The sons of Usna :: :: University of Virginia Library

The cypress trees, unswayed by the still air,
All Nunlike, in their vestments of rich green,
Stand round the margent of yon placid lake,
Like mourners round the deathbed of the just,
Whose life has done the world perennial good.
No single cloud appears through all the sky,
To obscure her fiery lustre. All is clear—
Clear as the thoughts in some great Poet's soul,
Who writes immortal things out of his heart
From the influx of God's life into his soul,
Which fills all that he says with light from Heaven,
Which cannot die, but back reflects His love,
Like the calm mirror of you inland sea,
The sapphire-face of the all-beholding Heavens.

[Naisa sings to his harp.
SONG.

1.

Oh! come away, my gentle one!
At midnight come to me,
And rest upon my breast alone,
In moonlight by the sea.
The moon shall hear each tender tone,
The stars above shall see
Thee lie upon my breast alone,
In moonlight by the sea.
Then come, dear one! to me,
And lie upon my breast alone,
In moonlight by the sea.

2.

At night alone should love be heard,
And thou alone with me,
To dwell upon each whispered word
In moonlight by the sea.
Say; wilt thou come? Oh! tell me, sweet!
Say, will you come to me?
For, oh! it is such joy to meet
In moonlight by the sea!
Say; will you come to me?
For, oh! it is such joy to meet
In moonlight by the sea.

Enter Daidra.
Beautiful is the dame that passes by.

DAIDRA.
But what good does beauty do, when there are
No youths to woo?

NAISA.
Such beauty as thine is,
Methinks, should raise up wooers from the dead.

DAIDRA.
Why not inspire the living then?

NAISA.
Because
It breathes but only for the dead.

DAIDRA.
Why so?
I took you for rare flesh and blood. Then why?

NAISA.
Does not the King of Ulster call you his?

DAIDRA.
Would it were so—then I were Queen indeed.

NAISA.
Then why thus talk to me?

DAIDRA.
Art thou not King?

NAISA.
Who told you so?

DAIDRA.
My eyes—my heart—my soul;
All tell me thou art King.

NAISA.
You have been taught
This thing! Sons of a King we are, indeed,
Of Usna's line—by Conor's power usurped.

DAIDRA.
Vile, perfidious wretch!

NAISA.
Mark how you talk!
I hear you are to be his wife?

DAIDRA.
His wife!
Never to be.

NAISA.
But he will make you his.

DAIDRA.
If you permit him, he may do me so;

But not unless you do; which, if you do,
I care not whose I am.

NAISA.
Whose would you be?

DAIDRA.
Have I not said? You know I have—but yours—
And only yours!

NAISA.
But how can you be mine—
Betrothed to him?

DAIDRA.
Betrothed is not to be,
But only in suspense.

NAISA.
But he will make
You his.

DAIDRA.
Not if my choice will make me not.

NAISA.
But how can this be done?

DAIDRA.
That lives with you.

NAISA.
But here, in Eman, it were death to both!

DAIDRA.
But there are other lands as fair—more fair
To me, wert thou but there, I here.

NAISA.
Then thou
Wouldst fly with me?

DAIDRA.
I would—like Noah's Dove
Sent on the wings of Morning to the Sun—
Fly with thee to the uttermost parts of earth!

NAISA.
But I have apprehensions for thy sake.

DAIDRA.
Is it to avoid me that you put me off?

NAISA.
Would any one refuse to enter Heaven,
Were the gates unlocked?

DAIDRA.
One unworthy might.

NAISA.
Would any soul, worthy or not, refuse
To fly from Hell, when he could enter Heaven?

DAIDRA.
One who had “apprehensions” might. True love
Deals not in “apprehensions.” But, perhaps,
I do not understand what you may mean
By leaving Hell for Heaven.

NAISA.
Why, living here
One day without thy heavenly love.

DAIDRA.
Then you
Are not in Hell, but safe in Heaven; for you
Can never live without my love. As well
Might yonder Moon above pretend to shine
Outside of the Eternity of God,
As you from the far-reachings of my love!
[She hits him with an apple.
There, now, take that as sample of my love!
A stroke now of disgrace throughout the world,
If you do take me not!

NAISA.
Depart from me!
For if you tarry, you will bring disgrace
Upon us both!

DAIDRA.
I will not go away,
But try your heart with one of my sweet songs.
Give me your harp.
[She takes the harp.
Now listen to my soul!
[She plays on the harp, accompanying it with her voice.
SONG.

1.

Oh! thus to be bowed humbly at thy feet,
Were such deep joy as earth has never known;
And, with thy virtuous heart to dwell, more sweet
To me, than if upon an ivory throne.
Heigh ho! you love me—I love you—heigh ho!

2.

For all those former joys which pleased me most,
Were soon forgotten when thy light was given,
As with that Angel who for love had lost
All recollection of his state in Heaven.
Heigh ho! you love me—I love you—heigh ho!

NAISA.

Now give it me. This is my soul's reply.

SONG.

1.

The moment that mine eyes were fixed on thee,
I knew that heaven ordained thee to be mine;
And felt how happy this fond heart would be,
Were it but only to be twinned with thine.
If you love me—I love you—heigh—heigh—ho!

2.

Oh! if our souls would only swear to dwell
Twin-mated in this world, to live or die,
Mine would be happier, loving thine so well,
Than were the Angels in the Heavens on high.
If you love me—I love you—heigh—heigh—ho!

Knowing thus much of you, doth make me wish
That I had been your twin, that, being born
With you, I might have grown up with you from
Your infancy, seeing you daily thus;
For, as some Gardener digs about the roots
Of his long-cherished Tree to see it grow—
Then, after nourishing, beholds it bud
And blossom to the fulness of the flower;
Even so would I have watched thy bud of life
Unfold itself into the perfect Rose
Of womanhood—whose blossom I now see.

DAIDRA.
My husband in perspective.

NAISA.
Truly so—
Fruition's Rose born in the bud of hope.
Thus do I place upon your brow the crown
Of my most fervent love!

DAIDRA.
Ay, such a crown
As any Angel might be proud to wear.

NAISA.
An Angel does wear it.

DAIDRA.
You talk as though
A star had just been born in Heaven—your voice,
The music of its singing.

NAISA.
Our talk should
Be starry when we talk of stars. You look
Like Venus when she rose up from the Sea!

DAIDRA.
Wearing the Crown of God's dear love, you lift
Me far above all stars in saying so.

NAISA.
She needs no lifting who resides in Heaven.
Your presence makes this world like Eden was
Before the fall—an everlasting spring!

Enter Ainli and Ardan.
AINLI.
What heavenly songs were those? What have we here?
Who played upon that harp?

NAISA.
The Queen of Song,
Of Beauty, Love, and Heaven!

AINLI.
What is her name?

NAISA.
Daidra is her name.

AINLI.
What! Conor's wife?
Naisa! what are you about? Do you
Not know that Caffa prophesied that she
Would bring destruction on this land?

NAISA.
He lied!
The Beautiful, the Good, the True can bring
Only the Beautiful, the Good, the True.
But were it so, has she not flung at me
That which will bring disgrace upon us all,
If I receive her not?

AINLI.
Then, if you do,
Evil will come of it! Now mark my words.

NAISA.
But we can fly with her where Conor ne'er can come.

AINLI.
Then let us fly; for if you take
Her not, you cannot live with her—but die!

NAISA.
Then let us go to Alba where we can;
For there is not a single soldier there,
Who would not join us joyfully—besides,
The Alban King hates Conor as he does
The Devil!

AINLI.
Then let us depart in haste
With three times fifty men of might—the same
Number of women; three times fifty hounds;
And our attendants three times fifty more.

ABDAN.
They say that he is wise in many things.
Having studied Magic.

NAISA.
The Devil's lore.
His presence, like some star of Night, whose rays
Are outer darkness—black as that which wombed
The universe before the world was made—
Whose shadow, down the abysmal depths of space,
Sheds mildew on the souls of men—brings death
To all our House!

AINLI.
He loves nobody but
Himself—his only maker being Power.

ARDAN.
They say he sees Visions.

NAISA.
Spectres of the dead!
Wandering ghosts of our departed Sires
Buried in prime of life to make him King—
Coming to torture him with sight of Hell,
Before his hastening death!

AINLI.
For just as he
Planned theirs, so will he work our early death!
I see him in my mind's eye, now, at home,
Planning our sudden fall!

ARDAN.
I doubt it not;
He is a Upas tree that poisons all
The birds that chance to light upon his boughs!

Enter Caffa.
CAFFA.
I come to make Daidra now your wife.
I place this Bridal-Chaplet on her brow—
[Placing it on her brow.
(Richer never adorned the brow of queen)
Making her Marriage Morning one long life
Of nuptial joy—chief lustre of her love—
Blossoms of that supernal Diadem,
Celestial virtue, which adorns her soul.
These plumes, plucked from the radiant wings of Birds
Of Paradise, enrich the spotless brow
Of this fair household Dove. This I must speak,
To give exalted virtue her own due.
The bashful, recluse life she loves to live,—
Blooming unseen, save by the one she loves—
(To whom she does express her heavenly sweets)
Better than popular courts of empty power,
Or noisy flattery. Her whole delights
Live in the circle of his embraces here.
Now, in the Name of God, who dwells in Heaven,
(Who is the Female married to the Male.)
I make divine At-one-ment of you two.
[Joining their hands.
Like a great Reaper of the golden sheaves,
Go, like a god, into the Folds of Men,
Gathering rich Harvests of their heavenly love.

[Exeunt omnes.