Laurella and other poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

[Paphos—the Bower of Aphrodeite.]
Aphrodeite
(entering)
—Deceived! betrayed! O vengeance, vengeance, vengeance!
Who is this mortal whose accurséd charms
Have robbed my altars of their worshippers,
Me of my son's allegiance? ‘Let but Psyche
Be true to me, and, by the waves of Styx,
She may defy the thunderbolts of Zeus!’
He takes the style of a primæval God,
So bold he grows! I tremble at his frown.
Speaks he the truth, as partly I conceive
That truth it is, this wayward son of mine
Is of the mighty race who lorded it
Before the birth of Chronos. Be it so!
‘Let her be true!’ But how if she be false?—

244

As false she shall be, if my tongue can teach
Her siren sisters aptly how to sing:
Already she begins to pine for them,
To awe them with the splendour of her state.
They are my votaries—they shall snare me yet
Her unweaned soul, half-trustful of her lord,
Unseen of her in those sweet hours of love
Stolen in the secret midnight. They shall-move
To dark suspicion her still mortal heart,
Till, fearful of some monster in her bed,
She seek to gaze upon the naked limbs
Of Eros as he sleeps, and, prying fool,
Perish in fact of sacrilege. Away!
Swift to my brooded vengeance, ere her womb,
Quickening with fruit celestial, may atone
The trespass of her eyes. Thus sealed her fate,
Eros shines self-revealed—I strike too late!

[Exit.]
[The enchanted Palace of Eros, before the closed curtains of the Pavilion. Midnight. Enter Psyche with a torch. She pauses before the curtain.]
Psyche.—

One moment let me check my venturous hand,
Trembling upon the deed, to still this heart
Which makes a coward of me. Dost thou beat
Thus audibly to warn me of some ill,

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In whose black train the Stygian multitude
Of vampyre woes throng to lay waste the world?
Is this the burden of thy fluttering song?

(She draws a dagger.)

Let me be firm. Thou deathful instrument,
Gift of my sister's counsel—ah!

(She lets it fall.)

My bosom
Is not so barren-grown of tenderness
As to achieve my sad deliverance
From this too sweet enchantment murderously.
Can happiness, with evil mated, live
In such unhallowed bridal? Do they know
That I am thus most monstrously abused,
Clasping some loathéd nightmare to my breast
In foulest love embraces nightly? Nay—
They mock me in their envy—they have lied!
Yet, O just Gods, how can I face their tongues,
And say: Ye lie! What proven mail of truth
Have I to fence me from their poisonous words?
Doubt, like a hag, in her accurséd stream
Has dipt my love and made it vulnerable.
Then knowledge be my aid—for thus I solve,
Daring the worst, all grim uncertainties,
With eyes, not hands.

(She draws the curtain, and discovers Eros asleep.)

O Zeus! I faint for bliss!

246

(She bends over him in a rapture. A spark falls on his limbs. He starts up and rises into the air, casting Psyche from him as he rises. She screams and extends her arms towards him imploringly. He pauses for a moment in his flight, and speaks.)
Eros.—
Traitress! but one sweet night of trial more,
And I was thine for ever—thou hadst soared,
Twinned with me in one fiery cloud of love,
Straight to the empyrean. O farewell!
Eros has lost his bride. Ah! Psyche, Psyche!
Farewell, farewell!

(He disappears. Psyche falls senseless. The whole palace dissolves into black clouds, which overwhelm her.)
[Sunset. An open country. Enter Psyche with an ebon box containing the Beauty of Persephone.]
Psyche.—
Once more the gladness of the open heaven,
And the soft fragrance of the evening breeze!
How beautiful is this world! There Hesperus
Looks from his lucid eyes tranquillity,
Charming the plains to silence. All is peace—
I breathe but peace; and yet how keenly all things
Invade each delicate sense with a delight
I never felt before. So breathed, so felt,
Upon the bounds of day, Eurydice,
And cried too soon: ‘I live again!’ Ye gods,

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Who have bid gape the adamantine doors
Of Dis's realm to my weak siege, and led me—
A new Eurydice—with trembling feet,
From the sad Stygian coast; making my wreck
My triumph, take, in this deep ecstasy,
My thanks for all! Here, here, I have the casket,
Fetched through the groaning labyrinths of hell,
Through the Cimmerian darkness. I have stood
By hell's all-dreaded Queen, even as a child
Beside its mother; I have dared to gaze
Into her awful eyes; and here I bring
Her beauty for my dower, bestowed as freely
As mothers give the jewels of their prime
To a dear daughter! Cruel Aphrodeite!
Thy hate drove me to seek a precious pearl
In a most dangerous sea. From such a plunge
Few divers have come back. I rise at last;
But, tyrant Queen, thou shalt not have my pearl:
Mine was the toil—be mine the gain. O Eros!
Wilt thou not love me now, made beautiful
With such tremendous charms?

(She opens the casket; a vapour rises from it. She swoons. Enter Aphrodeite.)
Aphrodeite.—
Lie there for ever,
Alive in loveless, hopeless death for ever!
Is this the goddess that insulted me?
This the great bride of Eros? Here, thou clod,

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Be this thy dower—thus, thus, I trample thee!

(Spurns her with her foot. Enter Eros.)
Eros.—
Away, tempt not my wrath! Off instantly,
Killer of love, joy-hating Aphrodeite!
Away, I scorn thee to the depths of hell!

Aph.—
Eros!

(She has vanished.)
Eros.—
Awake! arise! Now dawns our Spring of love,
The crocus flowers of joy break out like fire
O'er the fresh fields of life. My love, my bride;
Much-suffering Psyche, wake! I breathe on thee.

(She rises.)
Psyche.—
Eros!—'Tis thou?

Eros.—
'Tis I—thine, thine forever—
Forever I am thine, and thou art mine!
O, we will fly through all the realms of space,
Blessing and blest; each moment of our flight
Fraught with its new eternity of love!

Psyche.—
O make me strong to bear this transport!

Eros.—

Come,
Enter the seven-fold citadel of my love,
In which I close thee—thus!

(She throws herself into his arms.)

My long-tried Pysche!
Not all the treacheries of old Night again
Shall tear thee from me!

Psyche.—
Utter rest of bliss!

Eros.—
All is accomplished.

(They ascend.)