University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV

The Palace at Ferrara.
The Duchess Lucrezia Borgia d'Este, dressed in mourning, in a small room. She is feeding birds.
LUCREZIA.
My doves,
My little, gladsome ones .... Rodrigo! . . .
My little Roman dove, my young, a softness
Still to my bosom ....
And this father—
His love to me, and all the streams of pearls!
They have not honourably buried him;
They are not sorry.
[She weeps.
I have prayed so long:
I have been angry. In my dreams I prayed;
And then he broke it, for he came to me,
His lips bulged out for kisses: “Dance, Lucrece,
Dance to me, child; it is that grace prevails!”
[After a pause—to the doves.
There, there! Fly out! There! Flutter on my shoulder,
And let me catch you.
Father, do you mark,
I am not weeping?—See, how they all settle
About me, on my head, and on my bosom—
See, how I rise and flutter them!
[She rises and the doves disperse from her in troops.
How lightsome
They come back to their roost! Dear Blessèdness,
And this will give you peace ....

[Suddenly she bows her golden head; the doves flutter down on it in a halo.