Cotton Noe

“ Zeresh
Parshandatha, why do you taunt me thus?
Have I not proved your friend? Do I deserve
Your mockery?
Parshandatha
I do but speak to sting
You to revenge.
Zeresh
Let fly your venom then.
The Persian empire is in arms. To-night
The king does hold a great carouse. The Jew
Will sit in state beside the profligate.
This blade I have prepared against that hour.
The queen, I understand, will be a blaze
Of gems. Ahasuerus boasts this night
Would all but wreck a petty kingdom.
Parshandatha
He
Should never live to see the rising sun.
[58] Zeresh
The rising sun! ”

“ This is no time to cloud the royal brow!
Bring forth the vintage from the deepest vault.
Here are a hundred irised pearls. They cost
A million sesterces. Let each man crush
A lustrous shell and drink it to the health
Of Esther, beauteous queen of all the East.
Arise! She comes! A blaze of splendor. Now
Let every instrument be sounded.
The revels shall continue till the dawn!
[74] Zeresh
[Rushing in with uplifted dagger and thrusting it into the heart of Esther, crying as she flourishes it before the astonished court.]
The dawn, O king, is breaking in the east!
[Curtain.] ”

“ To perish and be slain.
Ahasuerus
[Surprised and dazed.]
O where is he—
Oh, who is he, that dare presume to lay
The hand of violence upon my queen!
[41] Esther
There stands this adversary, O my king,
The wicked Haman!
Ahasuerus
Haman! Haman! What
Can be the meaning of this speech? This man
I have advanced to be my premier?
Esther
I mean this craven whom you have advanced
To put to death with your own royal seal
The queen, as well as every other Jew
That breathes the Persian air, both young and old
Alike, the laughing child and gray-haired sire.
Ahasuerus
What! ”

“ Last night the queen invited me
To banquet with her lord. The necklace that
She wore of iridescent pearls was like
A rainbow over polar snows. Ah, she
Was fair to look upon! And now my cup
Was filled to overflowing—
[Zeresh shows great emotion.]
(Zeresh, are
You ill?) —when Esther begged that I would come
Again to-morrow to another feast
Her hand would lay for Haman and the king.
My wealth is multiplied beyond my ken;
The sceptre is almost within my grasp.
But all these things avail me naught, so long
As yonder hated Jew remains unbent.
A Friend
Destroy the brute at once! ”

“ And sit in majesty upon a throne.
Esther
[Dejectedly.]
Four years I have been queen, which time I have
Not heard the voice of any one I love;
And though disguised, I hardly dare to speak
My heart even to you. This palace is
A gloomy prison cell. The Persian crown
[12] Is meaningless to me. The hundred gems
That blaze upon its field of gold are dull
And heavy lead. I would exchange it all
For but a glint of sunshine on the hills
Where I was born. But why this interview?
Mordecai
My royal niece, I know that you are queen.
Esther
A queen? ”

“ Zeresh
The servant must obey his Lord.
Mordecai
I did not plot the Persians' death. The plan
Of God was in it all.
Zeresh
Else why were you
Made premier at the moment when the Jews
Faced death in every province of the king?
Mordecai
It was my hand that stopped the massacre,
But God avenged the awful wrong!
Zeresh
And Esther! How is it with her? You made
Her queen. She was a humble Hebrew girl,
Unknown and friendless, but for Mordecai.
Mordecai
She should be grateful for the crown I gave. ”

“ Ahafid
[Sings.]
A country but no king,
An empire but no throne,
An upstart wears the signet ring,
My harp has lost its tone.
I can no longer sing great Persia's praise.
[29] Smerdis
The trouble isn't with the harp, the country, king, nor throne;
Nor that an upstart wears the ring: Ahafid's voice is gone.
Ahafid
What say you, Smerdis?
Smerdis
Art is marvelous.
Ahafid
Even Ahasuerus once was king,
He was a despot, it is true, but still
A prince.
Smerdis
If prince, then why not still a king?
Ahafid
Eh, Smerdis? ”

“ Parshandatha
Madam, your husband has
A ready wit. The queen enjoys life.
Zeresh
Enjoys life!
And so do I, and likewise death. Now hold
Your blasted tongue. My husband sups again
To-morrow with the Jewish queen. They say
When Haman dines her majesty prepares
The banquet with her own most dainty hand!
Parshandatha, whose hand, think you, has laid
The feast of Adar?
[24] Parshandatha
Zeresh! call you death
A feast!
Zeresh
A glorious feast on which my soul
Already feeds, and Esther shall be there!
[Re-enter Haman and Friends.]
Haman
Be seated at the table. ”

“ This is a joyous night! Oh, queen, your wit
Has filled my cup with wine of happiness.
What think you, Haman, should be done to him
The king delighteth most to honor now?
[39] Haman
Bring forth the robe, O king, your majesty
Does wear, and place it on the one your grace
Does most delight to honor. Xerxes, set
This man upon your royal horse, and place
Your majesty's own jeweled crown upon
His head, and let him be proclaimed
Throughout the public streets.
Ahasuerus
[Rises. Emphatic.]
So let it then
Be done to Mordecai, the Jew beside
The palace gate.
Haman
What words are these? ”

“ Ahafid
It seems Ahasuerus means to drink
The cup of revel to its bitter lees.
Smerdis
The deeper in the cup he goes
The sweeter is the wine that flows;
The closer to the lees, he thinks,
The purer is the wine he drinks. ”

“ Mordecai
The wicked Haman would have slain
Even the queen herself and every Jew
That lives within the hundred provinces
Of Xerxes' weak and vacillating rule.
Zeresh
Thy action was no more than self-defense?
Mordecai
Not self-defense of Mordecai alone,
But of my blood, of Esther and the sons
Of Jacob, exiled and defenseless else.
The God of Abraham may chasten, but
He keeps his promises, nor will forsake.
[49] Rameses sat upon his haughty throne
And knew not Joseph, for my people were
Oppressed with bitter bondage and their lives
Made hard in mortar and in brick ”

“ Zeresh
[With contempt.]
Ahasuerus wears a pigeon's heart.
The Persian robe's a Jewish gabardine;
The crown, a Hebrew priest's phylactery.
But did you say forget? Have you been so
Long with me, dear, and doubt my memory?
Forget Ahasuerus, did you say?
That minion of a Jewish girl, who sealed
The death of Haman and his sons? His face
Is seared upon my heart, his image burnt
Into my brain. I tell you Xerxes is
No longer king.
[57] Parshandatha
But is not Esther queen? ”

“ Ahafid
What's that?
Smerdis
This Haman is a cunning fox.
Ahafid
The exile of the virtuous Vashti was
A fatal sin.
Smerdis
She should have feasted with
The king.
Ahafid
I did not hear.
[31] Smerdis
[Aloud.]
Old Xerxes lost
The finest houri in his harem. Oh,
The royal fool!
Ahafid
The Jewess Esther's but
A girl, as beauteous as a lustrous star,
But innocent as dawn of dew-washed day.
Smerdis
As wise as snakes and innocent as doves!
Ahafid
What, Smerdis, what? ”

“ Zeresh
And Esther's life
Was forfeit then through Haman's wicked hate.
Mordecai
I wear the royal robe of blue and white.
Zeresh
Does Esther think because her vanity
Is flattered by the jewels of a queen
That Mordecai is moved by pomp and show?
[55] Mordecai
'Tis not the kingly trappings but the seal—
Not sceptre merely but the signet ring,
Not rank, but rule that Mordecai would have.
I can not understand her tears no more
Than she knows why I wear the crown. But I
Am justified. Jehovah wrought through me.
[Exit Mordecai.] ”

“ Is not the golden sceptre of a king.
I have no doubt that she has long since ceased
To think of youthful dreams. She rules the king,
And what more does a woman want?
Mordecai
I did
Not hope to make her understand at once.
My reasons were too subtle for her heart.
And so I kept my counsel, for I knew
No girl would ever sacrifice her love
To save the remnant of a nation's life.
[53] Zeresh
[Justifying.]
And why might even Esther not forget
When once she felt the spell of royal power—
The tinsel show and glamour of the court?
No woman lives that would not be a queen. ”

“ The lowly child of old Hammedetha
Is first among the servants of the king.
Ah, Mordecai, you did not know I am
An Agagite, who fed upon the breast
Of unrelenting hate toward every child
Of Israel, who will not bend the knee
Save to the God of Abraham. Oh, do
[Wailing in Street.]
You, Zeresh, hear that wail of anguish? Love,
I know that you are proud to be the wife
Of him who can direct such music.
Zeresh
I
Am proud of Haman's power.
Haman
Go call our friends. ”

“ The bravery of our fathers, the scalping knife and gun,
The courage of the women folks; I tell you, boys, 'twas fun.
We roasted sweet potatoes and we talked of Marion's men,
How they routed all the redcoats, or slew them in the fen.
We learned to love our country and we swore to tell the truth,
And do no deed of treachery and never act uncouth;
To guard the honor of our name, and shield a virtuous home,
To read the Proverbs and the Psalms and love the sacred tome. ”

“ When women wove their linsey clothes instead of devilish nets;
When children did the chores at night, nor ever heard of gym,
Or movements such as boy scouts, yet kept in health and trim.
We spent our evenings all at home, and read and sang and played,
Or talked of work and feats of strength, or what our crops had made;
And when we mentioned quilting bees and apple-peeling time,
We had in mind our sweethearts and we sometimes made a rhyme:
'Twas then I read my future in the embers and the blaze,
And this is why I celebrate the good old dog iron ways. ”

“ Ahasuerus
Restore
The court to order. I will hear no news!
There is no news but this night's joy. What fear
Need Persia have? The world is safe;
The emperor lives! Go put the messengers to death! ”

“ How the picture thrills my soul,
As I stir the ashes of the past and find this living coal:
When I blow the breath of memory it flashes into flame,
That seems to me far brighter than the most undying fame.
Will you listen to the story of my early childhood days
When I read the mystic symbols in the embers and the blaze
Of the old wide-open fireplace, where the backlog, all aglow
With its shifting scenes of fancy, was a motion picture show? ”

“ Ahafid
[Not hearing.]
The king does not suspect her origin.
What will he do when he finds out the truth?
Smerdis
Since when has Xerxes cared for truth?
Ahafid
What say?
Smerdis
He'll add two extra stars to Esther's crown.
[34] Ahafid
Beloved Vashti lives in poverty,
The victim of a lewd and brutal whim.
And now it seems that Esther's fate was sealed
When Haman wrote that every Jew must die
Because the Hebrew Mordecai refused
Obeisance to his over-bearing pride.
Smerdis
Watch Esther smash that seal.
Ahafid
I did not hear. ”

“ Don't let your daughter dream of fame, just show her how to patch.
The laws of sanitation soon will put the fly to flight,
Then stop tuberculosis next and win the hookworm fight.
If man could live a century it may be in the strife,
He'd learn to make a living if he didn't make a life!
What matter if the primrose is beside the river's brim,
A yellow primrose growing there and nothing more to him,
He's caught the trick of sustenance (but lost his taste for rhyme) ,
Though the oxen in the clover fields have had that all the time! ”

“ The swirling flood. It is too late! Too late?
But love is swifter than the angry tide,
For like a mighty porpoise, wallowing in the wave,
The valiant hero leaps into the stream,
And holding Martha Waters in his strong right arm
High above the water, reaches shore
A hundred feet above the deadly precipice. ”

“ But Mordecai refuses to attend
The feast. The God of Israel must save
Us now, or Persia perish utterly.
My hand will pen no ribald verse
This revel to adorn;
Ye gods, inspire my tongue to curse
The day the king was born.
[Exit Ahafid.]
Smerdis
The more he swears the less he sings,
Then welcome is this news he brings;
For listening to his song is worse
Than hearing old Ahafid curse.
[Exit Smerdis.]
[Re-enter Ahafid.]
Ahafid
[Sings.]
Persia's heart is beating low,
Thinking of the long ago,
When the king that wore the crown
Was a prince of great renown ”

“ Now listen to my words.
But should you e'er disclose one breath
Of what I say, you are yourself a Jew,
[22] Nor is there any power in Persia's king
To save your life. My lord pretends to hate
The Jews. His hate is only wounded pride.
The deference of Mordecai is all
That Haman wants. He does not know the queen
Is Hebrew blood. This fact must still be kept
Concealed—concealed, that is, until the day
Of death. Oh, he shall know who Esther is—
This Israelite that banquets with my lord!
You think his rise is due to Esther's power?
Parshandatha
Madam, I do not know.
Zeresh
Not know! ”