Felicia Hemans

“ ELMINA.
Think'st thou all hearts like thine?—Can mothers stand
To see their children perish?
GONZALEZ.
⁠Then the guilt
Was thine?
ELMINA.
⁠—Shall mortal dare to call it guilt?
I tell thee, Heaven, which made all holy things,
Made nought more holy than the boundless love
Which fills a mother's heart!—I say, 'tis woe
Enough, with such an aching tenderness,
To love aught earthly!—and in vain! in vain!
—We are press'd down too sorely!
GONZALEZ (in a low desponding voice) .
⁠Now my life
Is struck to worthless ashes!—In my soul
Suspicion hath ta'en root. ”

“ And with his cloven helm, and shiver'd sword,
And dark hair steep'd in blood!—They bore him past—
Mother!—I saw his face!—Oh! such a death
Works fearful changes on the fair of earth,
The pride of woman's eye!
ELMINA.
⁠Sweet daughter, peace!
Wake not the dark remembrance; for thy frame——
XIMENA.
—There will be peace ere long. I shut my heart,
Even as a tomb, o'er that lone silent grief, ,
That I might spare it thee!—But now the hour
Is come when that which would have pierced thy soul
Shall be its healing balm. Oh! weep thou not,
Save with a gentle sorrow!
ELMINA.
⁠Must it be? ”

“ ELMINA.
Then it must be!—And ye will make those lives,
Those young bright lives, an offering—to retard
Our doom one day!
HERNANDEZ.
⁠The mantle of that day
May wrap the fate of Spain!
ELMINA.
⁠What led me here?
Why did I turn to thee in my despair?
Love hath no ties upon thee; what had I
To hope from thee, thou lone and childless man!
Go to thy silent home!—there no young voice
Shall bid thee welcome, no light footstep spring
Forth at the sound of thine!—What knows thy heart?
HERNANDEZ.
Woman! how dar'st thou taunt me with my woes? ”

“ The torturer where eternal Heaven had set
Bounds to his sway, was earthy, of this earth,
This dull mortality?—Nay, then look on me!
Death's touch hath mark'd me, and I stand amongst you,
As one whose place, i' th' sunshine of your world,
Shall soon be left to fill!—I say, the breath
Of th' incense, floating through yon fane, shall scarce
Pass from your path before me! But even now,
I have that within me, kindling through the dust,
Which from all time hath made high deeds its voice
And token to the nations;—Look on me! ”

“ That shake the startled earth?—When wakes the foe,
While the friend sleeps!—When falls the traitor's blow?
When are proud sceptres riven,
High hopes o'erthrown?—It is, when lands rejoice,
When cities blaze, and lift th' exulting voice,
And wave their banners to the kindling heaven!
Fear ye the festal hour!
When mirth o'erflows, then tremble!—'Twas a night
Of gorgeous revel, wreaths, and dance, and light,
When through the regal bower
The trumpet peal'd, ere yet the song was done,
And there were shrieks in golden Babylon,
And trampling armies, ruthless in their power. ”

“ That stream'd at midnight from the mountain-hold.
And let them fade, since this must be,
My lovely and my brave!
Was thy bright blood pour'd forth for me,
And is there but for stately youth a grave?
Speak to me once again, my boy!
Wilt thou not hear my call?
Thou wert so full of life and joy,
I had not dreamt of this—that thou couldst fall!
Thy mother watches from the steep
For thy returning plume;
How shall I tell her that thy sleep
Is of the silent house, th' untimely tomb?
Thou didst not seem as one to die,
With all thy young renown! ”

“ Thou treacherous Moor!
ELMINA.
⁠Let me not thus be tried
Beyond all strength, oh Heaven!
ABDULLAH.
⁠Now, 'tis for thee,
Thou Christian mother! on thy sons to pass
The sentence—life or death!—the price is set
On their young blood, and rests within thy hands.
ALPHONSO,
Mother! thou tremblest!
ABDULLAH.
⁠Hath thy heart resolved?
ELMINA (covering her face with her hands) .
My boy's proud eye is on me, and the things
Which rush, in stormy darkness, through my soul,
Shrink from his glance. I cannot answer here.
ABDULLAH.
Come forth. ”

“ ELMINA.
⁠My senses fail—
Thou saidst—speak yet again!—I could not catch
The meaning of thy words.
HERNANDEZ.
⁠E'en now thy lord
Hath sent our foes defiance. On the walls
He stands in conference with the boastful Moor,
And awful strength is with him. Through the blood
Which this day must be pour'd in sacrifice
Shall Spain be free. On all her olive-hills
Shall men set up the battle-sign of fire,
And round its blaze, at midnight, keep the sense
Of vengeance wakeful in each other's hearts
E'en with thy children's tale!
XIMENA.
⁠Peace, father! peace! ”

“ XIMENA.
We were not born for this.
GONZALEZ.
⁠No, thou sayst well!
Hold to that lofty faith.—My wife, my child!
Hath earth no treasures richer than the gems
Torn from her secret caverns?—If by them
Chains may be riven, then let the captive spring
Rejoicing to the light!—But he, for whom
Freedom and life may but be worn with shame,
Hath nought to do, save fearlessly to fix
His stedfast look on the majestic heavens,
And proudly die!
ELMINA.
⁠Gonzalez, who must die?
GONZALEZ (hurriedly) .
They on whose lives a fearful price is set,
But to be paid by treason!—Is 't enough? ”

“ And, to that Heaven, which arms the brave with strength,
Pray, that the father of thy sons may ne'er
Be thus found wanting!
ELMINA.
⁠Then their doom is seal'd!
Thou wilt not save thy children?
GONZALEZ.
⁠Hast thou cause,
Wife of my youth! to deem it lies within
The bounds of possible things, that I should link
My name to that word—traitor?—They that sleep
On their proud battle-fields, thy sires and mine,
Died not for this!
ELMINA.
⁠Oh, cold and hard of heart!
Thou shouldst be born for empire, since thy soul
Thus lightly from all human bonds can free
Its haughty flight!—Men! ”

“ Hath vain affection borne with all for this?
—Why were ye given me?
GONZALEZ.
⁠Is there strength in man
Thus to endure?—That thou couldst read, thro' all
Its depths of silent agony, the heart
Thy voice of woe doth rend!
ELMINA.
Thy heart!—thy heart!—Away! it feels not now!
But an hour comes to tame the mighty man
Unto the infant's weakness; nor shall Heaven
Spare you that bitter chastening!—May you live
To be alone, when loneliness doth seem
Most heavy to sustain!—For me, my voice
Of prayer and fruitless weeping shall be soon
With all forgotten sounds ”

“ He is a champion of the cross and Spain,
Sprung from the Cid;—and I too, I can die
As a warrior's high-born child!
ELMINA.
⁠Alas! Alas!
And wouldst thou die, thus early die, fair boy?
What hath life done to thee, that thou shouldst cast
Its flower away, in very scorn of heart,
Ere yet the blight be come?
ALPHONSO.
⁠That voice doth sound——
ABDULLAH.
Stranger, who art thou?—this is mockery! speak!
ELMINA. (throwing off a mantle and helmet, and
embracing her sons) . ”

“ The bounds of sufferance, by some reckless word,
Dropt from the light of spirit.—Others lay—
—Why should I tell thee, father! how despair
Can bring the lofty brow of manhood down
Unto the very dust?—And yet for this,
Fear not that I embrace my doom—Oh God!
That 'twere my doom alone!—with less of fix'd
And solemn fortitude.—Lead on, prepare
The holiest rites of faith, that I by them
Once more may consecrate my sword, my life,
—But what are these?—Who hath not dearer lives
Twined with his own?—I shall be lonely soon—
Childless!—Heaven wills it so. Let us begone. ”

“ The seal is set on their majestic fame;
Earth has drunk deep the generous blood they shed,
Fate has no power to dim their stainless name!
They may not, in one bitter moment, shame
Long glorious years; from many a lofty stem
Fall graceful flowers, and eagle-hearts grow tame,
And stars drop, fading, from the diadem;
But the bright past is theirs—there is no change for them!
LXXXVIII.
Where art thou, Constantine?—Where Death is reaping
His sevenfold harvest! Where the stormy light,
Fast as th' artillery's thunderbolts are sweeping,
Throws meteor-bursts o'er battle's noonday-night? ”

“ Elmina, dost thou shun me?—Have we not,
E'en from the hopeful and the sunny time
When youth was as a glory round our brows,
Held on through life together?—And is this,
When eve is gathering round us, with the gloom
Of stormy clouds, a time to part our steps
Upon the darkening wild?
ELMINA (coldly) .
⁠There needs not this.
Why shouldst thou think I shunn'd thee?
GONZALEZ.
⁠Should the love
That shone o'er many years, th' unfading love,
Whose only change hath been from gladdening smiles
To mingling sorrows and sustaining strength,
Thus lightly be forgotten? ”

“ Ere one bright star be faded from the sky,
Red flames, like banners, wave from dome and fane,
Empire is lost and won, Belshazzar with the slain.
Fall'n is the golden city! in the dust
Spoiled of her crown, dismantled of her state,
She that hath made the Strength of Towers her trust,
Weeps by her dead, supremely desolate!
She that beheld the nations at her gate,
Thronging in homage, shall be call'd no more
Lady of kingdoms!—Who shall mourn her fate?
Her guilt is full, her march of triumph o'er;—
—What widow'd land shall now her widowhood deplore? ”

“ There were seventy thousand knights array'd,
All white as the snow on Nevada's steep,
And they came like the foam of a roaring deep;
—'Twas a sight of fear and awe!
And the crested form of a warrior tall,
With a sword of fire, went before them all;
With a sword of fire, and a banner pale,
And a blood-red cross on his shadowy mail,
He rode in the battle's van!
There was fear in the path of his dim white horse,
There was death in the Giant-warrior's course! ”

“ Which waits thee ere the day's fierce work is done
With a strong heart; so may thy helmet tower
Unshiver'd through the storm, for generous hope is power!
XI.
But linger not,—array thy men of might!
The shores, the seas, are peopled with thy foes.
Arms through thy cypress groves are gleaming bright,
And the dark huntsmen of the wild, repose
Beneath the shadowy marble porticoes
Of thy proud villas. Nearer and more near,
Around thy walls the sons of battle close;
Each hour, each moment, hath its sound of fear,
Which the deep grave alone is charter'd not to hear.
XII.
Away! ”

“ Give me my sword again, and lead me hence
Back to the ramparts. I have yet an hour,
And it hath still high duties.—Now, my wife!
Thou mother of my children—of the dead—
Whom I name unto thee in stedfast hope—
Farewell!
ELMINA.
⁠No, not farewell!—My soul hath risen
To mate itself with thine; and by thy side
Amidst the hurtling lances I will stand,
As one on whom a brave man's love hath been
Wasted not utterly.
GONZALEZ.
⁠I thank thee, Heaven! ”

“ ELMINA.
⁠Scorn me not
In mine extreme of misery!—Thou art strong—
Thy heart is not as mine.—My brain grows wild;
I know not what I ask!—And yet 'twere but
Anticipating fate—since it must fall,
That cross must fall at last! There is no power,
No hope within this city of the grave,
To keep its place on high. Her sultry air
Breathes heavily of death, her warriors sink
Beneath their ancient banners, ere the Moor
Hath bent his bow against them; for the shaft
Of pestilence flies more swiftly to its mark,
Than the arrow of the desert. ”

“ They raise the body.
ELMINA.
⁠Aye, 'tis thus
Thou shouldst be honour'd!—And I follow thee
With an unfaltering and a lofty step,
To that last home of glory. She that wears
In her deep heart the memory of thy love
Shall thence draw strength for all things, till the God,
Whose hand around her hath unpeopled earth,
Looking upon her still and chasten'd soul,
Call it once more to thine!
(To the Castilians) .
⁠Awake, I say,
Tambour and trumpet, wake!—And let the land
Through all her mountains hear your funeral peal! ”

“ Man's thoughts work darkly in such hours, and sleep
Flies far; and in their mien, the walls who tread,
Things, by the brave untold, may fearfully be read!
XXVI.
It was a sad and solemn task to hold
Their midnight-watch on that beleaguer'd wall!
As the sea-wave beneath the bastions roll'd,
A sound of fate was in its rise and fall!
The heavy clouds were as an empire's pall,
The giant-shadows of each tower and fane
Lay like the grave's; a low mysterious call
Breathed in the wind, and from the tented plain
A voice of omens rose, with each wild martial strain. ”

“ There is not one—no hand on earth could harm
That fair boy's graceful head!—Why look you thus?
ABDULLAH (pointing to CARLOS.)
Christian! e'en yet thou hast a son!
GONZALEZ.
⁠E'en yet!
CARLOS.
My father! take me from these fearful men!
Wilt thou not save me, father?
GONZALEZ (attempting to unsheath his sword) .
⁠Is the strength
From mine arm shiver'd?—Garcias, follow me!
GARCIAS.
Whither, my chief?
GONZALEZ.
⁠Why, we can die as well
On yonder plain,—aye, a spear's thrust will do
The little that our misery doth require,
Sooner than e'en this anguish! ”

“ In the good cause, with solemn joy!—How long?
—And who art thou, that, in the littleness
Of thine own selfish purpose, would'st set bounds
To the free current of all noble thought
And generous action, bidding its bright waves
Be stay'd, and flow no further?—But the Power
Whose interdict is laid on seas and orbs,
To chain them in from wandering, hath assign'd
No limits unto that which man's high strength
Shall, through its aid, achieve!
ELMINA.
⁠Oh! there are times,
When all that hopeless courage can achieve
But sheds a mournful beauty o'er the fate
Of those who die in vain. ”

“ From mine own lot, but thou, my child, shouldst move
As a light breeze of heaven, thro' summer-bowers,
And not o'er foaming billows. We are fall'n
On dark and evil days!
XIMENA.
⁠Aye, days, that wake
All to their tasks!—Youth may not loiter now
In the green walks of spring; and womanhood
Is summon'd unto conflicts, heretofore
The lot of warrior-souls. But we will take
Our toils upon us nobly! Strength is born
In the deep silence of long-suffering hearts;
Not amidst joy.
ELMINA.
⁠Hast thou some secret woe
That thus thou speak'st? ”

“ Their voices, ere they perish!—But hath Heaven
Decreed that they must perish?—Who shall say
If in yon Moslem camp there beats no heart
Which prayers and tears may melt?
HERNANDEZ.
⁠There!—with the Moor!
Let him fill up the measure of his guilt!
—'Tis madness all!—How wouldst thou pass th' array
Of armed foes?
ELMINA.
⁠Oh! free doth sorrow pass,
Free and unquestion'd, through a suffering world!2 [5]
HERNANDEZ.
This must not be. Enough of woe is laid
E'en now, upon thy lord's heroic soul,
For man to bear, unsinking. Press thou not
Too heavily th' o'erburthen'd heart.—Away! ”

“ There is no room in hearts where earthly hope hath died!
LVI.
A moment's hush—and then he speaks—he speaks!
But not of hope! that dream hath long gone by:
His words are full of memory—as he seeks,
By the strong names of Rome and Liberty,
Which yet are living powers that fire the eye,
And rouse the heart of manhood; and by all
The sad yet grand remembrances that lie
Deep with earth's buried heroes; to recall
The soul of other years, if but to grace their fall! ”