University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

—A street. Umena, Dorcas, meeting.
Umena.
Whither so nimbly speeding, Dorcas?

Dorcas.
To you, if needed in the great court,
With what I had of counsel and of help.

Umena.
The court is ended, and the poor prisoner
Is borne along, close-kept, as you behold,
Unto his cell.

Dorcas.
Thus, thus I always linger:
I came down by the river, bending as it bent,
Pausing where'er it paused, and yielding every way
To its blue mastery: a blest and noble sight,
From the far inland there came hurrying on,
A mighty wind, in which the many vessels
Setting toward the sea (and many that desired
To voyage quite the other way) bent their smooth masts
On toward invisible shores,
As trees that lean their trunks in orchards, show
Whence heaven has oftenest blown since they were set,
As if 'twas ever their fixed, fruitful course;
And the great woodland sitting calm, upon
The bank beyond, laughed in the mighty wind.

Umena.
Swift as those happy ships hastened to sea,
Bear we to him and his deserted house
Succor, and whatsoever else we may;
For in this hour, dark'ning his narrow sky,
Where sit they by the lone hearth lamenting,
God sends us more than when the unquestioned sun
Is out. I follow the prisoner to his cell.

Dorcas.
And I to the house where pine, unfathered
And unhusbanded, his children and his wife.

Umena.
Speed thee, good Dorcas, for thy beaming face,
Kindled anew, from the sad cloud shall shine
Upon their low estate, a happiness
Next to the birth of day and the sweet light
That brings it!

[Exeunt, severally, Umena, Dorcas.