The sons of Usna a tragi-apotheosis, in five acts |
 |
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. | SCENE III. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 12. |
| 13. |
| 14. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 12. |
 | The sons of Usna |  |
SCENE III.
The Highway. Enter Naisa, Daidra, and Attendants.DAIDRA.
Now, dear Naisa! let me give you good
Advice.
NAISA.
What is it, love?
DAIDRA.
Go not alone
To Eman; stop at Rachlin for the day,
Till Fergus do partake the feast; for this
Will be fulfilling of his word for him,
As well as the prolonging of your life for you.
NAISA.
We will not practise your advice, dear love;
Because we need no aid but from ourselves.
DAIDRA.
Alas! then, death will surely be our fate.
Where is the plighted faith of Fergus now?
Broken, as we will be, by Conor's sword!
Broken in twain by Barach's vulture-beak!
Feasting him now at home on aspen's tongues!
Unsteady Son of Roy! unfaithful man!
My heart is broke! my day is turned to night!
The fulness of my days is surely come!
NAISA.
Oh! say not so, Daidra! Say not so!
Fergus would not have come but for our good,
And surely will not tarry long behind.
DAIDRA.
Woe! woe! alas! as long as I shall live—
Which cannot now be long—will I be forced
To sing the memory of this bitter day!
NAISA.
Lo! on the topmost peak of Fuad I behold
The Watchtowers of Fincarn looming aloft,
Like some great soul upheld by mighty deeds—
Firm as the Pillars of Eternity!
So does my soul now stand upon these Hills
Of Erin, overlooking all the world—
Immutable—immortal—grand—sublime!
What dost thou see, dear Queen?
DAIDRA.
Alas!
Sad is the sight that now appears to me!
The three fair Sons of Usna lying dead!
NAISA.
May the Sorrows of thy delicate Soul
Fall on the heads of those most heartless fiends!
I see the willows on Ardsellach's Heights
Towering aloft above the distant Hills,
Cheered into endless Eden by the songs
Of many falling streams, whose garrulous flow
Wakes raptures in the hearts of million flowers,
That now imparadise the vales below.
DAIDRA.
The willows weep upon Ardsellach's Heights—
Crowning the Mountains with their wavy green,
Where they forever stand, like funeral trains,
Mourning for Erin's endless loss to-day!
Naisa! see that cloud which I now see
Hanging in Heaven far over Eman green—
58
Me give you good advice.
NAISA.
What good advice?
DAIDRA.
Go to Dundalgan, where Cuchullan lives,
Till Fergus do partake the feast, for fear
Of Conor's treachery.
NAISA.
Since fear lives not within
Our souls, we will not practise your advice.
DAIDRA.
Then you will all be slain as sure as life!
Go, then, where the Hero of Art resides,
For, if to-morrow you to Eman go,
Never will you return from thence alive!
NAISA.
No, my Daidra! queen of all my heart!
Since fear rests not within our souls, we will
Not practise your advice, but go.
DAIDRA.
Alas!
Then has it come to this? But once not so.
For when Mananan, King of Lir, the Sea,
First brought the full cup of your love to me,
Which I then drained with joy—it was not so!
Then we were both of one accord; now we
Are discords—never more to sound in unison!
NAISA.
Come—let us now move on.
DAIDRA.
But wait;
I have a Signal for you, whereby you
May know whether or not he have design
Upon our lives.
NAISA.
What Signal, love?
DAIDRA.
Why, this:
If he do let us where his Nobles are,
Then he has no design upon our lives;
But if he send us to the Red Branch, then
He means to have us slain! Mind what I say!
NAISA.
Then we will mind. Come, let us on. Come on.
[Exeunt omnes.
| The sons of Usna | |