Festus · Scene 26 (2/2) (1/2)
Festus* and Elissa*.
Festus Who says he loves and is not wretched, lies; Or that love is madness came mad from his mother. ’Tis the most reasonable thing in nature. What can we do but love? It is our cup. Love is the cross and passion of the heart, Its end⁠—its errand. In the name of God, What made us love, Elissa?
Elissa I know not. I am not happy. I have wept all day.
Festus ’Twas thine own fault. What wouldst thou have of me? I tell thee we must⁠—no, I cannot tell thee. Nor can I bear those tears. Thou know’st I love thee, Worship thee; oh! it’s a world more than worship, The cold obedience which we give to God. Elissa! turn to me!
Elissa I cannot. Go!⁠—
Festus Thou hadst no need, no business to have loved me. One loved thee well.
Elissa I could not help his loving Me, nor my loving thee. It was our fate.
Festus Then Fate hath fee’d the passion for our death, And we are sold.
Elissa Well! Let us die together. Together we will quit our bodies here.
Festus Together will we go to God and judgment.
Elissa Festus! I will, I can love none but thee.
Festus Thou must not.
Elissa But I must. I cannot help it. Look at me⁠—heart and arms, I am thine own. Thou knowest I am and have been. Wilt not love me? Festus! mine own and only! wilt thou not? Have I done nothing, suffered and abandoned Nothing for thee? Oh! I was happy once; Ere I knew thee. Why wast thou kind to me? Cruelly kind⁠—or this had never been. But now thou mayst be cruel if thou wilt. Hate me! still I am thine: disown me, thine! Desert me! no⁠—thou canst not. I am thine; I am! look at me, Festus! look at me! I am half blind with weeping; and mine eyes Have not a tear left in them. But I know How it will end. Thou wilt leave me as I am⁠— Loveless and lonely.
Festus Nay, not so; my love Shall aye be with thee, and my soul with both. But we must part! Think that I come again.
Elissa Not be again with thee! nor thou with me! It is too much. Let me go mad or die.
Festus Live, mine Elissa! and thou shalt live with me, And I will love thee ever as I now love. Wilt thou?
Elissa Oh! make me happy! say I may Believe thee.
Festus May? Thou must.
Elissa Say it again! I cannot know too often of my bliss. But dost thou love me? tell me⁠—wilt thou love me?
Festus Since I have known thee I have done nought else. All hours not spent with thee are blanks between stars. I love thee! love thee! love thee! madly love thee! Oh! thou hast drank my heart dry of all love! It will be empty to aught after thee. Come, dry thine eyes. Blessings on those sweet eyes! By Heaven! they might a moment win the glance Of any seraph gazing not on God.
Elissa No wonder they drew thine. There is a tear!
Festus Ay; strange and startling is the first hot tear That we have shed for years; and which hath lain Like to a water-fairy in the eye’s Blue depths⁠—spell-bound in the socket of the soul. Death brought it not⁠—pain brought it not⁠—nor shame; Nor penitence⁠—nor pity⁠—nor despair: Nothing but love could. For a fearful time We can keep down the floodgates of the heart, But we must draw them sometime; or it will burst Like sand this brave embankment of the breast, And drain itself to dry death. When pride thaws⁠— Look for floods!
Elissa Now, thou wilt be very kind When next we meet? Our time will soon be gone.
Festus I cannot think of time:⁠—there is no time! Time! time! I hate thee⁠—with the hate of Hell For aught that’s good⁠—but thou art infamous. I win give thee half my immortality To keep back for one hour. Leave me, to-night; And wither me, to-morrow, like a weed!
Elissa Where is he now?
Festus In Hell⁠—I hope.
Elissa What mean’st thou? He wronged thee never. Say, when cometh he?
Festus To-night.
Elissa He comes to sever us, like fate. But shall he part us?
Festus Never! Let him part The sun in two first.
Elissa It was ever thus: I am made to make unhappy all around me.
Festus I will not hear of thy being wrong⁠—it is I. I am the false usurper. And since one Out of the three must be a sacrifice, Let it be me. It shall be.
Elissa Thou didst swear, Even now, to love me ever.
Festus Be it so. I have sworn⁠—and now and then I keep my oath⁠— I will not give thee up, so save me, God!
Elissa Oh! we have been too happy, have we not? But, now I think of it, we might have known It could not last. Woe follows bliss as close As death does life⁠—as naturally, may be. We might have thought⁠—
Festus I never thought about it My love⁠—Elissa! ah, how cold thy hand is! Here⁠—warm it on my heart. Nay, let it be. The hand that is on the heart is on the soul. And it is thus some moments take the wheel, And steer us through eternity. Believe me, Could I but crowd life, love too, in one throb, I would beat it out, this moment, in thy hand, And would die blessing.
Elissa Give me my hand back!
Festus My sweet one! if this heart hath warmed thy hand, It hath not beaten in vain⁠—it but returns A pleasure, and a passion, and a power: For oft at touch of thine this bosom burns.
Elissa Love hath no end except itself. We only Felt we loved and were happy.
Festus Ah! It was so.
Elissa Our sole misfortune is, we have been happy; We never shall be happy here again.
Festus Nay, say not so. Let us be happy now. Happy? To fling aside thy wavy locks, And feed mine eyes on thy white brow⁠—to look Deep in thine eyes till I feel mine have drank Full of that soft wet fire which floats in thine⁠— Eyes which I ne’er would leave⁠—yet when most near, Then most astray I⁠—oh! to lay my cheek Upon thy sweet and swelling bosom thus; Where midst upon the beauty of thy breast Sits love like God between the cherubim⁠— To crop the red budding kisses om thy lips⁠— To name thee, make thee, but one moment, mine⁠— Delights me more than all that earth can lend The good or bad⁠—or Heaven can give the saved. One long wild kiss of sunny sweets, till each Lack breath, the lips half bleed, and, come⁠—thou knowest! I ask but one such⁠—let it last for ever!
Elissa Now, Festus! this is wrong.
Festus What?⁠—what is wrong? Shall my blood never bound beneath beauty’s touch, Heart throb, nor eye thaw with hers⁠—when her tears Drop, quick and bright, upon the glowing brow Plunged in her bosom⁠—because, forsooth, it is wrong? Let it be wrong! it is wrong, it is wretchedness That I would lose both sense and soul to suffer.
Elissa How dare we love each other as we do?
Festus Give me some wine! more⁠—more, love!
Elissa Drink and drain The bowl! the vintage of a hundred years Would never slake the memory of shame; Nor quench the thirst of folly.
Festus Fill again! My beauty! sing to me, and make me glad. Thy sweet words drop upon the ear as soft As rose-leaves on a well: and I could listen, As though the immortal melody of Heaven Were wrought into one word⁠—that word a whisper, That whisper all I want from all I love.
Elissa I am not happy, and I cannot sing. Thou lookest happy. I wish I were so.
Festus They tell us that the body of the sun Is dark, and hard, and hollow; and that light Is but a floating fluid veiling him. Ah! how oft, and how much, the heart is like him! Despite the electric light it lives and hides in.
Servant Entering. A singer who was told to come is here.
Festus Wilt hear him?
Elissa Yes, love⁠—gladly.
Festus Show him in. What have you there?
Singer Oh! I think, everything.
Festus Well, anything will be enough this once. The last new song?
Singer Certainly; here it is. Sings. Oh! let not a lovely form With feeling fill thine eye; Oh! let not the bosom warm At love-lorn lady’s sigh⁠— For how false is the fairest breast; How little worth, if true: And who would wish possessed, What all must scorn or rue? Then pass by beauty with looks above; Oh! seek never⁠—share never⁠—woman’s love! Oh! let not a planet-like eye Imbeam its tale on thine; In truth ’tis a lie⁠—though a lie Scarce less than truth divine. And the light of its look on the young Is wildfire with the soul; Ye follow and follow it long, But find nor good nor goal. Then pass by beauty with looks above; Oh! seek never⁠—share never⁠—woman’s love!
Elissa Methinks I must have heard that voice before.
Festus And I.
Elissa Where?
Festus I forget.
Elissa And so do I.
Singer Oh! let not a wildering tongue Weave bright webs o’er thine ear; Nor thy spirit be said nor sung To the air of smile or tear. And say it hath melody far More than the spheres of Heaven, Though to man and the Morning star They sang, Ye be forgiven! Yet pass by beauty with looks above; Oh! seek never⁠—share never⁠—woman’s love! Oh! let not a soil bosom pour Itself in thine! It is vain. Love cheateth the heart, oh! be sure, Worse even than wine the brain. Then snatch up thy lip from the brim, Nor drain its dreamlike death; For Love loves to lie down and dim The bright soul with his breath. Then pass by beauty with looks above; Oh! seek never⁠—share never⁠—woman’s love!
Festus Come hither, man! I wish to look at thee, A moment. No! it can’t be. Yet I have seen Some one much like thee.
Elissa It was a brother, may be?
Singer I have none, lady. Have ye done with me?
Festus Yes⁠—go! and we will take your song of you.
Servant Here, follow me! They go.
Festus Weeping again, my love? Thou art, by turns, the proudest and the humblest Creature I ever met with. The least thing Dints thy soft heart. Come, cheer thee, sweet one⁠—do! Oh! if to say, I love, laid all the sins Of all the worlds upon me, I would say it Till I was out of breath: and will, till I die.
Elissa If Love be blind, it must be by his tears; For love and sorrow alway come together⁠— Love with his sister, sorrow, by the hand.
Festus Nay, I will conquer thee again to smile, Or lose my right to love thee. Let me kneel! Come! I will have no other gods but thee; To none but thee will I bow down and worship; Thy bosom is mine altar⁠—and thine eyes Are the divinity that preys upon me. Oh! cruel as the week-day gods of old, Thou wilt have human victims; not content With tears and kisses⁠—fire and water⁠—thou Wilt have the subtler element of life; Thou needs must live on immortality! Here⁠—take me then! I offer up myself A sacrifice to thee.
Elissa Thou foolish boy! Where will thy passionate folly end? I love thee.
Festus Well then, let me conjure thee! let me swear By some sweet oath that shall to both be holy:⁠— By arms which hold, by knees which worship thee! By that dark eye, the dark divine of beauty, Yet trembling o’er its lid all tears and light⁠— Glory and eye of eyes which yet have shone! By this lone heart, which longeth for a mate! By love’s sweet will, and sweeter way! by all I love⁠—by thyself, myself! let me, let me, Let me⁠—but draw the lightning from thine eye:⁠— Kisses are my conductors: do not frown; Nor look so temptingly angry. I was but trifling. The cold calm kiss which cometh as a gift, Not a necessity, is not for me, Whose bliss, whose woe, whose life, whose all is love.
Elissa We both wrong whom we love, love whom we wrong.
Festus But I am as a dog that fondles o’er And licks the wound he dies of. Would I could Suffer or feel enough of love to kill!
Elissa Thou lovest one whom thou oughtst not to love.
Festus And what of that? Love hath its own belief⁠— Own worship⁠—own morality⁠—own laws: And it were better that all love were sin Than that love were not. It must have by-laws⁠— Exceptions to the rules of earth and Heaven⁠— For it means not the good it doth nor ill.
Elissa It is wrong⁠—it is unjust⁠—unkind.
Festus It is. But I am half mad and half dead with it. I have loved thee till I can love nought beside. My heart is drenched with love as with a cloud. I have too much of life that I scarce can live. I hate all things but thee⁠—shun men, like snakes⁠— Women, like pits. To me thou art all woman⁠— All life⁠—all love and more than all my kind. I love thee mote than I shall love and look for Death, if he takes thee from me. But who dreams Of death and thee together!
Elissa I do oft: And as oft wish dreams would, for once, come true. The best of all things are dreams realised.
Festus Dreams such as gods may dream thy soul possess For ever in the Hadeän Eden⁠—Death: But bless thy lover with reality! Then, thou shalt live for ever, and with me. I have gone round the compass of all life, And can find nought worthy of thee. I but feel, That were I⁠—as I ought to be⁠—a god, I would just sacrifice the sun to thee, In bright and burning honour of thy love. Miracles are not miracles with gods.
Elissa Dearer thou canst not be to me, unless I die in telling how dear.
Festus My Elissa! I⁠—I am bewildered: open but thine arms! And make me happy and all wise of thee. My soul is stung with thy beauty to the quick. Oh! but thou art too good, or else too bad: Be colder or be warmer!
Elissa Leave me!
Festus Well; It is most cruel⁠—first, to light the heart With love completely⁠—boundlessly; and then Moonlike, slowly to edge aside, and leave One only little line of all so bright, Once⁠—teach and unteach⁠—nay, to use more arts Than would outdo the devil of his throne, To make us ignorant of all we know:⁠— To take the heart to pieces carefully⁠— For it is love alone can build the heart⁠— To root the tree up neath whose shade we have lived, And give us back a sliver. Let it die!
Elissa Hark! he is coming.
Festus No! He cannot come; For I have driven an oath into his heart, And I have hung a curse about his neck Might sink the prince of air into the centre.
Elissa All I have done, I have done to save ourselves.
Festus Then let us perish! But unless we sin We cannot perish. Have! Have! cries a voice, As of a crowd, within me. I would do aught To throw this dark desire which wrestles with me. It answers not to hold it at arms-length: It must be hurled, dashed, trampled down.⁠—I can’t. Lady! how long am I to love thee thus? Never did angel love its Heaven⁠—nor God Man, as I thee.
Elissa I feared how it would end. Can nothing less than sinning sate the soul? Can nothing but perdition serve to nest Our hearts, after so sweet a flight of love?
Festus The might and truth of hearts is never shown But in loving those whom we ought not to love⁠— Or cannot have. The wrong, the suffering is Its own reward.
Elissa Let me not wrong thee, Festus. Let me not think I have thought too well of thee. Be as thou wast. What will become of us?
Festus Be mine! be me! be aught but so far from me! Give me thyself! It is not enough for me, That I have gazed and doted on thee till Mine eye is dazzled and my brain is dizzied: Thou must exhaust all senses; not enough That in long dreams my soul hath spread itself Like water over every living line Of this sweet make, dreaming thou wast all lips; Nor that it now sinks in the face of thee, Like a sea-sunset, hot and tired with the long, Long day of love;⁠—it is not enough. I must Have more⁠—have all! For I have sworn to fill Mine arms with bliss⁠—thus⁠—thus⁠—thus!
Elissa Festus!