hangs!
Yolanda. O'er no abyss.
Vittia. But to her lord is constant!
Yolanda (desperate) . She is constant.
Vittia. And to his bed is true!
Yolanda. True.
Vittia. And this baron
Of Paphos—Camarin—is but her friend,
And deeply yours—as oft you feign to shield her!
Yolanda. He is no more.
Vittia. Your heart belies your lips,
Knows better than believing what you say.
Yolanda. Were, were he then ... (struggles) lord Renier knows it not! ”

“ Where the surf beats white and high.
It is so, O sea! wild roses,
With the day-long fog bedrenched,
Have come from their inland closes
With a thirst for you unquenched.
And over your cliffs they clamber,
And over your vast they gaze;
For the tides of you can enamour
Even them with their woodland ways.
Yea, the passion of you and the power
And the largeness are a lure
To even the heart of a flower,
O sea, with a heart unsure!
For love is a thing unsated,
Nor ever in any breast
Has it dwelt, all want abated,
At rest. ”

“ As I long, O long, for thee!
[Pg 81]
In the jungle-deeps,
Where the cobra creeps,
The leopard lies
In wait for me.
But O, my love,
When the daylight dies
There is more to my dread than he!
Harsh lonely tears
That assail my eyes
Are worse to bear,
For the misery
That makes them well
Is the long, long years
That I moan away from thee!
O again, again,
In my katamaran
A-keel would I push
To your palmy door!
Again would I hear
The heave and hush [Pg 82]
Of your song by the plantain-tree.
But far away
Do I toil and crush
The hopes that arise
At my sick heart's core. ”

“ ADRIEL
How?
What reason can be? women are not clear;
And least unto themselves. ISHUI
Or to their fools. [He goes to curtains and draws out Adah.]
Your mistress, Merab, girl, whom does she love?
Unclench your hands. ADAH
I hate her. ISHUI
Insolent!
Answer; I am not milky Jonathan.
Answer; and for the rest—You hear? ADAH
She loves—
The shepherd David! ADRIEL
Who, girl? ADAH
I care not!
She is unkind; I wilt not spy for her
On Michal, and I’ll tell her secrets all!
And David does not love her—and she raves. ISHUI
Off to your sleep; now off— [Makes to strikes her.]
ADRIEL
Ishui, no. ”

“ Immortal names—Lear, Hamlet, Hal, Macbeth,
And thro the night I heard the rushing breath
Of ghost and witch and fool go whirling by.
I followed them, under the phantom sphere
Of the pale moon, along the Avon's near
And nimbused flowing, followed to his bier—
Who had evoked them first with mighty eye.
And as I gazed upon the peaceful spire
That points above earth's most immortal dust,
I could have asked God for His starry Lyre
Out of the skies to play my praise upon.
I could have shouted, as, O Wind, thou must,
"Here lies Humanity: kneel, and pass on." ”

“ Basil: O, had I been born a heathen!
Zoe: He told me, Basil, I should live, a great lady, at his castle. And they should kiss my hand and courtesy to me. He meant but jest—I feared.—I feared! But—I loved him!
Basil: Now, my damsel—!
Zoe (sings) :
The god was the great god Jove,
Two notes would the bent reed blow,
The one was sorrow, the other love
Enwove with a woman's woe.
Basil: Songs and snakes! Give me instead a Dominican's funeral! I'd as lief crawl bare-kneed to Rome and mouth the Pope's heel. O blessed Turks with their remorseless harems!—Zoe! ”

“ Renier. You
Come softly, lady of Venice.
Vittia. Streets of sea
In Venice teach us.
Renier. Of what women, then?
My wife? Yolanda?
Vittia. By the freedom due us,
What matters it? In Venice our lords know
That beauty has no master.
Renier. Has no.... That,
That too has something hid.
Vittia. Suspicious lord!
Yet Berengere Lusignan is his wife!
And soon Yolanda—But for that I'm here.
You sent for me.
Renier (sullen) . I sent.
Vittia. To say you've chosen?
And offer me irrevocable aid
To win Amaury?
Renier. All is vain in me
Before the fever for it.
Vittia. Then, I shall. ”