 | Claribel and Other Poems |  |
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SCENE II.
A tangled Forest. Albert waiting. Enter Casimir.CASIMIR
Joy, joy, my brother! Albert! help thy friend
To bear his triumph. It is all too much.
ALBERT
It is. Thou canst not bear it.
CASIMIR
What mean you?
You are moved. What sorrow has invaded you?
Forgive me that I did not mark your grief,
So full of mine own bliss. What may it mean?
ALBERT
That I would bear thy triumph. Yes, my friend!
Since love and friendship are too great a load
Even for thy Atlas shoulders—Let me speak!—
Therefore renounce thy love! thou canst not wed
Bohemia's daughter.
CASIMIR
Who would cross me there?
ALBERT
Thy friend.
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What friend? Thyself perhaps?
ALBERT
Even so.
CASIMIR
This is mere trifling. But for that clench'd lip
I should esteem you gamesome, scarce in tune
With a friend's earnestness:—but your harsh words
Unfriendlily apparel'd—
ALBERT
Do I wear
Your livery? sir!
CASIMIR
You overstep your place.
ALBERT
Yet I have been the brother of a prince.
CASIMIR
Brother and friend! you venture on my love.
ALBERT
No! you on mine.
CASIMIR
Again, what meaneth this?
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For that sweet angel at the altar kneels,
Waiting to be my wife.
ALBERT
Then I am plain.
That angel never can be thine. Two claim
Precedence of thy title—I and Death.
The first may stumble, but the last is sure.
Alas! the shades of death have sweeter haunts
Than solitary life, or fulsome change
That leads but to a grave. Love's wings have flown
The circuit of the world, and find therein
Nought but the loving. So forswear thy hope!
Bridle thy lion-heart until it break!
Her marriage-bed is rather in the tomb
Than in thy arms. Do anything but hope!
CASIMIR
As yet I tamely answer thy appeal,
So overwhelming in its circumstance:
Not understanding how thy birth and rank
Should soar so giddily the eagle's height,
To thwart thy friend and rush between the troth
Of prince and princess, past a king's decree.
ALBERT
Open thy princely ears, then, to my cause!
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And port been judged not servile; and mine eyes
Have overlook'd the haughtiest. I could stride
And grapple with a prince,—ay! with the best.
Though but a page, my fortune placed me near
A princess, and my soul was prince enough
To worship her perfection. As I watch'd
(The page's duty, sir!) her every mood,
I found her sad when I look'd seriously,—
Gay when my thoughts made merry,—when I sought
The lists she paled; and once her glance met mine,
And lit me to the chamber of her heart,
Wherein I saw my image dearly throned;
And ere conceit could lend ambition words
Her love stoop'd like a tame bird to my breast,—
Where I must cherish it. And, to be brief,
Know we are married—close as nature's law
Of holiest sympathy can bind two lives.
Therefore I bid thee to respect my wife,
As a true gentleman; or else affront
My honour with thy sword.
CASIMIR
I meet thy sword,
Less deadly sharp than thy injurious words
That flame-like bar my Eden. Out, alas!
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Hath fallen upon my 'scutcheon? I, a prince,
On the top step of a throne, to be hurl'd down
By common hands; and my imperial globe—
Thy perfect love—torn rudely from my grasp!
O shame! O shame!—Unsay thy traitorous speech:
Some fiend possesses thee.
ALBERT
No fiend but Love.
Thy cross-hilt can not exorcize my life.
CASIMIR
My sword-point shall; or thou step o'er my corse.
I will compel her image from thy heart.—
By our old friendship, tell me thou hast lied!
ALBERT
No lie, but truth.
CASIMIR
Then one of us must die.
ALBERT
Therefore I sent for thee. For I, my prince!
Would have thy armour, wherein I must wed
The lady Claribel. Beware thyself!
For I will hunt thee for thy beauteous hide.
Be brief! She waits my presence with the spoil.
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