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 | The unpublished plays of Thomas Holley Chivers |  |
Scene III
(The Bower of Bliss, as in Scene First, Ianthe27
Count Julian
I am Yanassa from the Land of Souls.
Who came to you last night in that
Most heavenly dream, wherein you seemed to see
The Great High Spirit say must be
Your husband in this world. Come, thou art mine!
Ianthe
(rising)
Not in this world—nor in the World To Come!
I will be Julian's bride, or none at all!
I pledged myself to him in youth—gave him
My heart, my soul, my life, my love—my all!
What have I, then, to give to you? Although
You woo me with the same sweet breath—(with such
Sweet, heavenly eloquence you seem the same—)
Yet, I am his—I gave my heart to him,
And cannot take it back to give to you,
Or any one besides—because it is
Not mine to give! Therefore, implore me not—
For, know, the more you speak to me in his
Sweet eloquence (for well I know he taught
You thus to speak) the more you plead for him—
The closer do you bind my soul to his—
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From all on earth!—for I am his alone!
Count Julian
But he is dead!
Ianthe
Dead? Is my Julian dead?
Oh! tell me—Is he dead?
Count Julian
I saw him die!
There is the letter that you sent to him—
Confided, on his deathbed to my care.
These were his dying words: Go, my poor soul!
To that bright Isle, where she now waits for me
And take her to your heart—make her your wife—
And tell her we shall meet again in Heaven!
Ianthe
Ah! that we will! there we shall meet again!
My dream is now interpreted to me.
That was the night he died! There he was on
His way to Heaven! But, then, he told me we
Should meet again on earth. This was my dream.
It cannot be that be that we must part so soon—
That he has gone forever more from me—
Never to see me in this world again!
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And save me from this trying world of sin!
No, I will not despair—I yet will hope
That we may meet again—meet here on earth
And be united as we were of yore—
When he was all the Heaven I wished on earth,
And I was his dear Angel in this Heaven!
This is the only solace that I have
To comfort me on earth; this side of Heaven!
Which is enough to keep me true to him,
True to the latest moment of my life!
Count Julian
Why should you live here all alone, beset
By Ostenee, from day to day, who tempts
You only to betray—rather than wed
With him whom Julian loved even as his soul?
Who gave you on his deathbed to my care,
As his own soul's most sacred legacy?
Ianthe
Poor Ostenee! he tempts me not! But know,
Since you have failed to win me from myself—
From more than mine own soul—(for well I know
He taught you how to speak such heavenly words)
How can he hope to gain my love? It is
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The very soul of vanity itself!
I will be Julian's bride alone—his wife—
Or die the maid I am!
Count Julian
These are wild words!
Will you affirm that you are true to him,
And yet, deny his dying wish to me?
The last fond words that came from out his soul,
And did to him announce on his trembling tongue?
Ianthe
Were he so false as to request such thing,
I am not false enough to grant it him.
Count Julian
Then, by Manito! If you will not grant
This dying wish to me—(seeing that you
Are false to him—) it will be nothing more
Than right for me to force you to obey!
For there can be no joy to him in Heaven,
Who knows his Heaven on earth is false to him.
Therefore, to glad his soul in Heaven, you must
Be made, this day, Yanassa's bride on earth.
Ianthe
Never on earth, nor in the World to Come
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I will be any thing but what I am—
(If he be dead)—I will go up to him
In Heaven, sent by this right hand to dwell
Forever more—there I will be at peace!
Count Julian
But I would snatch the weapon from your hand,
And make you mine in spite of you!
Ianthe
Alas!
Would you, Yanassa, from the Land of Souls,
There all good things reside—where Angels dwell—
Arrayed in shining robes of lightning-fire—
Would you betray the trust reposed in you,
By him who is an Angel now in Heaven?
When he requested you to be my friend,
Long after he was dead, on earth?
Count Julian
His last
Request was not that I should be your friend,
But husband.
Ianthe
Husband be you, then, to me.
By being what you ought to be—my friend!
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Preserve me, safely, for your friend in Heaven,
Where I now hope to meet him soon in joy,
And thank you, with an Angel's lips of fire,
In words melodious to your grateful soul,
And God reward you for your kindness done
To me on earth! Will you not do this thing?
I know you will! Yanassa is too good
At heart, too noble-souled—to injure one
Who never did him wrong—not even in thought!
Say you will not compel me thus to die
Before my time—before I have begun
To live!—'gainst Nature—God's most holy Law—
And I will live to bless you here on earth,
Or, dying, curse you in this world—the world
To come! Speak! that my soul may know its doom!
Count Julian
Ianthe! virgin Dian of this Isle!
Most worthy to be queen of all the world!
Fairest of all the fair ones ever born
My Morning Star! my ever new Delight!
My joy on earth! my hopes of bliss in Heaven!
Behold! it is your Julian clasps you now!
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What! Julian? Julian! is this you? Oh! God!
Such deep Angelic love now fills my soul,
It cannot be expressed but by the aid
Of Sorrow, Christian sister of pure Joy—
As if an Angel now should roup because
She woo in Heaven—had too much heavenly bliss!
Count Julian
But Beauty looks most beautiful in tears
Oh! my Ianthe! Dayspring of my life!
Is not this rapturous ravishment of joy,
Born of the melting of two souls in one—
The bright Apocalypse of Heaven on earth?
Ianthe
A perfect Apotheosis of Love!
Oh! wonderous Miracle of Truth on earth!
Thou Paragon of man! where all are false!
But how could you be any thing but true?
Rapt with the sinless plenitudes of bliss,
My soul seems soaring now on Angel's wings,
Up to the Sapphire shining Mount of God!
Count Julian
A joy prophetic of your future fate.
For he who pants for immortality—
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Who loves the Beautiful Natural Truth—
Wherein an Angel stands, in robes of light
Calling his raptured spirit home to God—
As when Correggio saw, in his last sleep,
Great Palestrina standing at the Gates
Of Heaven, waiting to welcome him to bliss!
Now that the rapture of divine delight
Has settled to the calmness of sweet peace—
The quick short breathing of deep joy merged in
The slow, sad sighings of content—here let
Us mingle our impassioned souls in one—
Ianthe
No, that can never be until we wed!
We are not wedded yet, nor can be, till
We go back home again.
Count Julian
Back home again?
How can that be, when old Lamorah has
The only key that locks the Boat-chain round
The Willow tree? Should we attempt to leave
This blessed Isle, we would be both condemned
To die by fire! No, let us here remain,
And love each other in connubial bliss.
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No, love! although I love you as my life
More than my own dear soul.
Who loves the Beautiful in Natural Truth,
Because it is the Essence of all good
That man ascends to Heaven before he dies—
Beholds the gates of Glory opened wide,
Whom an Angel stowes, in robes of light.
Because God wedded Adam to Eve
In Paradise. So let us be, that we
May be like they were ere the fall.
Count Julian
We will
And it shall be as thou hast said it is.
Now, by that most mysterious Law of Love,
Born of the God of Love—are our two souls
United into one! Now must we use
The utmost cunning of our souls, that we
May best elude Lamorah's watchful eyes,
Until such time as we can make our safe
Retreat back home again, where we will live,
And love each other in connubial bliss.
(Exeunt)
36
| The unpublished plays of Thomas Holley Chivers | |