LOVE

Put forth thine hand, feel the dew on the daisies!

KING PHARAMOND

So their freshness I felt in the days ere hope perished.

--O me, me, my darling! how fair the world groweth!

Ah, shall I not find thee, if death yet should linger, Else why grow I so glad now when life seems departing?

What pleasure thus pierceth my heart unto fainting?

--O me, into words now thy melody pa.s.seth.

MUSIC _with singing (from without)_

_Dawn talks to-day Over dew-gleaming flowers, Night flies away Till the resting of hours: Fresh are thy feet And with dreams thine eyes glistening.

Thy still lips are sweet Though the world is a-listening.

O Love, set a word in my mouth for our meeting, Cast thine arms round about me to stay my heart's beating!

O fresh day, O fair day, O long day made ours_!

LOVE

What wilt thou say now of the gifts Love hath given?

KING PHARAMOND

Stay thy whispering, O wind of the morning--she speaketh.

THE MUSIC (_coming nearer_)

_Morn shall meet noon While the flower-stems yet move, Though the wind dieth soon And the clouds fade above.

Loved lips are thine As I tremble and hearken; Bright thine eyes s.h.i.+ne, Though the leaves thy brow darken.

O Love, kiss me into silence, lest no word avail me, Stay my head with thy bosom lest breath and life fail me!

O sweet day, O rich day, made long for our love_!

LOVE

Was Love then a liar who fas.h.i.+oned thy dreaming?

KING PHARAMOND

O fair-blossomed tree, stay thy rustling--I hearken.

THE MUSIC (_coming nearer_)

_Late day shall greet eve, And the full blossoms shake, For the wind will not leave The tall trees while they wake.

Eyes soft with bliss, Come nigher and nigher!

Sweet mouth I kiss, Tell me all thy desire!

Let us speak, love, together some words of our story, That our lips as they part may remember the glory!

O soft day, O calm day, made clear for our sake_!

LOVE

What wouldst thou, Pharamond? why art thou fainting?

KING PHARAMOND

And thou diest, fair daylight, now she draweth near me!

THE MUSIC (_close outside_)

_Eve shall kiss night, And the leaves stir like rain As the wind stealeth light O'er the gra.s.s of the plain.

Unseen are thine eyes Mid the dreamy night's sleeping, And on my mouth there lies The dear rain of thy weeping.

Hold, silence, love, speak not of the sweet day departed, Cling close to me, love, lest I waken sad-hearted!

O kind day, O dear day, short day, come again_!

LOVE

Sleep then, O Pharamond, till her kiss shall awake thee, For, lo, here comes the sun o'er the tops of the mountains, And she with his light in her hair comes before him, As solemn and fair as the dawn of the May-tide On some isle of mid-ocean when all winds are sleeping.

O worthy is she of this hour that awaits her, And the death of all doubt, and beginning of gladness Her great heart shall embrace without fear or amazement.

--He sleeps, yet his heart's beating measures her footfalls; And her heart beateth too, as her feet bear her onward: Breathe gently between them, O breeze of the morning!

Wind round them unthought of, sweet scent of the blossoms!

Treasure up every minute of this tide of their meeting, O flower-bedecked Earth! with such tales of my triumph Is your life still renewed, and spring comes back for ever From that forge of all glory that brought forth my blessing.

O welcome, Love's darling: Shall this day ever darken, Whose dawn I have dight for thy longing triumphant?

[_Exit LOVE. Enter AZALAIS._

AZALAIS

A song in my mouth, then? my heart full of gladness?

My feet firm on the earth, as when youth was beginning?

And the rest of my early days come back to bless me?-- Who hath brought me these gifts in the midst of the May-tide?

What!--three days agone to the city I wandered, And watched the s.h.i.+ps warped to the Quay of the Merchants; And wondered why folk should be busy and anxious; For bitter my heart was, and life seemed a-waning, With no story told, with sweet longing turned torment, Love turned to abas.e.m.e.nt, and rest gone for ever.

And last night I awoke with a pain piercing through me, And a cry in my ears, and Death pa.s.sed on before, As one pointing the way, and I rose up sore trembling, And by cloud and by night went before the sun's coming, As one goeth to death,--and lo here the dawning!

And a dawning therewith of a dear joy I know not.

I have given back the day the glad greeting it gave me; And the gladness it gave me, that too would I give Were hands held out to crave it----Fair valley, I greet thee, And the new-wakened voices of all things familiar.

--Behold, how the mist-bow lies bright on the mountain, Bidding hope as of old since no prison endureth.

Full busy has May been these days I have missed her, And the milkwort is blooming, and blue falls the speedwell.

--Lo, here have been footsteps in the first of the morning, Since the moon sank all red in the mist now departed.