I bid thee live and laugh at wicked foes Even as my sire and I do. What! "G.o.d knows,"
Thou sayest, and yet art fearful? Is he not Righteous, that we should fear to take the lot Forth of his hand that deals it? And my sire, Kind as the sun in heaven, and strong as fire, Hath he not G.o.d upon his side and ours, Even all the G.o.ds and stars and all their powers?
ESTRILD.
I know not. Fate at sight of thee should break His covenant--doom grow gentle for thy sake.
SABRINA.
Wherefore?
ESTRILD.
Because thou knowest not wherefore. Child, My days were darkened, and the ways were wild Wherethrough my dark doom led me toward this end, Ere I beheld thy sire, my lord, my friend, My king, my stay, my saviour. Let thine hand Lie still in mine. Thou canst not understand, Yet would I tell thee somewhat. Ere I knew If aught of evil or good were false or true, If aught of life were worth our hope or fear, There fell on me the fate that sets us here.
For in my father"s kingdom oversea -
SABRINA.
Thou wast not born in Britain?
ESTRILD.
Woe is me, No: happier hap had mine perchance been then.
SABRINA.
And was not I? Are these all stranger men?
ESTRILD.
Ay, wast thou, child--a Briton born: G.o.d give Thy name the grace on British tongues to live!
SABRINA.
Is that so good a gift of G.o.d"s--to die And leave a name alive in memory? I Would rather live this river"s life, and be Held of no less or more account than he.
Lo, how he lives and laughs! and hath no name, Thou sayest--or one forgotten even of fame That lives on poor men"s lips and falters down To nothing. But thy father? and his crown?
Did he less hate the coil of it than mine, Or love thee less--nay, then he were not thine - Than he, my sire, loves me?
ESTRILD.
And wilt thou hear All? Child, my child, love born of love, more dear Than very love was ever! Hearken then.
This plague, this fire, that hunts us--Guendolen - Was wedded to thy sire ere I and he Cast ever eyes on either. Woe is me!
Thou canst not dream, sweet, what my soul would say And not affright thee.
SABRINA.
Thou affright me? Nay, Mock not. This evil woman--when he knew Thee, this my sweet good mother, wise and true - He cast from him and hated.
ESTRILD.
Yea--and now For that shall haply he and I and thou Die.
SABRINA.
What is death? I never saw his face That I should fear it.
ESTRILD.
Whether grief or grace Or curse or blessing breathe from it, and give Aught worse or better than the life we live, I know no more than thou knowest; perchance, Less. When we sleep, they say, or fall in trance, We die awhile. Well spake thine innocent breath - I THINK THERE IS NO DEATH BUT FEAR OF DEATH.
SABRINA.
Did I say this? but that was long ago - Months. Now I know not--yet I think I know - Whether I fear or fear not it. Hard by Men fight even now--they strike and kill and die Red-handed; nay, we hear the roar and see The lightning of the battle: can it be That what no soul of all these brave men fears Should sound so fearful save in foolish ears?
But all this while I know not where it lay, Thy father"s kingdom.
ESTRILD.
Far from here away It lies beyond the wide waste water"s bound That clasps with bitter waves this sweet land round.
Thou hast seen the great sea never, nor canst dream How fairer far than earth"s most lordly stream It rolls its royal waters here and there, Most glorious born of all things anywhere, Most fateful and most G.o.dlike; fit to make Men love life better for the sweet sight"s sake And less fear death if death for them should be Shrined in the sacred splendours of the sea As G.o.d in heaven s mid mystery. Night and day Forth of my tower-girt homestead would I stray To gaze thereon as thou upon the bright Soft river whence thy soul took less delight Than mine of the outer sea, albeit I know How great thy joy was of it. Now--for so The high G.o.ds willed it should be--once at morn Strange men there landing bore me thence forlorn Across the wan wild waters in their bark, I wist not where, through change of light and dark, Till their fierce lord, the son of spoil and strife, Made me by forceful marriage-rites his wife.
Then sailed they toward the white and flower-sweet strand Whose free folk follow on thy father"s hand, And warred against him, slaying his brother: and he Hurled all their force back hurtling toward the sea, And slew my lord their king; but me he gave Grace, and received not as a wandering slave, But one whom seeing he loved for pity: why Should else a sad strange woman such as I Find in his fair sight favour? and for me He built the bower wherein I bare him thee, And whence but now he hath brought us westward, here To abide the extreme of utmost hope or fear.
And come what end may ever, death or life, I live or die, if truth be truth, his wife; And none but I and thou, though day wax dim, Though night grow strong, hath any part in him.
SABRINA.
What should we fear, then? whence might any Fall on us?
ESTRILD.
Ah! Ah me! G.o.d answers here.
Enter LOCRINE, wounded.
LOCRINE.
Praised be the G.o.ds who have brought me safe--to die Beside thee. Nay, but kneel not--rise, and fly Ere death take hold on thee too. Bid the child Kiss me. The ways all round are wide and wild - Ye may win safe away. They deemed me dead - My last friends left--who saw me fallen, and fled No shame is theirs--they fought to the end. But ye, Fly: not your love can keep my life in me - Not even the sight and sense of you so near.
SABRINA.
How can we fly, father?
ESTRILD.
She would not fear - Thy very child is she--no heart less high Than thine sustains her--and we will not fly.
LOCRINE.
So shall their work be perfect. Yea, I know Our fate is fallen upon us, and its woe.
Yet have we lacked not gladness--and this end Is not so hard. We have had sweet life to friend, And find not death our enemy. All men born Die, and but few find evening one with morn As I do, seeing the sun of all my life Lighten my death in sight of child and wife.
I would not live again to lose that kiss, And die some death not half so sweet as this.