 | The Serpent Play |  |
77
Scene IV.
—Terrace at the Gate of Cœlis.Voragine, Vivia.
Vivia as one benumbed was lost in awe,
When Voragine her terror saw:
He said that legends well he loved,
But not a soldier it behoved
To put his trust in what a minstrel sings;
That faith with him was but in passing things.
Cœlis and the Troubadour
Pass down the slope, the valley to explore,
Where they may commune on the play,
And fix the morrow for the gala-day.
Vivia not long remains in dread
While her fond hand the warrior keeps
In his, as if already wed;
And there it softly rests as when she sleeps.
VORAGINE
Will not you, sweetest, kindly muse
On my last words? this were not life
Should you my loving heart refuse!
VIVIA.
But I am young to be a wife!
78
Not young the bridal veil to wear!
VIVIA.
I feel that you are brave and kind;
Then something crosses o'er my mind
And makes me pant with sudden fear.
VORAGINE.
Yes, you are young, but were you older
Your timid heart would not be bolder.
VIVIA.
I have so many things to learn;
At school we only write and read:
It will take long my mind to turn
To all a soldier's wife must need.
VORAGINE.
All he can ask for, you possess;
A gentle heart, a ready thought:
What gifts a soldier's life to bless!
The rest is all by instinct caught.
VIVIA.
Dear Cousin, you will wait at least
Till she knows household duties better?
79
Then what confusion would beset her!
When the splendid guests assemble
About you, and your praises sound,
Her cheeks would burn, her feet would tremble
As she were sinking through the ground.
VORAGINE.
Not when a diamond shower has clung
In radiant drops about her neck,
And pearls as thick as hailstones flung
Upon her hair her head shall deck?
VIVIA.
Easy it is for you to bask
In glory, won by you in fight:
It is for me a trying task
To lift my eyelids in your light.
VORAGINE.
Yet when you risk those swaying eyes
And turn their look of love on me,
A voice within my heart replies,
Such bliss on earth can never be!
VIVIA.
Am I so loved? or am I made
The philtre but to work the spell,
80
Into a child, a graceless girl!
VORAGINE.
The gifts and honours that the throne
Confers, may every soldier know:
Your heart is one, the only one,
No monarch can on him bestow.
VIVIA.
Once did I care to see you great
Till love for you has turned my head;
But we another year must wait;
You know that I am young to wed!
VORAGINE.
You soon to woman's prime will reach,
Even as the bud its growth extends;
You then will ask with bolder speech
When this long term of spring-tide ends.
VIVIA.
Tell it to no one for a year!
Our friends would laugh though I should weep:
'Twere long their raillery to bear:
It is a secret you can keep?
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You trust it to your faithful slave
Who will your hourly wish obey:
Who would not such a service crave
Awaiting the propitious day!
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