The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Illustrated Edition). Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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as my love.
Countess. Enjoy your fortune and felicity!
Forget the world around you. Meantime, friendship
Shall keep strict vigils for you, anxious, active. 65
Only be manageable when that friendship
Points you the road to full accomplishment.
How long may it be since you declared your passion?
Max. This morning did I hazard the first word.
Countess. This morning the first time in twenty days? 70
Max. ‘Twas at that hunting-castle, betwixt here
And Nepomuck, where you had joined us, and —
That was the last relay of the whole journey!
In a balcony we were standing mute,
And gazing out upon the dreary field: 75
Before us the dragoons were riding onward,
The safeguard which the Duke had sent us — heavy
The inquietude of parting lay upon me,
And trembling ventured I at length these words:
This all reminds me, noble maiden, that 80
To-day I must take leave of my good fortune.
A few hours more, and you will find a father,
Will see yourself surrounded by new friends,
And I henceforth shall be but as a stranger,
Lost in the many—’Speak with my aunt Tertsky!’ 85
With hurrying voice she interrupted me.
She faltered. I beheld a glowing red
Possess her beautiful cheeks, and from the ground
Raised slowly up her eye met mine — no longer
Did I control myself.
[The PRINCESS THEKLA appears at the door, and remains
standing, observed by the COUNTESS, but not by
PICCOLOMINI.
With instant boldness 90
I caught her in my arms, my mouth touched hers;
There was a rustling in the room close by;
It parted us—’Twas you. What since has happened,
You know.
Countess. And is it your excess of modesty;
Or are you so incurious, that you do not 95
Ask me too of my secret?
Max. Of your secret?
Countess. Why, yes! When in the instant after you
I stepped into the room, and found my niece there,
What she in this first moment of the heart
Ta’en with surprise —
Max. Well? 100
SCENE IV
THEKLA (hurries forward), COUNTESS, MAX PICCOLOMINI.
Thekla (to the Countess). Spare yourself the trouble:
That hears he better from myself.
Max. My Princess!
What have you let her hear me say, aunt Tertsky?
Thekla (to the Countess). Has he been here long?
Countess. Yes; and soon
must go.
Where have you stayed so long?
Thekla. Alas! my mother 5
Wept so again! and I — I see her suffer,
Yet cannot keep myself from being happy.
Max. Now once again I have courage to look on you.
To-day at noon I could not.
The dazzle of the jewels that play’d round you 10
Hid the beloved from me.
Thekla. Then you saw me
With your eye only — and not with your heart?
Max. This morning, when I found you in the circle
Of all your kindred, in your father’s arms,
Beheld myself an alien in this circle, 15
O! what an impulse felt I in that moment
To fall upon his neck, to call him father!
But his stern eye o’erpowered the swelling passion —
It dared not but be silent. And those brilliants,
That like a crown of stars enwreathed your brows, 20
They scared me too! O wherefore, wherefore should he
At the first meeting spread as ‘twere the ban
Of excommunication round you, wherefore
Dress up the angel as for sacrifice,
And cast upon the light and joyous heart 25
The mournful burthen of his station? Fitly
May love dare woo for love; but such a splendour
Might none but monarchs venture to approach.
Thekla. Hush! not a word more of this mummery.
You see how soon the burthen is thrown off. 30
[To the COUNTESS.
He is not in spirits. Wherefore is he not?
‘Tis you, aunt, that have made him all so gloomy!
He had quite another nature on the journey —
So calm, so bright, so joyous eloquent. [To MAX.
It was my wish to see you always so, 35
And never otherwise!
Max. You find yourself
In your great father’s arms, belovéd lady!
All in a new world, which does homage to you,
And which, wer’t only by its novelty,
Delights your eye.
Thekla. Yes; I confess to you 40
That many things delight me here: this camp,
This motley stage of warriors, which renews
So manifold the image of my fancy,
And binds to life, binds to reality,
What hitherto had but been present to me 45
As a sweet dream!
Max. Alas! not so to me.
It makes a dream of my reality.
Upon some island in the ethereal heights
I’ve lived for these last days. This mass of men
Forces me down to earth. It is a bridge 50
That, reconducting to my former life,
Divides me and my heaven.
Thekla. The game of life
Looks cheerful, when one carries in one’s heart
The inalienable treasure. ‘Tis a game,
Which having once reviewed, I turn more joyous 55
Back to my deeper and appropriate bliss.
In this short time that I’ve been present here,