Yeats's Poems [continued]</table> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../../../../../stylesheet/stylesheet.css"> <meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="THE SHADOWY WATERS: A DRAMATIC POEM : [Dedication to Lady Gregory] I walked among the seven woods of Coole: /Shan-walla, where a willow-bordered pond /Gathers the wild duck from the winter dawn; /Shady Kyle-dortha; ... "> </head> <body margin="5" marginwidth="5" marginheight="5" topmargin="5" bottommargin="0" leftmargin="0" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" onLoad=""> <table class="Normal" width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" align="center"> <tr valign="top"> <td colspan="3"> <p class="Heading1"><a name="TOContents"></a>Yeats's Poems [continued]</p> <p><B><span class="Normal"><span class="Bolditalic">THE SHADOWY WATERS: A DRAMATIC POEM </span><BR> <BR> </span></B><span class="Normal">[Dedication to Lady Gregory] <BR> <BR> <I> I walked among the seven woods of Coole: <BR> Shan-walla, where a willow-bordered pond <BR> Gathers the wild duck from the winter dawn; <BR> Shady Kyle-dortha; sunnier Kyle-na-no, <BR> Where many hundred squirrels are as happy <BR> As though they had been hidden by green boughs <BR> Where old age cannot find them; Paire-na-lee, <BR> Where hazel and ash and privet blind the paths: <BR> Dim Pairc-na-carraig, where the wild bees fling <BR> Their sudden fragrances on the green air; <BR> Dim Pairc-na-tarav, where enchanted eyes <BR> Have seen immortal, mild, proud shadows walk; <BR> Dim Inchy wood, that hides badger and fox <BR> And marten-cat, and borders that old wood <BR> Wise Buddy Early called the wicked wood: <BR> Seven odours, seven murmurs, seven woods. <BR> I had not eyes like those enchanted eyes, <BR> Yet dreamed that beings happier than men <BR> Moved round me in the shadows, and at night <BR> My dreams were clown by voices and by fires; <BR> And the images I have woven in this story <BR> Of Forgael and Dectora and the empty waters <BR> Moved round me in the voices and the fires, <BR> And more I may not write of, for they that cleave <BR> The waters of sleep can make a chattering tongue <BR> Heavy like stone, their wisdom being half silence. <BR> How shall I name you, immortal, mild, proud shadows? <BR> I only know that all we know comes from you, <BR> And that you come from Eden on flying feet. <BR> Is Eden far away, or do you hide <BR> From human thought, as hares and mice and coneys <BR> That run before the reaping-hook and lie <BR> In the last ridge of the barley? Do our woods<BR> And winds and ponds cover more quiet woods, <BR> More shining winds, more star-glimmering ponds? <BR> Is Eden out of time and out of space? <BR> And do you gather about us when pale light <BR> Shining on water and fallen among leaves, <BR> And winds blowing from flowers, and whirr of feathers <BR> And the green quiet, have uplifted the heart? <BR> <BR> I have made this poem for you, that men may read it <BR> Before they read of Forgael and Dectora, <BR> As men in the old times, before the harps began, <BR> Poured out wine for the high invisible ones.<BR> </I>1900 <BR> <BR> <I>The deck of an ancient ship. At the right of the stage is the mast,<br> with a large square sail hiding a great deal of the sky and sea on that <br> side. The tiller is at the left of the stage; it is a long oar coming <br> through an opening in the bulwark. The deck rises in a series of <br> steps behind the tiller, and the stern of the ship curves overhead. <br> When the play opens there are four persons upon the deck. Aibric <br> stands by the tiller. Forgael sleeps upon the raised portion of the <br> deck towards the front of the stage. Two Sailors are standing near <br> to the mast, on which a harp is hanging. <BR> <BR> First Sailor</I>. Has he not led us into these waste seas <BR> For long enough? <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor</I>. Aye, long and long enough. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor</I>. We have not come upon a shore or ship <BR> These dozen weeks. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> And I had thought to make <BR> A good round Sum upon this cruise, and turn - <BR> For I am getting on in life - to something <BR> That has less ups and downs than robbery. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> I am so tired of being bachelor <BR> I could give all my heart to that Red Moll <BR> That had but the one eye. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> Can no bewitchment <BR> Transform these rascal billows into women <BR> That I may drown myself? <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> Better steer home, <BR> Whether he will or no; and better still <BR> To take him while he sleeps and carry him <BR> And drop him from the gunnel. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> I dare not do it. <BR> Weren't not that there is magic in his harp, <BR> I would be of your mind; but when he plays it <BR> Strange creatures flutter up before one's eyes, <BR> Or cry about one's ears. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> Nothing to fear. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> Do you remember when we sank that galley <BR> At the full moon? <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> He played all through the night. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> Until the moon had set; and when I looked <BR> Where the dead drifted, I could see a bird <BR> Like a grey gull upon the breast of each. <BR> While I was looking they rose hurriedly, <BR> And after circling with strange cries awhile <BR> Flew westward; and many a time since then <BR> I've heard a rustling overhead in the wind. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> I saw them on that night as well as you. <BR> But when I had eaten and drunk myself asleep <BR> My courage came again. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> But that's not all. <BR> The other night, while he was playing it, <BR> A beautiful young man and girl came up <BR> In a white breaking wave; they had the look<BR> Of those that are alive for ever and ever. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> I saw them, too, one night. Forgael was playing, <BR> And they were listening there beyond the sail. <BR> He could not see them, but I held out my hands <BR> To grasp the woman. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> You have dared to touch her? <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> O she was but a shadow, and slipped from me. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> But were you not afraid? <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> Why should I fear? <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> 'Twas Aengus and Edain, the wandering lovers, <BR> To whom all lovers pray. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> But what of that? <BR> A shadow does not carry sword or spear. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> My mother told me that there is not one <BR> Of the Ever-living half so dangerous <BR> As that wild Aengus. Long before her day <BR> He carried Edain off from a king's house, <BR> And hid her among fruits of jewel-stone <BR> And in a tower of glass, and from that day <BR> Has hated every man that's not in love, <BR> And has been dangerous to him. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> I have heard <BR> He does not hate seafarers as he hates<BR> Peaceable men that shut the wind away,<BR> And keep to the one weary marriage-bed. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> I think that he has Forgael in his net, <BR> And drags him through the sea, <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> Well, net or none, <BR> I'd drown him while we have the chance to do it. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> It's certain I'd sleep easier o' nights <BR> If he were dead; but who will be our captain, <BR> Judge of the stars, and find a course for us? <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> I've thought of that. We must have Aibric with us, <BR> For he can judge the stars as well as Forgael. <BR> <I> [Going towards Aibric.]</I> <BR> Become our captain, Aibric. I am resolved <BR> To make an end of Forgael while he sleeps. <BR> There's not a man but will be glad of it <BR> When it is over, nor one to grumble at us. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> You have taken pay and made your bargain for it. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> What good is there in this hard way of living, <BR> Unless we drain more flagons in a year <BR> And kiss more lips than lasting peaceable men <BR> In their long lives? Will you be of our troop <BR> And take the captain's share of everything <BR> And bring us into populous seas again? <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Be of your troop! Aibric be one of you <BR> And Forgael in the other scale! kill Forgael, <BR> And he my master from my childhood up! <BR> If you will draw that sword out of its scabbard <BR> I'll give my answer. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> You have awakened him. <BR> <I> [To Second Sailor.]<BR> </I>We'd better go, for we have lost this chance. <BR> <I> [They go out.]<BR> <BR> Forgael.</I> Have the birds passed us? I could hear your voice,<BR> But there were others. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> I have seen nothing pass. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> You're certain of it? I never wake from sleep <BR> But that I am afraid they may have passed, <BR> For they're my only pilots. If I lost them <BR> Straying too far into the north or south, <BR> I'd never come upon the happiness <BR> That has been promised me. I have not seen them <BR> These many days; and yet there must be many <BR> Dying at every moment in the world, <BR> And flying towards their peace. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Put by these thoughts,<BR> And listen to me for a while. The sailors <BR> Are plotting for your death. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Have I not given <BR> More riches than they ever hoped to find? <BR> And now they will not follow, while I seek <BR> The only riches that have hit my fancy. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> What riches can you find in this waste sea <BR> Where no ship sails, where nothing that's alive <BR> Has ever come but those man-headed birds, <BR> Knowing it for the world's end? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Where the world ends <BR> The mind is made unchanging, for it finds <BR> Miracle, ecstasy, the impossible hope, <BR> The flagstone under all, the fire of fires, <BR> The roots of the world. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Shadows before now <BR> Have driven travellers mad for their own sport. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Do you, too, doubt me? Have you joined their plot? <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> No, no, do not say that. You know right well <BR> That I will never lift a hand against you. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Why should you be more faithful than the rest, <BR> Being as doubtful? <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> I have called you master <BR> Too many years to lift a hand against you. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Maybe it is but natural to doubt me. <BR> You've never known, I'd lay a wager on it, <BR> A melancholy that a cup of wine, <BR> A lucky battle, or a woman's kiss <BR> Could not amend. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> I have good spirits enough. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> If you will give me all your mind awhile - <BR> All, all, the very bottom of the bowl - <BR> I'll show you that I am made differently, <BR> That nothing can amend it but these waters, <BR> Where I am rid of life - the events of the world - <BR> What do you call it? - that old promise-breaker,<BR> The cozening fortune-teller that comes whispering, <BR> "You will have all you have wished for when you have earned <BR> Land for your children or money in a pot." <BR> And when we have it we are no happier, <BR> Because of that old draught under the door, <BR> Or creaky shoes. And at the end of all <BR> How are we better off than Seaghan the fool, <BR> That never did a hand's turn? Aibric! Aibric! <BR> We have fallen in the dreams the Ever-living <BR> Breathe on the burnished mirror of the world <BR> And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh,<BR> And find their laughter sweeter to the taste <BR> For that brief sighing. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> If you had loved some woman - <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> You say that also? You have heard the voices, <BR> For that is what they say - all, all the shadows - <BR> Aengus and Edain, those passionate wanderers, <BR> And all the others; but it must be love <BR> As they have known it. Now the secret's out; <BR> For it is love that I am seeking for, <BR> But of a beautiful, unheard-of kind <BR> That is not in the world. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> And yet the world <BR> as beautiful women to please every man. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> But he that gets their love after the fashion <BR> "Loves in brief longing and deceiving hope <BR> And bodily tenderness, and finds that even <BR> The bed of love, that in the imagination <BR> Had seemed to be the giver of all peace, <BR> Is no more than a wine-cup in the tasting, <BR> And as soon finished. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> All that ever loved <BR> Have loved that way - there is no other way. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Yet never have two lovers kissed but they <BR> Believed there was some other near at hand, <BR> And almost wept because they could not find it. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> When they have twenty years; in middle life <BR> They take a kiss for what a kiss is worth, <BR> And let the dream go by. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> It's not a dream, <BR> But the reality that makes our passion <BR> As a lamp shadow - no - no lamp, the sun. <BR> What the world's million lips are thirsting for <BR> Must be substantial somewhere. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> I have heard the Druids <BR> Mutter such things as they awake from trance. <BR> It may be that the Ever-living know it -<BR> No mortal can. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Yes; if they give us help. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> They are besotting you as they besot <BR> The crazy herdsman that will tell his fellows <BR> That he has been all night upon the hills, <BR> Riding to hurley, or in the battle-host <BR> With the Ever-living. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> What if he speak the truth, <BR> And for a dozen hours have been a part <BR> Of that more powerful life? <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric</I>. His wife knows better. <BR> Has she not seen him lying like a log, <BR> Or fumbling in a dream about the house? <BR> And if she hear him mutter of wild riders, <BR> She knows that it was but the cart-horse coughing <BR> That set him to the fancy. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> All would be well <BR> Could we but give us wholly to the dreams, <BR> And get into their world that to the sense <BR> Is shadow, and not linger wretchedly <BR> Among substantial things; for it is dreams <BR> That lift us to the flowing, changing world <BR> That the heart longs for. What is love itself, <BR> Even though it be the lightest of light love, <BR> But dreams that hurry from beyond the world <BR> To make low laughter more than meat and drink, <BR> Though it but set us sighing? Fellow-wanderer, <BR> Could we but mix ourselves into a dream, <BR> Not in its image on the mirror! <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> While <BR> We're in the body that's impossible. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> And yet I cannot think they're leading me <BR> To death; for they that promised to me love <BR> As those that can outlive the moon have known it', <BR> Had the world's total life gathered up, it seemed, <BR> Into their shining limbs - I've had great teachers.<BR> Aengus and Edain ran up out of the wave - <BR> You'd never doubt that it was life they promised <BR> Had you looked on them face to face as I did, <BR> With so red lips, and running on such feet, <BR> And having such wide-open, shining eyes. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> It's certain they are leading you to death. <BR> None but the dead, or those that never lived, <BR> Can know that ecstasy. Forgael! Forgael! <BR> They have made you follow the man-headed birds, <BR> And you have told me that their journey lies <BR> Towards the country of the dead. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> What matter <BR> If I am going to my death? - for there, <BR> Or somewhere, I shall find the love they have promised. <BR> That much is certain. I shall find a woman. <BR> One of the Ever-living, as I think - <BR> One of the Laughing People - and she and I <BR> Shall light upon a place in the world's core, <BR> Where passion grows to be a changeless thing, <BR> Like charmed apples made of chrysoprase, <BR> Or chrysoberyl, or beryl, or chrysolite; <BR> And there, in juggleries of sight and sense,<BR> Become one movement, energy, delight, <BR> Until the overburthened moon is dead. <BR> <I> [A number of Sailors enter hurriedly.]<BR> <BR> First Sailor.</I> Look there! there in the mist! a ship of spice! <BR> And we are almost on her! <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> We had not known <BR> But for the ambergris and sandalwood. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> No; but opoponax and cinnamon. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael [taking the tiller from Aibric]</I>. The Ever-living have <BR> kept my bargain for me, <BR> And paid you on the nail. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric. </I> Take up that rope <BR> To make her fast while we are plundering her. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> There is a king and queen upon her deck, <BR> And where there is one woman there'll be others. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Speak lower, or they'll hear. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> They cannot hear; <BR> They are too busy with each other. Look! <BR> He has stooped down and kissed her on the lips. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> When she finds out we have better men aboard <BR> She may not be too sorry in the end. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> She will be like a wild cat; for these queens <BR> Care more about the kegs of silver and gold <BR> And the high fame that come to them in marriage, <BR> Than a strong body and a ready hand. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> There's nobody is natural but a robber, <BR> And that is why the world totters about <BR> Upon its bandy legs. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Run at them now, <BR> And overpower the crew while yet asleep! <BR> <I> [The Sailors go out.]</I> <BR> <BR> <I>[Voices and the clashing of swords are heard from the other ship, <br> which cannot be seen because of the sail.] <BR> A Voice</I>. Armed men have come upon us! O I am slain! <BR> <BR> <I>Another Voice.</I> Wake all below!<BR> <BR> <I>Another Voice.</I> Why have you broken our sleep? <BR> <BR> <I>First Voice</I>. Armed men have come upon us! O I am <BR> slain! <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael [who has remained at the tiller]</I>. There! there they <BR> come! Gull, gannet, or diver, <BR> But with a man's head, or a fair woman's, <BR> They hover over the masthead awhile <BR> To wait their Fiends; but when their friends have come <BR> They'll fly upon that secret way of theirs. <BR> One - and one - a couple - five together; <BR> And I will hear them talking in a minute.<BR> Yes, voices! but I do not catch the words. <BR> Now I can hear. There's one of them that says, <BR> "How light we are, now we are changed to birds!" <BR> Another answers, "Maybe we shall find <BR> Our heart's desire now that we are so light." <BR> And then one asks another how he died, <BR> And says, "A sword-blade pierced me in my sleep." <BR> And now they all wheel suddenly and fly <BR> To the other side, and higher in the air. <BR> And now a laggard with a woman's head <BR> Comes crying, "I have run upon the sword. <BR> I have fled to my beloved in the air,<BR> In the waste of the high air, that we may wander <BR> Among the windy meadows of the dawn.' <BR> But why are they still waiting? why are they <BR> Circling and circling over the masthead? <BR> What power that is more mighty than desire <BR> To hurry to their hidden happiness <BR> Withholds them now? Have the Ever-living Ones <BR> A meaning in that circling overhead? <BR> But what's the meaning? <I>[He cries out.]</I> Why do you linger <BR> there? <BR> Why linger? Run to your desire, <BR> Are you not happy winged bodies now? <I>[His voice sinks again.] <BR> </I>Being too busy in the air and the high air, <BR> They cannot hear my voice; but what's the meaning? <BR> <I> [The Sailors have returned. Dectora is with them.] <BR> <BR> Forgael [turning and seeing her]</I>. Why are you standing with <BR> your eyes upon me? <BR> You are not the world's core. O no, no, no! <BR> That cannot be the meaning of the birds. <BR> You are not its core. My teeth are in the world, <BR> But have not bitten yet. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I am a queen, <BR> And ask for satisfaction upon these <BR> Who have slain my husband and laid hands upon me.<BR> <I> [Breaking loose from the Sailors who are holding her.]<BR> </I>Let go my hands! <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Why do you cast a shadow? <BR> Where do you come from? Who brought you to this place? <BR> They would not send me one that casts a shadow. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Would that the storm that overthrew my ships, <BR> And drowned the treasures of nine conquered nations, <BR> And blew me hither to my lasting sorrow, <BR> Had drowned me also. But, being yet alive, <BR> I ask a fitting punishment for all <BR> That raised their hands against him. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> There are some <BR> That weigh and measure all in these waste seas - <BR> They that have all the wisdom that's in life, <BR> And all that prophesying images <BR> Made of dim gold rave out in secret tombs; <BR> They have it that the plans of kings and queens <BR> But laughter and tears - laughter, laughter, and tears; <BR> That every man should carry his own soul <BR> Upon his shoulders. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> You've nothing but wild words, <BR> And I would know if you will give me vengeance. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> When she finds out I will not let her go - <BR> When she knows that. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> What is it that you are muttering - <BR> That you'll not let me go? I am a queen. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Although you are more beautiful than any, <BR> I almost long that it were possible; <BR> But if I were to put you on that ship, <BR> With sailors that were sworn to do your will, <BR> And you had spread a sail for home, a wind <BR> Would rise of a sudden, or a wave so huge <BR> It had washed among the stars and put them out, <BR> And beat the bulwark of your ship on mine, <BR> Until you stood before me on the deck -<BR> As now. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Does wandering in these desolate seas <BR> And listening to the cry of wind and wave <BR> Bring madness? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Queen, I am not mad. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Yet say <BR> That unimaginable storms of wind and wave <BR> Would rise against me. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> No, I am not mad - <BR> If it be not that hearing messages <BR> From lasting watchers, that outlive the moon, <BR> At the most quiet midnight is to be stricken. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> And did those watchers bid you take me captive? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Both you and I are taken in the net. <BR> It was their hands that plucked the winds awake <BR> And blew you hither; and their mouths have promised <BR> I shall have love in their immortal fashion; <BR> And for this end they gave me my old harp <BR> That is more mighty than the sun and moon, <BR> Or than the shivering casting-net of the stars, <BR> That none might take you from me. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora [first trembling back from the mast where the harp is, and then laughing]. <BR> </I> For a moment <BR> Your raving of a message and a harp <BR> More mighty than the stars half troubled me, <BR> But all that's raving. Who is there can compel <BR> The daughter and the granddaughter of kings <BR> To be his bedfellow? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Until your lips <BR> Have called me their beloved, I'll not kiss them. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> My husband and my king died at my feet, <BR> And yet you talk of love. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> The movement of time <BR> Is shaken in these seas, and what one does<BR> One moment has no might upon the moment <BR> That follows after. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I understand you now. <BR> You have a Druid craft of wicked sound <BR> Wrung from the cold women of the sea - <BR> A magic that can call a demon up, <BR> Until my body give you kiss for kiss. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Your soul shall give the kiss. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I am not afraid, <BR> While there's a rope to run into a noose <BR> Or wave to drown. But I have done with words, <BR> And I would have you look into my face<BR> And know that it is fearless. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Do what you will, <BR> For neither I nor you can break a mesh <BR> Of the great golden net that is about us. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> There's nothing in the world that's worth a fear. <BR> <I>[She passes Forgael and stands for a moment looking into his face.] <BR> </I>I have good reason for that thought. <BR> <I> [She runs suddenly on to the raised part of the poop.]<BR> </I>And now<BR> I can put fear away as a queen should. <BR> <I> [She mounts on to the bulwark and turns towards Forgael.] <BR> </I>Fool, fool! Although you have looked into my face <BR> You do not see my purpose. I shall have gone <BR> Before a hand can touch me. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael [folding his arms]</I>. My hands are still; <BR> The Ever-living hold us. Do what you will, <BR> You cannot leap out of the golden net. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> No need to drown, for, if you will pardon us <BR> And measure out a course and bring us home,<BR> We'll put this man to death. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I promise it. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor. </I> There is none to take his side. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> I am on his side, <BR> I'll strike a blow for him to give him time <BR> To cast his dreams away. <BR> <I>[Aibric goes in front of Forgael with drawn sword. Forgael takes the harp.] <BR> <BR> First Sailor.</I> No other'll do it. <BR> <I>[The Sailors throw Aibric on one side. He falls and lies upon the deck. <br> They lift their swords to strike Forgael, who is about to play the harp. <br> The stage begins to darken. The Sailors hesitate in fear. <BR> <BR> Second Sailor</I>. He has put a sudden darkness over the moon. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Nine swords with handles of rhinoceros horn <BR> To him that strikes him first! <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> I will strike him first. <BR> <I>[He goes close up to Forgael with his sword lifted. <BR> Shrinking back.] </I>He has caught the crescent moon out <BR> of the sky, <BR> And carries it between us. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> Holy fire <BR> To burn us to the marrow if we strike. <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I'll give a golden galley full of fruit, <BR> That has the heady flavour of new wine, <BR> To him that wounds him to the death. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> I'll do it. <BR> For all his spells will vanish when he dies, <BR> Having their life in him. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> Though it be the moon <BR> That he is holding up between us there, <BR> I will strike at him. <BR> <BR> <I>The Others</I>. And I! And I! And I! <BR> <I> [Forgael plays the harp.]<BR> <BR> First Sailor [falling into a dream suddenly.]</I> But you were <BR> saying there is somebody <BR> Upon that other ship we are to wake. <BR> You did not know what brought him to his end, <BR> But it was sudden. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> You are in the right; <BR> I had forgotten that we must go wake him. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> He has flung a Druid spell upon the air, <BR> And set you dreaming. <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> How can we have a wake <BR> When we have neither brown nor yellow ale? <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> I saw a flagon of brown ale aboard her. <BR> <BR> <I>Third Sailor.</I> How can we raise the keen that do not know <BR> What name to call him by? <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> Come to his ship. <BR> His name will come into our thoughts in a minute. <BR> I know that he died a thousand years ago, <BR> And has not yet been waked. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor [beginning to keen]</I>. Ohone! O! O! O! <BR> The yew-bough has been broken into two, <BR> And all the birds are scattered. <BR> <BR> <I>All the Sailors</I>. O! O! O! O! <BR> <I> [They go out keening.] <BR> <BR> Dectora.</I> Protect me now, gods that my people swear by.<BR> <I>[Aibric has risen from the deck where he had fallen. He has <br> begun looking for his sword as if in a dream.] <BR> <BR> Aibric.</I> Where is my sword that fell out of my hand <BR> When I first heard the news? Ah, there it is! <BR> <I>[He goes dreamily towards the sword, but Dectora runs at it<br> and takes it up before he can reach it.] <BR> <BR> Aibric [sleepily]</I>. Queen, give it me. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> No, I have need of it. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Why do you need a sword? But you may keep it. <BR> Now that he's dead I have no need of it, <BR> For everything is gone. <BR> <BR> <I>A Sailor [calling from the other ship]. </I>Come hither, Aibric, <BR> And tell me who it is that we are waking. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric [half to Dectora, half to himself]</I>. What name had that <BR> dead king? Arthur of Britain? <BR> No, no - not Arthur. I remember now. <BR> It was golden-armed Iollan, and he died <BR> Broken-hearted, having lost his queen <BR> Through wicked spells. That is not all the tale, <BR> For he was killed. O! O! O! O! O! O! <BR> For golden-armed Iollan has been killed. <BR> <I> [He goes out.] <BR> <BR> [While he has been speaking, and through part of what follows, one <br> hears the wailing of the Sailors from the other ship. Dectora stands<br> with the sword lifted in front of Forgael.] <BR> <BR> Dectora.</I> I will end all your magic on the instant. <BR> <I>[Her voice becomes dreamy, and she lowers the sword slowly, <br> and finally lets it fall. She spreads out her hair. She takes off her<br> crown and lays it upon the deck.] <BR> </I>This sword is to lie beside him in the grave. <BR> It was in all his battles. I will spread my hair, <BR> And wring my hands, and wail him bitterly, <BR> For I have heard that he was proud and laughing, <BR> Blue-eyed, and a quick runner on bare feet, <BR> And that he died a thousand years ago.<BR> O; O! O! O! <BR> <I>[Forgael changes the tune.] <BR> </I> But no, that is not it. <BR> They killed him at my feet. O! O! O! O! <BR> For golden-armed Iollan that I loved- <BR> But what is it that made me say I loved him? <BR> It was that harper put it in my thoughts, <BR> But it is true. Why did they run upon him, <BR> And beat the golden helmet with their swords? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Do you not know me, lady? I am he <BR> That you are weeping for. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> No, for he is dead. <BR> O! O! O! O! for golden-armed Iollan. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> It was so given out, but I will prove <BR> That the grave-diggers in a dreamy frenzy <BR> Have buried nothing but my golden arms. <BR> Listen to that low-laughing string of the moon <BR> And you will recollect my face and voice, <BR> For you have listened to me playing it <BR> These thousand years. <BR> <I>[He starts up, listening to the birds. The harp slips from his<br> hands, and remains leaning against the bulwarks behind him.] <BR> </I> What are the birds at there? <BR> Why are they all a-flutter of a sudden? <BR> What are you calling out above the mast? <BR> If railing and reproach and mockery <BR> Because I have awakened her to love <BR> By magic strings, I'll make this answer to it: <BR> Being driven on by voices and by dreams <BR> That were clear messages from the Ever-living, <BR> I have done right. What could I but obey? <BR> And yet you make a clamour of reproach. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora [laughing]</I>. Why, it's a wonder out of reckoning <BR> That I should keen him from the full of the moon <BR> To the horn, and he be hale and hearty. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> How have I wronged her now that she is merry? <BR> But no, no, no! your cry is not against me. <BR> You know the counsels of the Ever-living, <BR> And all that tossing of your wings is joy, <BR> And all that murmuring's but a marriage-song; <BR> But if it be reproach, I answer this: <BR> There is not one among you that made love by any other means. You call it passion, <BR> Consideration, generosity; <BR> But it was all deceit, and flattery <BR> To win a woman in her own despite,<BR> For love is war, and there is hatred in it; <BR> And if you say that she came willingly - <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Why do you turn away and hide your face, <BR> That I would look upon for ever? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> My grief! <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Have I not loved you for a thousand years? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> I never have been golden-armed Iollan. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I do not understand. I know your face <BR> Better than my own hands. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> I have deceived you <BR> Out of all reckoning. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Is it not true<BR> That you were born a thousand years ago, <BR> In islands where the children of Aengus wind <BR> In happy dances under a windy moon, <BR> And that you'll bring me there? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> I have deceived you; <BR> I have deceived you utterly. <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> How can that be? <BR> Is it that though your eyes are full of love <BR> Some other woman has a claim on you, <BR> And I've but half! <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> O no! <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> And if there is,<BR> If there be half a hundred more, what matter? <BR> I'll never give another thought to it; <BR> No, no, nor half a thought; but do not speak. <BR> Women are hard and proud and stubborn-hearted, <BR> Their heads being turned with praise and flattery; <BR> And that is why their lovers are afraid <BR> To tell them a plain story. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> That's not the story; <BR> But I have done so great a wrong against you, <BR> There is no measure that it would not burst. <BR> I will confess it all.<BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> What do I care, <BR> Now that my body has begun to dream, <BR> And you have grown to be a burning sod <BR> In the imagination and intellect? <BR> If something that's most fabulous were true - <BR> If you had taken me by magic spells, <BR> And killed a lover or husband at my feet - <BR> I would not let you speak, for I would know <BR> That it was yesterday and not to-day <BR> I loved him; I would cover up my ears, <BR> As I am doing now. <I>[A pause.]</I> Why do you weep? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> I weep because I've nothing for your eyes<BR> But desolate waters and a battered ship. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> O why do you not lift your eyes to mine? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> I weep - I weep because bare night's above, <BR> And not a roof of ivory and gold. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I would grow jealous of the ivory roof, <BR> And strike the golden pillars with my hands. <BR> I would that there was nothing in the world <BR> But my beloved - that night and day had perished, <BR> And all that is and all that is to be, <BR> All that is not the meeting of our lips. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> You turn away. Why do you turn away? <BR> Am I to fear the waves, or is the moon <BR> My enemy? <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I looked upon the moon, <BR> Longing to knead and pull it into shape <BR> That I might lay it on your head as a crown. <BR> But now it is your thoughts that wander away, <BR> For you are looking at the sea. Do you not know <BR> How great a wrong it is to let one's thought <BR> Wander a moment when one is in love? <BR> <I>[He has moved away. She follows him. He is looking out over <br> the sea, shading his eyes.] <BR> </I>Why are you looking at the sea?<BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Look there! <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> What is there but a troop of ash-grey birds <BR> That fly into the west? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> But listen, listen! <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> What is there but the crying of the birds? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> If you'll but listen closely to that crying <BR> You'll hear them calling out to one another <BR> With human voices <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> O, I can hear them now. <BR> What are they? Unto what country do they fly? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> To unimaginable happiness. <BR> They have been circling over our heads in the air,<BR> But now that they have taken to the road <BR> We have to follow, for they are our pilots; <BR> And though they're but the colour of grey ash, <BR> They're crying out, could you but hear their words, <BR> "There is a country at the end of the world <BR> Where no child's born but to outlive the moon.' <BR> <I>[The Sailors come in with Aibric. They are in great excitement.] <BR> <BR> First Sailor.</I> The hold is full of treasure. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> Full to the hatches. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> Treasure on treasure. <BR> <BR> <I>Third Sailor.</I> Boxes of precious spice.<BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> Ivory images with amethyst eyes. <BR> <BR> <I>Third Sailor.</I> Dragons with eyes of ruby. <BR> <BR> <I>First Sailor.</I> The whole ship <BR> Flashes as if it were a net of herrings. <BR> <BR> <I>Third Sailor.</I> Let's home; I'd give some rubies to a woman. <BR> <BR> <I>Second Sailor.</I> There's somebody I'd give the amethyst eyes to. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric [silencing them with a gesture]</I>. We would return to <BR> our own country, Forgael, <BR> For we have found a treasure that's so great <BR> Imagination cannot reckon it.<BR> And having lit upon this woman there, <BR> What more have you to look for on the seas? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> I cannot - I am going on to the end. <BR> As for this woman, I think she is coming with me. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> The Ever-living have made you mad; but no, <BR> It was this woman in her woman's vengeance <BR> That drove you to it, and I fool enough <BR> To fancy that she'd bring you home again. <BR> 'Twas you that egged him to it, for you know <BR> That he is being driven to his death. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> That is not true, for he has promised me <BR> An unimaginable happiness.<BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> And if that happiness be more than dreams, <BR> More than the froth, the feather, the dust-whirl, <BR> The crazy nothing that I think it is, <BR> It shall be in the country of the dead, <BR> If there be such a country. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> No, not there, <BR> But in some island where the life of the world <BR> Leaps upward, as if all the streams o' the world <BR> Had run into one fountain. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Speak to him. <BR> He knows that he is taking you to death; <BR> Speak - he will not deny it. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Is that true? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> I do not know for certain, but I know. <BR> That I have the best of pilots. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Shadows, illusions, <BR> That the Shape-changers, the Ever-laughing Ones, <BR> The Immortal Mockers have cast into his mind, <BR> Or called before his eyes. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> O carry me <BR> To some sure country, some familiar place. <BR> Have we not everything that life can give <BR> In having one another? <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> How could I rest <BR> If I refused the messengers and pilots<BR> With all those sights and all that crying out? <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> But I will cover up your eyes and ear?, <BR> That you may never hear the cry of the birds, <BR> Or look upon them. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Were they but lowlier <BR> I'd do your will, but they are too high - too high. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> Being too high, their heady prophecies <BR> But harry us with hopes that come to nothing, <BR> Because we are not proud, imperishable, <BR> Alone and winged. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael.</I> Our love shall be like theirs <BR> When we have put their changeless image on.<BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> I am a woman, I die at every breath. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric.</I> Let the birds scatter, for the tree is broken, <BR> And there's no help in words. <I>[To the Sailors.]</I> To the other <BR> ship, <BR> And I will follow you and cut the rope <BR> When I have said farewell to this man here, <BR> For neither I nor any living man <BR> Will look upon his face again. <BR> <I> [The Sailors go out.]</I> <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael [to Dectora].</I> Go with him, <BR> For he will shelter you and bring you home. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric [taking Forgael's hand]</I>. I'll do it for his sake. <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> No. Take this sword <BR> And cut the rope, for I go on with Forgael. <BR> <BR> <I>Aibric [half falling into the keen]</I>. The yew-bough has been <BR> broken into two, <BR> And all the birds are scattered - O! O! O! <BR> Farewell! farewell! <I>[He goes out.]</I> <BR> <BR> <I>Dectora.</I> The sword is in the rope - <BR> The rope's in two - it falls into the sea, <BR> It whirls into the foam. O ancient worm, <BR> Dragon that loved the world and held us to it, <BR> You are broken, you are broken. The world drifts away, <BR> And I am left alone with my beloved, <BR> Who cannot put me from his sight for ever. <BR> We are alone for ever, and I laugh, <BR> Forgael, because you cannot put me from you. <BR> The mist has covered the heavens, and you and I <BR> Shall be alone for ever. We two - this crown - <BR> I half remember. It has been in my dreams. <BR> Bend lower, O king, that I may crown you with it. <BR> O flower of the branch, 0 bird among the leaves, <BR> O silver fish that my two hands have taken<BR> Out of the running stream, O morning star <BR> Trembling in the blue heavens like a white fawn <BR> Upon the misty border of the wood, <BR> Bend lower, that I may cover you with my hair, <BR> For we will gaze upon this world no longer. <BR> <BR> <I>Forgael [gathering Dectora's hair about him]</I>. Beloved, having <BR> dragged the net about us, <BR> And knitted mesh to mesh, we grow immortal; <BR> And that old harp awakens of itself <BR> To cry aloud to the grey birds, and dreams, <BR> That have had dreams for father, live in us. <BR> [1894-1905] 1906</span> <P> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" align="center"> <tr> <td width="33%"><a href="#TOContents">top</a></td> <td width="33%"> <p align="center"><a href="../index.htm"> </a></div> </td> <td width="33%"> <div align="right"><a href="../index.htm"> index</a></div> </td> </tr> </table> <P ALIGN="right" class="Normal"> </P> <P><BR> <hr width="90%" align="center" size="1"> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>