Ashtaroth: A Dramatic Lyric Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJKLMMNDOOMJD MO P Q MQ G FR S FQSTUVUVWXYXZA2ZI DMB2MB2C2D2C2D2MMMM FE2F2E2F2G2H2 DG2H2I2J2I2J2 FK2 L2M2L2M2N2MSDSDO2MO2 M P2Q2P2Q2O2MO2M R2MR2MO2MO2M S2M2S2M2O2MO2M T2U2MT2U2MJMJV2WV2Y W2 X2 FMWMWANANY2Z2Y2Z2XA3 DXA3GL2B3L2T2LS2LE2C 3E2E2D3O2D3O2 FE2IE2IWE2W E2E2E2E2E2 FE2M2E2M2 DME2ME2 M F FB2MB2MME3ME3 DF3DF3G3MG3M ME2ME2DE2E3E2 S2H3DE3E3WE3W E3I3E3I3MMMM E2E2E2E2BMBM VMOMIYIY MJ3MJ3ME2ME2 DMDME2K3E2K3 DBDL3E3E2H3E2 DMDMDM3DM3 G3E2B3E2MMMM DMDME2E2E2E2 E2ME2MO2E2O2E2 IE2IE2BN3J3N3 B3O3GP3IE3IE3 MMMMMMMM E3ME3MMMMM ME2ME2J3E2J3E2 M E3 MMO2MO2E3DE3D MZ2MZ2IDID P3E2P3E2E3DE3D MMMME3DE3D J3E2J3E2E3DE3D P3ME2ME2 J3E2ME2MMMMMB3M2GM2 E2E2E2E2E2E3E2E3DE2D E2 P3E2Q3E2Q3E2E2E2E2J3 D DJ3J3J3 J3J3M DJ3MME2M2E2E2E2E2E2E 2 P3H3U2 J3H3U2 A2 ME2 DA2A2E2 ME2E2E2GB3E2E2E3E3E2 E2U2U2 E2J3 E2 DE2 E2DDP3P3 DE2 O2O2J3J3E2 E3E3E2 DE2E2E2 ME2 R3R3MMMMS3S3E2E2H3M H3E3 DE3E2 T3T3 ME2J3E2E2E2J3 MJ3MMMJ3 DJ3DDDJ3 E2J3E2E2E2J3 W2 E2 J3 U3M E2A2E2A2 ME2A2E2A2 MJ3E2J3E2 DE3J3E3J3 E3M E2DE2 E2J3E2M2E2M2 E2M P3DP3D E2T3 MDM E2 T3 E2E2E2O2 ME2O2 E2D E2ME2M E2E2M J3E3 E2ME2 J3E3DE3 E3D MJ3E2J3E2E2ME2M I E3 MDDD J3D ME2O2E2O2J3E2J3E2 J3J3 MDM J3D E3MO2J3 MO2E2T3E2T3 E3J3E2W2 J3E2 J3E2 MDE2DE3 E3E2O2 E3E2ME2E2E2E2E3ME3M DT3DT3E3ME3M J3DJ3DE3ME3M MMMME3ME3M M ME2T3E2T3 T3 E2 E3E3E3J3E3E3J3 ME2E2T3MMT3 E3E2E2E2DDE2MME3E2E2 E3E2E2J3E2E2J3 MMJ3MMJ3T3ME2E2E2E2 O2O2E2DDE2E2E2MDDM MMME2E2M ME2E2E3MME3MMME2E2MU 2U2E2E2E2E2E3E3MMMT3 MMMJ3J3M T3 E3 MMMMJ3E2E2E2J3E2E2E2 T3DDDT3E2E2E2MDDDMDD DDE2E2E2DE2E2 E3E2DMMMDE2E2E2J3W2W 2W2J3MMME2E2 MJ3J3J3E2DT3T3DJ3J3J 3D M D J3I3I3P3 P3P3DDDD P3MMO2O2DDE3E3GB3 ME2E2 MT3DT3D E2DE2D DE2DE2 E2M E2E2 P3E3E3 MD P3D D E3 MO2E2O2 E2 MDMDM P3E2ME2MDE2DE2 MJ3P3J3P3 P3DJ3D J3E2DM E2DM J3 DE3DE3J3E2J3E2 T3T3T3DDDDD J3DJ3T3DE2DE2 J3J3J3J3E3J3E3J3 D ME2M P3E3E3J3J3T3T3T3T3E2 E2J3J3 MMMJ3J3E2E2J3J3 E2MMDDT3T3DD DE2E2E3E3 J3V3V3E2 O2O2 E2MMDD ME2E2T3T3 P3DDW3W3 MX3X3MM DMMDDE2E2E2E2 M E2E2E2MJ3J3J3M E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2 MMME2MMME2 MMMMJ3J3J3M D E2 MME2ME2MP3MP3J3E2J3E 2DW3DW3 M MME2ME2E2DE2D MJ3E2J3E2MDMD MMDMD MME2ME2MY3MY3 MMY3MY3 D M MJ3DJ3DJ3H3J3H3MDMD J3MJ3MJ3O2J3O2 MJ3ME2B3MB3MMJ3MJ3 MW3MW3T3DT3DE2E2E2E2 J3J3J3J3T3E2T3E2J3J3 J3J3 J3DJ3DE2E2E2E2J3MJ3M ME2ME2E2E2J3E2J3DJ3D MMMM DW3DW3ME2ME2J3MJ3M J3 M DMT3MT3 MM E2E2E2E2 MM DT3M MT3 DT3O2T3O2G3W3MG MW3E2J3 DE2J3E2J3 ME2J3 J3 ME2 MMMME2 MMMMME2E2 ME2E2J3E2 J3W3W3E2 T3 DT3 ME2E2 DZ3Z3MMJ3J3J3 M E2 MMMM DME2E2E2E2E2 MMJ3MJ3 ME2E2W3MMW3 MMM MP3P3P3P3DP3DP3 MW3W3 DD MDM H3H3J3J3DDMMJ3J3 MMMW3W3 MMMMM DM J3J3 J3MJ3MJ3J3DJ3D J3E2E2E2E2MT3MT3 J3E2E2E2E2MMMM MMMMMMMMM MW3W3 DJ3J3ME2E2E2MMJ3J3P3 J3 MME2ME2J3O2J3O2 DM MMJ3J3 DO2O2J3 MMT3MT3J3E2J3E2 DD DDJ3 DJ3P3 MP3 DM E2M DMMJ3 MMDMDMJ3MJ3 DM MMMO2 MDM DMMJ3J3M MMMMMJ3J3J3E2 MMMMP3P3P3E2 P3P3P3MMMME2 MT3 MMM H3T3 M M MDX3DX3MJ3MJ3 J3E2J3MMMMM J3A4J3A4J3MJ3M MMME2MP3MP3 J3O2DJ3O2MMMM DJ3MJ3MJ3DJ3DMP3 MMP3 DMJ3 MMJ3 DJ3MJ3M MJ3DW3 J3D MT3D MT3D M MM MJ3J3DDJ3J3MMB3G3MMM MDDMMJ3J3MMDDJ3J3MMM MMMMM O2MME2MMMMMMM MMMMME2E2MM O2T3T3J3J3M MMMM DDDX3X3MMJ3J3DDW3W3 MMMMMDD O2J3J3MMMM M O2MMW3W3T3T3 MMMMMJ3J3 M M MMM DDDMMM MMMMMMMM MMMDDMM

Dramatis Personae	A
	-
	-
Hugo a Norman Baron and a Scholar	B
Eric a friend of Hugo's	C
Thurston	D
Eustace	E
Ralph Followers of Hugo	F
Henry a Page	G
Luke	H
Hubert Monks living in a Norman Chapel	I
Basil Abbot of a Convent on the Rhine	J
Cyril a Monk of the same Convent	K
Osric a Norwegian Adventurer and formerly a Corsair	L
Rudolph an Outlawed Count and the Captain of a Band of Robbers	M
Dagobert the Captain of some predatory Soldiers called Free Lances	M
Harold a Danish Knight	N
Orion	D
Thora	O
Agatha	O
Elspeth a Nurse of Thora's	M
Ursula Abbess of the Convent on the Rhine	J
Nuns etc Women	D
	-
Men at arms Soldiers and Robbers Monks Friars and Churchmen Spirits	M
etc	O
	-
Ashtaroth A Dramatic Lyric	P
	-
	-
SCENE A Castle in Normandy	Q
	-
A Study in a Tower Hugo seated at a table covered with maps and charts	M
of the heavens astronomical instruments books manuscripts c	Q
	-
	-
Enter Henry a Page	G
	-
Hugo	F
Well boy what is it	R
	-
Henry The feast is spread	S
	-
Hugo	F
Why tarry the guests for me	Q
Let Eric sit at the table's head	S
Alone I desire to be Henry goes out	T
What share have I at their festive board	U
Their mirth I can only mar	V
To me no pleasure their cups afford	U
Their songs on my silence jar	V
With an aching eye and a throbbing brain	W
And yet with a hopeful heart	X
I must toil and strain with the planets again	Y
When the rays of the sun depart	X
He who must needs with the topers tope	Z
And the feasters feast in the hall	A2
How can he hope with a matter to cope	Z
That is immaterial	I
	-
Orion	D
He who his appetite stints and curbs	M
Shut up in the northern wing	B2
With his rye bread flavoured with bitter herbs	M
And his draught from the tasteless spring	B2
Good sooth he is but a sorry clown	C2
There are some good things upon earth	D2
Pleasure and power and fair renown	C2
And wisdom of worldly worth	D2
There is wisdom in follies that charm the sense	M
In follies that light the eyes	M
But the folly to wisdom that makes pretence	M
Is alone by the fool termed wise	M
	-
Hugo	F
Thy speech Orion is somewhat rude	E2
Perchance having jeer'd and scoff'd	F2
To thy fill thou wilt curb thy jeering mood	E2
I wot thou hast served me oft	F2
This plan of the skies seems fairly traced	G2
What errors canst thou detect	H2
	-
Orion	D
Nay the constellations are misplaced	G2
And the satellites incorrect	H2
Leave the plan to me you have time to seek	I2
An hour of needful rest	J2
The night is young and the planets are weak	I2
See the sun still reddens the west	J2
	-
Hugo	F
I fear I shall sleep too long	K2
	-
Orion If you do	L2
It matters not much the sky	M2
Is cloudy the stars will be faint and few	L2
Now list to my lullaby	M2
Hugo reclines on a couch	N2
Sings	M
Still the darkling skies are red	S
Though the day god's course is run	D
Heavenly night lamps overhead	S
Flash and twinkle one by one	D
Idle dreamer earth born elf	O2
Vainly grasping heavenly things	M
Wherefore weariest thou thyself	O2
With thy vain imaginings	M
	-
From the tree of knowledge first	P2
Since his parents pluck'd the fruit	Q2
Man with partial knowledge curs'd	P2
Of the tree still seeks the root	Q2
Musty volumes crowd thy shelf	O2
Which of these true knowledge brings	M
Wherefore weariest thou thyself	O2
With thy vain imaginings	M
	-
Will the stars from heaven descend	R2
Can the earth worm soar and rise	M
Can the mortal comprehend	R2
Heaven's own hallow'd mysteries	M
Greed and glory power and pelf	O2
These are won by clowns and kings	M
Wherefore weariest thou thyself	O2
With thy vain imaginings	M
	-
Sow and reap and toil and spin	S2
Eat and drink and dream and die	M2
Man may strive yet never win	S2
And I laugh the while and cry	M2
Idle dreamer earth born elf	O2
Vainly grasping heavenly things	M
Wherefore weariest thou thyself	O2
With thy vain imaginings	M
	-
He sleeps and his sleep appears serene	T2
Whatever dreams it has brought him	U2
Looks at the plans	M
If he knows what those hieroglyphics mean	T2
He's wiser than one who taught him	U2
Why does he number the Pole star thus	M
Or the Pleiades why combine	J
And what is he doing with Sirius	M
In the devil's name or in mine	J
Man thinks discarding the beaten track	V2
That the sins of his youth are slain	W
When he seeks fresh sins but he soon comes back	V2
To his old pet sins again	Y
	-
	-
SCENE The Same	W2
	-
Hugo waking Orion seated near him Daybreak	X2
	-
	-
Hugo	F
Oh weary spirit oh cloudy eyes	M
Oh heavy and misty brain	W
Yon riddle that lies 'twixt earth and skies	M
Ye seek to explore in vain	W
See the east is grey put those scrolls away	A
And hide them far from my sight	N
I will toil and study no more by day	A
I will watch no longer by night	N
I have labour'd and long'd and now I seem	Y2
No nearer the mystic goal	Z2
Orion I fain would devise some scheme	Y2
To quiet this restless soul	Z2
To distant climes I would fain depart	X
I would travel by sea or land	A3
	-
Orion	D
Nay I warn'd you of this Short life long art	X
The proverb though stale will stand	A3
Full many a sage from youth to age	G
Has toil'd to obtain what you	L2
Would master at once In a pilgrimage	B3
Forsooth there is nothing new	L2
Though virtue I ween in change of scene	T2
And vigour in change of air	L
Will always be and has always been	S2
And travel is a tonic rare	L
Still the restless discontented mood	E2
For the time alone is eased	C3
It will soon return with hunger renew'd	E2
And appetite unappeased	E2
Nathless I could teach a shorter plan	D3
To win that wisdom you crave	O2
That lore that is seldom attain'd by man	D3
From the cradle down to the grave	O2
	-
Hugo	F
Such lore I had rather do without	E2
It hath nothing mystic nor awful	I
In my eye Nay I despise and doubt	E2
The arts that are term'd unlawful	I
'Twixt science and magic the line lies plain	W
I shall never wittingly pass it	E2
There is now no compact between us twain	W
	-
Orion But an understanding tacit	E2
You have prospered much since the day we met	E2
You were then a landless knight	E2
You now have honour and wealth and yet	E2
I never can serve you right	E2
	-
Hugo	F
Enough we will start this very day	E2
Thurston Eric and I	M2
And the baffled visions will pass away	E2
And the restless fires will die	M2
	-
Orion	D
Till the fuel expires that feeds those fires	M
They smoulder and live unspent	E2
Give a mortal all that his heart desires	M
He is less than ever content	E2
	-
	-
SCENE A Cliff on the Breton Coast Overhanging the Sea	M
	-
Hugo	F
	-
	-
Hugo	F
Down drops the red sun through the gloaming	B2
They burst raging waves of the sea	M
Foaming out their own shame ever foaming	B2
Their leprosy up with fierce glee	M
Flung back from the stone snowy fountains	M
Of feathery flakes scarcely flag	E3
Where shock after shock the green mountains	M
Explode on the iron grey crag	E3
	-
The salt spray with ceaseless commotion	D
Leaps round me I sit on the verge	F3
Of the cliff 'twixt the earth and the ocean	D
With feet overhanging the surge	F3
In thy grandeur oh sea we acknowledge	G3
In thy fairness oh earth we confess	M
Hidden truths that are taught in no college	G3
Hidden songs that no parchments express	M
	-
Were they wise in their own generations	M
Those sages and sagas of old	E2
They have pass'd o'er their names and their nations	M
Time's billows have silently roll'd	E2
They have pass'd leaving little to their children	D
Save histories of a truth far from strict	E2
Or theories more vague and bewildering	E3
Since three out of four contradict	E2
	-
Lost labour vain bookworms have sat in	S2
The halls of dull pedants who teach	H3
Strange tongues the dead lore of the Latin	D
The scroll that is god like and Greek	E3
Have wasted life's springtide in learning	E3
Things long ago learnt all in vain	W
They are slow very slow in discerning	E3
That book lore and wisdom are twain	W
	-
Pale shades of a creed that was mythic	E3
By time or by truth overcome	I3
Your Delphian temples and Pythic	E3
Are ruins deserted and dumb	I3
Your Muses are hush'd and your Graces	M
Are bruised and defaced and your gods	M
Enshrin'd and enthron'd in high places	M
No longer are powerless as clods	M
	-
By forest and streamlet where glisten'd	E2
Fair feet of the Naiads that skimm'd	E2
The shallows where the Oreads listen'd	E2
Rose lipp'd amber hair'd marble limb'd	E2
No lithe forms disport in the river	B
No sweet faces peer through the boughs	M
Elms and beeches wave silent for ever	B
Ever silent the bright water flows	M
	-
Were they duller or wiser than we are	V
Those heathens of old Who shall say	M
Worse or better Thy wisdom O Thea	O
Glaucopis was wise in thy day	M
And the false gods alluring to evil	I
That sway'd reckless votaries then	Y
Were slain to no purpose they revel	I
Re crowned in the hearts of us men	Y
	-
Dead priests of Osiris and Isis	M
And Apis that mystical lore	J3
Like a nightmare conceived in a crisis	M
Of fever is studied no more	J3
Dead Magian yon star troop that spangles	M
The arch of yon firmament vast	E2
Looks calm like a host of white angels	M
On dry dust of votaries past	E2
	-
On seas unexplored can the ship shun	D
Sunk rocks Can man fathom life's links	M
Past or future unsolved by Egyptian	D
Or Theban unspoken by Sphinx	M
The riddle remains still unravell'd	E2
By students consuming night oil	K3
Oh earth we have toil'd we have travail'd	E2
How long shall we travail and toil	K3
	-
How long The short life that fools reckon	D
So sweet by how much is it higher	B
Than brute life the false gods still beckon	D
And man through the dust and the mire	L3
Toils onward as toils the dull bullock	E3
Unreasoning brutish and blind	E2
With Ashtaroth Mammon and Moloch	H3
In front and Alecto behind	E2
	-
The wise one of earth the Chaldean	D
Serves folly in wisdom's disguise	M
And the sensual Epicurean	D
Though grosser is hardly less wise	M
'Twixt the former half pedant half pagan	D
And the latter half sow and half sloth	M3
We halt choose Astarte or Dagon	D
Or sacrifice freely to both	M3
	-
With our reason that seeks to disparage	G3
Brute instinct it fails to subdue	E2
With our false illegitimate courage	B3
Our sophistry vain and untrue	E2
Our hopes that ascend so and fall so	M
Our passions fierce hates and hot loves	M
We are wise aye the snake is wise also	M
Wise as serpents not harmless as doves	M
	-
Some flashes like faint sparks from heaven	D
Come rarely with rushing of wings	M
We are conscious at times we have striven	D
Though seldom to grasp better things	M
These pass leaving hearts that have falter'd	E2
Good angels with faces estranged	E2
And the skin of the Ethiop unalter'd	E2
And the spots of the leopard unchanged	E2
	-
Oh earth pleasant earth have we hanker'd	E2
To gather thy flowers and thy fruits	M
The roses are wither'd and canker'd	E2
The lilies and barren the roots	M
Of the fig tree the vine the wild olive	O2
Sharp thorns and sad thistles that yield	E2
Fierce harvest so we live and so live	O2
The perishing beasts of the field	E2
	-
And withal we are conscious of evil	I
And good of the spirit and the clod	E2
Of the power in our hearts of a devil	I
Of the power in our souls of a God	E2
Whose commandments are graven in no cypher	B
But clear as His sun from our youth	N3
One at least we have cherished An eye for	J3
An eye and a tooth for a tooth	N3
	-
Oh man of thy Maker the image	B3
To passion to pride or to wealth	O3
Sworn bondsman from dull youth to dim age	G
Thy portion the fire or the filth	P3
Dross seeking dead pleasure's death rattle	I
Thy memories' happiest song	E3
And thy highest hope scarce a drawn battle	I
With dark desperation How long	E3
	-
	-
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Roar louder leap higher ye surf beds	M
And sprinkle your foam on the furze	M
Bring the dreams that brought sleep to our turf beds	M
To camps of our long ago years	M
With the flashing and sparkling of broadswords	M
With the tossing of banners and spears	M
With the trampling of hard hoofs on hard swards	M
With the mingling of trumpets and cheers	M
	-
	-
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The gale has gone down yet outlasting	E3
The gale raging waves of the sea	M
Casting up their own foam ever casting	E3
Their leprosy up with wild glee	M
Still storm so in rashness and rudeness	M
Man storms through the days of his grace	M
Yet man cannot fathom God's goodness	M
Exceeding God's infinite space	M
	-
And coldly and calmly and purely	M
Grey rock and green hillock lie white	E2
In star shine dream laden so surely	M
Night cometh so cometh the night	E2
When we too at peace with our neighbour	J3
May sleep where God's hillocks are piled	E2
Thanking Him for a rest from day's labour	J3
And a sleep like the sleep of a child	E2
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SCENE The Castle in Normandy	M
	-
Thora working at embroidery Elspeth spinning	E3
	-
	-
Thora sings	M
We severed in autumn early	M
Ere the earth was torn by the plough	O2
The wheat and the oats and the barley	M
Are ripe for the harvest now	O2
We sunder'd one misty morning	E3
Ere the hills were dimm'd by the rain	D
Through the flowers those hills adorning	E3
Thou comest not back again	D
	-
My heart is heavy and weary	M
With the weight of a weary soul	Z2
The mid day glare grows dreary	M
And dreary the midnight scroll	Z2
The corn stalks sigh for the sickle	I
'Neath the load of the golden grain	D
I sigh for a mate more fickle	I
Thou comest not back again	D
	-
The warm sun riseth and setteth	P3
The night bringeth moistening dew	E2
But the soul that longeth forgetteth	P3
The warmth and the moisture too	E2
In the hot sun rising and setting	E3
There is naught save feverish pain	D
There are tears in the night dews wetting	E3
Thou comest not back again	D
	-
Thy voice in mine ear still mingles	M
With the voices of whisp'ring trees	M
Thy kiss on my cheek still tingles	M
At each kiss of the summer breeze	M
While dreams of the past are thronging	E3
For substance of shades in vain	D
I am waiting watching and longing	E3
Thou comest not back again	D
	-
Waiting and watching ever	J3
Longing and lingering yet	E2
Leaves rustle and corn stalks quiver	J3
Winds murmur and waters fret	E2
No answer they bring no greeting	E3
No speech save that sad refrain	D
Nor voice save an echo repeating	E3
He cometh not back again	D
	-
Elspeth	P3
Thine eldest sister is wedded to Max	M
With Biorn Hilda hath cast her lot	E2
If the husbands vanish'd and left no tracks	M
Would the wives have cause for sorrow I wot	E2
	-
Thora	J3
How well I remember that dreary ride	E2
How I sigh'd for the lands of ice and snow	M
In the trackless wastes of the desert wide	E2
With the sun o'erhead and the sand below	M
'Neath the scanty shades of the feathery palms	M
How I sigh'd for the forest of sheltering firs	M
Whose shadows environ'd the Danish farms	M
Where I sang and sported in childish years	M
On the fourteenth day of our pilgrimage	B3
We stayed at the foot of a sandhill high	M2
Our fever'd thirst we could scarce assuage	G
At the brackish well that was nearly dry	M2
	-
And the hot sun rose and the hot sun set	E2
And we rode all the day through a desert land	E2
And we camp'd where the lake and the river met	E2
On sedge and shingle and shining sand	E2
Enfolded in Hugo's cloak I slept	E2
Or watch'd the stars while I lay awake	E3
And close to our feet the staghound crept	E2
And the horses were grazing beside the lake	E3
Now we own castles and serving men	D
Lands and revenues What of that	E2
Hugo the Norman was kinder then	D
And happier was Thora of Armorat	E2
	-
Elspeth	P3
Nay I warn'd thee with Norman sails unfurl'd	E2
Above our heads when we wished thee joy	Q3
That men are the same all over the world	E2
They will worship only the newest toy	Q3
Yet Hugo is kind and constant too	E2
Though somewhat given to studies of late	E2
Biorn is sottish and Max untrue	E2
And worse than thine is thy sisters' fate	E2
But a shadow darkens the chamber door	J3
	-
Enter Thurston	D
	-
Thurston	D
'Tis I Lady Thora our lord is near	J3
My horse being fresher I rode before	J3
Both he and Eric will soon be here	J3
	-
Thora	J3
Good Thurston give me your hand You are	J3
Most welcome What has delayed you thus	M
	-
Thurston	D
Both by sea and land we have travell'd far	J3
Yet little of note has happened to us	M
We were wreck'd on the shores of Brittany	M
Near the coast of Morbihan iron bound	E2
The rocks were steep and the surf ran high	M2
Thy kinsman Eric was well nigh drown'd	E2
By a swarm of knaves we were next beset	E2
Who took us for corsairs then released	E2
By a Breton count whose name I forget	E2
Now I go by your leave to tend my beast	E2
He goes out	E2
	-
Elspeth	P3
That man is rude and froward of speech	H3
My ears are good though my sight grows dim	U2
	-
Thora	J3
Thurston is faithful Thou canst not teach	H3
Courtly nor servile manners to him	U2
	-
	-
SCENE The Castle Hall	A2
	-
Thurston Ralph Eustace and other followers of Hugo	M
seated at a long table Harold seated apart	E2
	-
	-
Thurston	D
Who is that stranger dark and tall	A2
On the wooden settle next to the wall	A2
Mountebank pilgrim or wandering bard	E2
	-
Eustace	M
To define his calling is somewhat hard	E2
Lady Thora has taken him by the hand	E2
Because he has come from the Holy Land	E2
Pilgrims and palmers are all the rage	G
With her since she shared in that pilgrimage	B3
With Hugo The stranger came yesterday	E2
And would have gone on but she bade him stay	E2
Besides he sings in the Danish tongue	E3
The songs she has heard in her childhood sung	E3
That's all I know of him good or bad	E2
In my own opinion he's somewhat mad	E2
You must raise your voice if you speak with him	U2
And he answers as though his senses were dim	U2
	-
Thurston to Harold	E2
Good morrow sir stranger	J3
	-
Harold Good morrow friend	E2
	-
Thurston	D
Where do you come from and whither wend	E2
	-
Harold	E2
I have travelled of late with the setting sun	D
At my back and as soon as my task is done	D
I purpose to turn my face to the north	P3
Yet we know not what a day may bring forth	P3
	-
Thurston	D
Indeed we don't	E2
	-
To Eustace aside Nay I know him now	O2
By that ugly scar that crosses his brow	O2
And the less we say to him the better	J3
Your judgment is right to the very letter	J3
The man is mad	E2
	-
Eustace But harmless I think	E3
He eats but little eschews strong drink	E3
And only speaks when spoken to first	E2
	-
Thurston	D
Harmless or not he was once the worst	E2
And bitterest foe Lord Hugo had	E2
And yet his story is somewhat sad	E2
	-
Eustace	M
May I hear it	E2
	-
Thurston Nay I never reveal	R3
What concerns me not Our lord may conceal	R3
Or divulge at pleasure his own affairs	M
Not even his comrade Eric shares	M
His secrets though Eric thinks him wise	M
Which is more than I do for I despise	M
That foolish science he learnt in Rome	S3
He dreams and mopes when he sits at home	S3
And now he's not much better abroad	E2
'Tis hard to follow so tame a lord	E2
'Twixt us two he won't be worth a rush	H3
If he will persist in his studies	M
	-
Eustace Hush	H3
Ralph has persuaded our guest to sing	E3
	-
Thurston	D
I have known the day when his voice would ring	E3
Till the rafters echoed	E2
	-
Eustace 'Tis pleasant still	T3
Though far too feeble this hall to fill	T3
	-
Harold sings	M
On the current where the wide	E2
Windings of the river	J3
Eddy to the North Sea tide	E2
Shall I in my shallop glide	E2
As I have done at her side	E2
Never never never	J3
	-
In the forest where the firs	M
Pines and larches quiver	J3
To the northern breeze that stirs	M
Shall my lips be press'd to hers	M
As they were in by gone years	M
Never never never	J3
	-
In the battle on the plain	D
Where the lance shafts shiver	J3
And the sword strokes fall like rain	D
Shall I bear her scarf again	D
As I have done not in vain	D
Never never never	J3
	-
In a fairer brighter land	E2
Where the saints rest ever	J3
Shall I once more see her stand	E2
White amidst a white robed band	E2
Harp and palm branch in her hand	E2
Never never never	J3
	-
	-
SCENE The Same	W2
	-
Eustace Thurston and followers of Hugo Harold	E2
	-
	-
Enter by the hall door Hugo Eric and Thora	J3
	-
Eustace and others standing up	U3
Welcome Lord Hugo	M
	-
Hugo Welcome or not	E2
Thanks for your greeting all	A2
Ha Eustace what complaints hast thou got	E2
What grievances to recall	A2
	-
Eustace	M
Count William came with a numerous band	E2
Ere the snows began to fall	A2
And slew a buck on your lordship's land	E2
Within a league of the wall	A2
	-
Hugo	M
Count William has done to us no more	J3
Than we to him In his vineyard	E2
Last summer or later maybe a boar	J3
Was slaughter'd by Thurston's whinyard	E2
	-
Thurston	D
Aye Hugo But William kept the buck	E3
I will wager marks a score	J3
Though the tale is new to me and worse luck	E3
You made me give back the boar	J3
	-
Harold advancing	E3
Lord Hugo	M
	-
Hugo What Art thou living yet	E2
I scarcely knew thee Sir Dane	D
And 'tis not so very long since we met	E2
	-
Harold	E2
'Twill be long ere we meet again gives a letter	J3
This letter was traced by one now dead	E2
In the Holy Land and I	M2
Must wait till his dying request is read	E2
And in his name ask the reply	M2
	-
Thora aside	E2
Who is that stranger Hugo	M
	-
Hugo By birth	P3
He is a countryman of thine	D
Thora What writing is this on earth	P3
I can scarce decipher a line	D
	-
Harold	E2
The pen in the clutch of death works ill	T3
	-
Hugo	M
Nay I read now the letters run	D
More clearly	M
	-
Harold Wilt grant the request	E2
	-
Hugo I will	T3
	-
Harold	E2
Enough Then my task is done He holds out his hand	E2
Hugo I go to a far off land	E2
Wilt thou say God speed thee now	O2
	-
Hugo	M
Sir Harold I cannot take thy hand	E2
Because of my ancient vow	O2
	-
Harold	E2
Farewell then	D
	-
Thora Friend till the morning wait	E2
On so wild a night as this	M
Thou shalt not go from my husband's gate	E2
The path thou wilt surely miss	M
	-
Harold	E2
I go Kind lady some future day	E2
Thy care will requited be	M
	-
Thora	J3
Speak Hugo speak	E3
	-
Hugo He may go or stay	E2
It matters little to me	M
Harold goes out	E2
	-
Thora	J3
Husband that man is ill and weak	E3
On foot he goes and alone	D
Through a barren moor in a night storm bleak	E3
	-
Eric	E3
Now I wonder where he has gone	D
	-
Hugo	M
Indeed I have not the least idea	J3
The man is certainly mad	E2
He wedded my sister Dorothea	J3
And used her cruelly bad	E2
He was once my firmest and surest friend	E2
And once my deadliest foe	M
But hate and friendship both find their end	E2
Now I heed not where he may go	M
	-
	-
SCENE A Chamber in the Castle	I
	-
Hugo Thora and Eric	E3
	-
	-
Hugo	M
That letter that came from Palestine	D
By the hands of yon wandering Dane	D
Will cost me a pilgrimage to the Rhine	D
	-
Thora	J3
Wilt thou travel so soon again	D
	-
Hugo	M
I can scarce refuse the dying request	E2
Of my comrade Baldwin now	O2
His bones are dust May his soul find rest	E2
He once made a foolish vow	O2
That at Englemehr 'neath the watchful care	J3
Of the Abbess his child should stay	E2
For a season at least To escort her there	J3
I must start at the break of day	E2
	-
Thora	J3
Is it Agatha that goes or Clare	J3
	-
Hugo	M
Nay Clare is dwelling in Spain	D
With her spouse	M
	-
Thora 'Tis Agatha She is fair	J3
I am told but giddy and vain	D
	-
Eric	E3
Some musty tales on my memory grow	M
Concerning Count Baldwin's vow	O2
Thou knew'st his daughter	J3
	-
Hugo Aye years ago	M
I should scarcely know her now	O2
It seems when her father's vow was made	E2
She was taken sorely ill	T3
Then he travell'd and on his return was stay'd	E2
He could never his oath fulfil	T3
	-
Eric	E3
If rightly I've heard 'twas Agatha	J3
That fled with some Danish knight	E2
I forget the name	W2
	-
Hugo Nay she fled not far	J3
She returned again that night	E2
	-
Thora	J3
For a nun I fear she is too self willed	E2
	-
Hugo	M
That is no affair of mine	D
My task is over my word fulfilled	E2
Should I bring her safe to the Rhine	D
Come Thora sing	E3
	-
Thora Nay I cannot sing	E3
Nor would I now if I could	E2
Sing thou	O2
	-
Hugo I will though my voice should bring	E3
No sound save a discord rude	E2
Sings	M
Where the storm in its wrath hath lighted	E2
The pine lies low in the dust	E2
And the corn is withered and blighted	E2
Where the fields are red with the rust	E2
Falls the black frost nipping and killing	E3
Where its petals the violet rears	M
And the wind though tempered is chilling	E3
To the lamb despoiled by the shears	M
	-
The strong in their strength are shaken	D
The wise in their wisdom fall	T3
And the bloom of beauty is taken	D
Strength wisdom beauty and all	T3
They vanish their lot fulfilling	E3
Their doom approaches and nears	M
But the wind though tempered is chilling	E3
To the lamb despoiled by the shears	M
	-
'Tis the will of a Great Creator	J3
He is wise His will must be done	D
And it cometh sooner or later	J3
And one shall be taken and one	D
Shall be left here toiling and tilling	E3
In this vale of sorrows and tears	M
Where the wind though tempered is chilling	E3
To the lamb despoiled by the shears	M
	-
Tell me mine own one tell me	M
The shadows of life and the fears	M
Shall neither daunt me nor quell me	M
While I can avert thy tears	M
Dost thou shrink as I shrink unwilling	E3
To realise lonely years	M
Since the wind though tempered is chilling	E3
To the lamb despoiled by the shears	M
	-
Enter Henry	M
	-
Henry	M
My lord Father Luke craves audience straight	E2
He has come on foot from the chapel	T3
Some stranger perished beside his gate	E2
When the dawn began to dapple	T3
	-
	-
SCENE A Chapel Not Very Far from Hugo's Castle	T3
	-
Hugo Eric and two Monks Luke and Hubert The dead body of Harold	E2
	-
	-
Luke	E3
When the dawn was breaking	E3
Came a faint sound waking	E3
Hubert and myself we hurried to the door	J3
Found the stranger lying	E3
At the threshold dying	E3
Somewhere have I seen a face like his before	J3
	-
Hugo	M
Harold he is hight	E2
Only yester night	E2
From our gates he wander'd in the driving hail	T3
Well his face I know	M
Both as friend and foe	M
Of my followers only Thurston knows his tale	T3
	-
Luke	E3
Few the words he said	E2
Faint the signs he made	E2
Twice or thrice he groaned quoth Hubert Thou hast sinn'd	E2
This is retribution	D
Seek for absolution	D
Answer me then cast thy sorrows to the wind	E2
Do their voices reach thee	M
Friends who failed to teach thee	M
In thine earlier days to sunder right from wrong	E3
Charges 'gainst thee cited	E2
Cares all unrequited	E2
Counsels spurned and slighted do they press and throng	E3
But he shook his head	E2
'Tis not so he said	E2
They will scarce reproach me who reproached of yore	J3
If their counsels good	E2
Rashly I withstood	E2
Having suffered longer I have suffered more	J3
	-
Do their curses stun thee	M
Foes who failed to shun thee	M
Stricken by rash vengeance in some wild career	J3
As the barbed arrow	M
Cleaveth bone and marrow	M
From those chambers narrow do they pierce thine ear	J3
And he made reply	T3
Laughing bitterly	M
Did I fear them living shall I fear them dead	E2
Blood that I have spilt	E2
Leaveth little guilt	E2
On the hand it resteth scarcely on the head	E2
	-
Is there one whom thou	O2
May'st have wronged ere now	O2
Since remorse so sorely weigheth down thine heart	E2
By some saint in heaven	D
Sanctified and shriven	D
Would'st thou be forgiven ere thy soul depart	E2
Not a word he said	E2
But he bowed his head	E2
Till his temples rested on the chilly sods	M
And we heard him groan	D
Ah mine own mine own	D
If I had thy pardon I might ask for God's	M
	-
Hubert raised him slowly	M
Sunrise faint and holy	M
Lit the dead face placid as a child's might be	M
May the troubled spirit	E2
Through Christ's saving merit	E2
Peace and rest inherit Thus we sent for thee	M
	-
Hugo	M
God o'erruleth fate	E2
I had cause for hate	E2
In this very chapel years back proud and strong	E3
Joined by priestly vows	M
He became the spouse	M
Of my youngest sister to her bitter wrong	E3
And he wrought her woe	M
Making me his foe	M
Not alone unfaithful brutal too was he	M
She had scarce been dead	E2
Three months ere he fled	E2
With Count Baldwin's daughter then betrothed to me	M
Fortune straight forsook him	U2
Vengeance overtook him	U2
Heavy crimes will bring down heavy punishment	E2
All his strength was shatter'd	E2
Even his wits were scatter'd	E2
Half deranged half crippled wandering he went	E2
We are unforgiving	E3
While our foes are living	E3
Yet his retribution weigh'd so heavily	M
That I feel remorse	M
Gazing on his corpse	M
For my rudeness when he left our gates to die	T3
And his grave shall be	M
'Neath the chestnut tree	M
Where he met my sister many years ago	M
Leave that tress of hair	J3
On his bosom there	J3
Wrap the cerecloth round him Eric let us go	M
	-
	-
SCENE A Room in the Castle	T3
	-
Hugo and Eric Early morning	E3
	-
	-
Hugo	M
The morn is fair the weary miles	M
Will shorten 'neath the summer's wiles	M
Pomona in the orchard smiles	M
And in the meadow Flora	J3
And I have roused a chosen band	E2
For escort through the troubled land	E2
And shaken Elspeth by the hand	E2
And said farewell to Thora	J3
Comrade and kinsman for thou art	E2
Comrade and kin to me we part	E2
Ere nightfall if at once we start	E2
We gain the dead Count's castle	T3
The roads are fair the days are fine	D
Ere long I hope to reach the Rhine	D
Forsooth no friend to me or mine	D
Is that same Abbot Basil	T3
I thought he wronged us by his greed	E2
My father sign'd a foolish deed	E2
For lack of gold in time of need	E2
And thus our lands went by us	M
Yet wrong on our side may have been	D
As far as my will goes I ween	D
'Tis past the grudge that lay between	D
Us twain Men call him pious	M
And I have prosper'd much since then	D
And gain'd for one lost acre ten	D
And even the ancient house and glen	D
Rebought with purchase money	D
He too is wealthy he has got	E2
By churchly rights a fertile spot	E2
A land of corn and wine I wot	E2
A land of milk and honey	D
Now Eric change thy plans and ride	E2
With us thou hast no ties no bride	E2
	-
Eric	E3
Nay ties I have and time and tide	E2
Thou knowest wait for no man	D
And I go north God's blessing shuns	M
The dwellings of forgetful sons	M
That proverb he may read who runs	M
In Christian lore or Roman	D
My good old mother she hath heard	E2
For twelve long months from me no word	E2
At thought of her my heart is stirr'd	E2
And even mine eyes grow moister	J3
Greet Ursula from me her fame	W2
Is known to all A nobler dame	W2
Since days of Clovis ne'er became	W2
The inmate of a cloister	J3
Our paths diverge yet we may go	M
Together for a league or so	M
I too will join thy band below	M
When thou thy bugle windest	E2
Eric goes out	E2
	-
Hugo	M
From weaknesses we stand afar	J3
On us unpleasantly they jar	J3
And yet the stoutest hearted are	J3
The gentlest and the kindest	E2
My mother loved me tenderly	D
Alas her only son was I	T3
I shudder'd but my lids were dry	T3
By death made orphan newly	D
A braver man than me I swear	J3
Who never comprehended fear	J3
Scarce names his mother and the tear	J3
Unbidden springs unruly	D
	-
	-
SCENE A Road on the Norman Frontiers	M
	-
Hugo Agatha Orion Thurston and armed attendants riding slowly	D
	-
	-
Agatha	J3
Sir Knight what makes you so grave and glum	I3
At times I fear you are deaf or dumb	I3
Or both	P3
	-
Hugo And yet should I speak the truth	P3
There is little in common 'twixt us forsooth	P3
You would think me duller and still more vain	D
If I uttered the thoughts that fill my brain	D
Since the matters with which my mind is laden	D
Would scarcely serve to amuse a maiden	D
	-
Agatha	P3
I am so foolish and you are so wise	M
'Tis the meaning your words so ill disguise	M
Alas my prospects are sad enough	O2
I had rather listen to speeches rough	O2
Than muse and meditate silently	D
On the coming loss of my liberty	D
Sad hope to me can my future bring	E3
Yet while I may I would prattle and sing	E3
Though it only were to try and assuage	G
The dreariness of my pilgrimage	B3
	-
Hugo	M
Prattle and sing to your heart's content	E2
And none will offer impediment	E2
	-
Agatha sings	M
We were playmates in childhood my sister and I	T3
Whose playtime with childhood is done	D
Through thickets where briar and bramble grew high	T3
Barefooted I've oft seen her run	D
	-
I've known her when mists on the moorland hung white	E2
Bareheaded past nightfall remain	D
She has followed a landless and penniless knight	E2
Through battles and sieges in Spain	D
	-
But I pulled the flower and shrank from the thorn	D
Sought the sunshine and fled from the mist	E2
My sister was born to face hardship with scorn	D
I was born to be fondled and kiss'd	E2
	-
Hugo aside	E2
She has a sweet voice	M
	-
Orion And a sweet face too	E2
Be candid for once and give her her due	E2
	-
Agatha	P3
Your face grows longer and still more long	E3
Sir Scholar how did you like my song	E3
	-
Hugo	M
I thought it rather a silly one	D
	-
Agatha	P3
You are far from a pleasant companion	D
	-
	-
SCENE An Apartment in a Wayside Inn	D
	-
Hugo and Agatha Evening	E3
	-
	-
Hugo	M
I will leave you now we have talked enough	O2
And for one so tenderly reared and nursed	E2
This journey is wearisome perhaps and rough	O2
	-
Agatha Will you not finish your story first	E2
	-
Hugo	M
I repent me that I began it now	D
'Tis a dismal tale for a maiden's ears	M
Your cheek is pale already your brow	D
Is sad and your eyes are moist with tears	M
	-
Agatha	P3
It may be thus I am lightly vexed	E2
But the tears will lightly come and go	M
I can cry one moment and laugh the next	E2
Yet I have seen terrors as well you know	M
I remember that flight through moss and fern	D
The moonlit shadows the hoofs that rolled	E2
In fierce pursuit and the ending stern	D
And the hawk that left his prey on the wold	E2
	-
Hugo	M
I have sorrowed since that I left you there	J3
Your friends were close behind on the heath	P3
Though not so close as I thought they were	J3
Aside Now I will not tell her of Harold's death	P3
	-
Agatha	P3
'Tis true I was justly punished and men	D
As a rule of pity have little share	J3
Had I died you had cared but little then	D
	-
Hugo But little then yet now I should care	J3
More than you think for Now good night	E2
Tears still Ere I leave you child alone	D
Must I dry your cheeks	M
	-
Agatha Nay I am not quite	E2
Such a child but what I can dry my own	D
Hugo goes out Agatha retires	M
	-
Orion singing outside the window of Agatha's chamber	J3
	-
'Neath the stems with blossoms laden	D
'Neath the tendrils curling	E3
I thy servant sing oh maiden	D
I thy slave oh darling	E3
Lo the shaft that slew the red deer	J3
At the elk may fly too	E2
Spare them not The dead are dead dear	J3
Let the living die too	E2
	-
Where the wiles of serpent mingle	T3
And the looks of dove lie	T3
Where small hands in strong hands tingle	T3
Loving eyes meet lovely	D
Where the harder natures soften	D
And the softer harden	D
Certes such things have been often	D
Since we left Eve's garden	D
	-
Sweeter follies herald sadder	J3
Sins look not too closely	D
Tongue of asp and tooth of adder	J3
Under leaf of rose lie	T3
Warned advised in vain abandon	D
Warning and advice too	E2
Let the child lay wilful hand on	D
Den of cockatrice too	E2
	-
I thy servant or thy master	J3
One or both no matter	J3
If the former firmer faster	J3
Surer still the latter	J3
Lull thee soothe thee with my singing	E3
Bid thee sleep and ponder	J3
On my lullabies still ringing	E3
Through thy dreamland yonder	J3
	-
	-
SCENE A Wooded Rising Ground Near the Rhine	D
	-
Hugo and Agatha resting under the trees Thurston Eustace	M
and followers a little apart Orion Noonday	E2
The Towers of the Convent in the distance	M
	-
	-
Agatha	P3
I sit on the greensward and hear the bird sing	E3
'Mid the thickets where scarlet and white blossoms cling	E3
And beyond the sweet uplands all golden with flower	J3
It looms in the distance the grey convent tower	J3
And the emerald earth and the sapphire hued sky	T3
Keep telling me ever my spring has gone by	T3
Ah spring premature they are tolling thy knell	T3
In the wind's soft adieu in the bird's sweet farewell	T3
Oh why is the greensward with garlands so gay	E2
That I quail at the sight of my prison house grey	E2
Oh why is the bird's note so joyous and clear	J3
The caged bird must pine in a cage doubly drear	J3
	-
Hugo	M
May the lances of Dagobert harry their house	M
If they coax or intimidate thee to take vows	M
May the freebooters pillage their shrines should they dare	J3
Touch with their scissors thy glittering hair	J3
Our short and sweet journey now draws to an end	E2
And homeward my sorrowful way I must wend	E2
Oh fair one oh loved one I would I were free	J3
To squander my life in the greenwood with thee	J3
	-
Orion aside	E2
Ho seeker of knowledge so grave and so wise	M
Touch her soft curl again look again in her eyes	M
Forget for the nonce musty parchments and learn	D
How the slow pulse may quicken the cold blood may burn	D
Ho fair fickle maiden so blooming and shy	T3
The old love is dead let the old promise die	T3
Thou dost well thou dost wise take the word of Orion	D
A living dog always before a dead lion	D
	-
	-
	-
Thurston	D
Ye varlets I would I knew which of ye burst	E2
Our wine skin what ho must I perish with thirst	E2
Go Henry thou hast a glib tongue go and ask	E3
Thy lord to send Ralph to yon inn for a flask	E3
	-
Henry	J3
Nay Thurston not so I decline to disturb	V3
Our lord for the present go thou or else curb	V3
Thy thirst or drink water as I do	E2
	-
Thurston Thou knave	O2
Of a page dost thou wish me the colic to have	O2
	-
Orion aside	E2
That clown is a thoroughbred Saxon He thinks	M
With pleasure on naught save hard blows and strong drinks	M
In hell he will scarce go athirst if once given	D
An inkling of any good liquors in heaven	D
	-
	-
	-
Hugo	M
Our Pontiff to manhood at Englemehr grew	E2
The priests there are many the nuns are but few	E2
I love not the Abbot 'tis needless to tell	T3
My reason but all of the Abbess speak well	T3
	-
Agatha	P3
Through vineyards and cornfields beneath us the Rhine	D
Spreads and winds silver white in the merry sunshine	D
And the air overcharged with a subtle perfume	W3
Grows faint from the essence of manifold bloom	W3
	-
Hugo	M
And the tinkling of bells and the bleating of sheep	X3
And the chaunt from the fields where the labourers reap	X3
The earlier harvest comes faint on the breeze	M
That whispers so faintly in hedgerows and trees	M
	-
Orion	D
And a waggon wends slow to those turrets and spires	M
To feed the fat monks and the corpulent friars	M
It carries the corn and the oil and the wine	D
The honey and milk from the shores of the Rhine	D
The oxen are weary and spent with their load	E2
They pause but the driver doth recklessly goad	E2
Up yon steep flinty rise they have staggered and reeled	E2
Even devils may pity dumb beasts of the field	E2
	-
Agatha sings	M
	-
Oh days and years departed	E2
Vain hopes vain fears that smarted	E2
I turn to you sad hearted	E2
I turn to you in tears	M
Your daily sun shone brightly	J3
Your happy dreams came nightly	J3
Flowers bloomed and birds sang lightly	J3
Through all your hopes and fears	M
	-
You halted not nor tarried	E2
Your hopes have all miscarried	E2
And even your fears are buried	E2
Since fear with hope must die	E2
You halted not but hasted	E2
And flew past childhood wasted	E2
And girlhood scarcely tasted	E2
Now womanhood is nigh	E2
	-
Yet I forgive your wronging	M
Dead seasons round me thronging	M
With yearning and with longing	M
I call your bitters sweet	E2
Vain longing and vain yearning	M
There now is no returning	M
Oh beating heart and burning	M
Forget to burn and beat	E2
	-
Oh childish suns and showers	M
Oh girlish thorns and flowers	M
Oh fruitless days and hours	M
Oh groundless hopes and fears	M
The birds still chirp and twitter	J3
And still the sunbeams glitter	J3
Oh barren years and bitter	J3
Oh bitter barren years	M
	-
	-
SCENE The Summit of a Burning Mountain	D
	-
Night A terrific storm Orion undisguised	E2
	-
	-
Orion sings	M
From fathomless depths of abysses	M
Where fires unquenchable burst	E2
From the blackness of darkness where hisses	M
The brood of the serpent accurs'd	E2
From shrines where the hymns are the weeping	M
And wailing and gnashing of teeth	P3
Where the palm is the pang never sleeping	M
Where the worm never dying is the wreath	P3
Where all fruits save wickedness wither	J3
Whence naught save despair can be gleaned	E2
Come hither come hither come hither	J3
Fall'n angel fell sprite and foul fiend	E2
Come hither the bands are all broken	D
And loosed in hell's innermost womb	W3
When the spell unpronounceable spoken	D
Divides the unspeakable gloom	W3
	-
Evil Spirits approach The storm increases	M
	-
Evil Spirits singing	M
We hear thee we seek thee on pinions	M
That darken the shades of the shade	E2
Oh Prince of the Air with dominions	M
Encompass'd with powers array'd	E2
With majesty cloth'd as a garment	E2
Begirt with a shadowy shine	D
Whose feet scorch the hill tops that are meant	E2
As footstools for thee and for thine	D
	-
Orion sings	M
How it swells through each pause of the thunder	J3
And mounts through each lull of the gust	E2
Through the crashing of crags torn asunder	J3
And the hurtling of trees in the dust	E2
With a chorus of loud lamentations	M
With its dreary and hopeless refrain	D
'Tis the cry of all tongues and all nations	M
That suffer and shudder in vain	D
	-
Evil Spirits singing	M
'Tis the cry of all tongues and all nations	M
Our song shall chime in with their strain	D
Lost spirits blend their wild exultations	M
With the sighing of mortals in pain	D
	-
Orion sings	M
With just light enough to see sorrows	M
In this world and terrors beyond	E2
'Twixt the day's bitter pangs and the morrow's	M
Dread doubts to despair and despond	E2
Man lingers through toils unavailing	M
For blessings that baffle his grasp	Y3
To his cradle he comes with a wailing	M
He goes to his grave with a gasp	Y3
	-
Evil Spirits singing	M
His birth is a weeping and wailing	M
His death is a groan and a gasp	Y3
O'er the seed of the woman prevailing	M
Thus triumphs the seed of the asp	Y3
	-
	-
SCENE Chamber of a Wayside Inn	D
	-
Hugo sitting alone Evening	M
	-
	-
Hugo	M
And now the parting is over	J3
The parting should end the pain	D
And the restless heart may recover	J3
And so may the troubled brain	D
I am sitting within the chamber	J3
Whose windows look on the porch	H3
Where the roses cluster and clamber	J3
We halted here on our march	H3
With her to the convent going	M
And now I go back alone	D
Ye roses budding and blowing	M
Ye heed not though she is flown	D
	-
I remember the girlish gesture	J3
The sportive and childlike grace	M
With which she crumpled and pressed your	J3
Rose leaves to her rose hued face	M
Shall I think on her ways hereafter	J3
On those flashes of mirth and grief	O2
On that April of tears and laughter	J3
On our parting bitterly brief	O2
	-
I remember the bell at sunrise	M
That sounded so solemnly	J3
Bidding monk and prelate and nun rise	M
I rose ere the sun was high	E2
Down the long dark dismal passage	B3
To the door of her resting place	M
I went on a farewell message	B3
I trod with a stealthy pace	M
There was no one there to see us	M
When she opened her chamber door	J3
Miserere mei Deus	M
Rang faint from the convent choir	J3
	-
I remember the dark and narrow	M
And scantily furnished room	W3
And the gleam like a golden arrow	M
The gleam that lighted the gloom	W3
One couch one seat and one table	T3
One window and only one	D
It stands in the eastern gable	T3
It faces the rising sun	D
One ray shot through it and one light	E2
On doorway and threshold played	E2
She stood within in the sunlight	E2
I stood without in the shade	E2
	-
I remember that bright form under	J3
The sheen of that slanting ray	J3
I spoke For life we must sunder	J3
Let us sunder without delay	J3
Let us sever without preamble	T3
As brother and sister part	E2
For the sake of one pleasant ramble	T3
That will live in at least one heart	E2
Still the choir in my ears rang faintly	J3
In the distance dying away	J3
Sweetly and sadly and saintly	J3
Through arch and corridor grey	J3
	-
And thus we parted for ever	J3
Between the shade and the shine	D
Not as brother and sister sever	J3
I fondled her hands in mine	D
Still the choir in my ears rang deaden'd	E2
And dull'd though audible yet	E2
And she redden'd and paled and redden'd	E2
Her lashes and lids grew wet	E2
Not as brother severs from sister	J3
My lips clung fast to her lips	M
She shivered and shrank when I kissed her	J3
On the sunbeam drooped the eclipse	M
	-
I remember little of the parting	M
With the Abbot down by the gate	E2
My men were eager for starting	M
I think he pressed me to wait	E2
From the lands where convent and glebe lie	E2
From manors and Church's right	E2
Where I fought temptation so feebly	J3
I too felt eager for flight	E2
Alas the parting is over	J3
The parting but not the pain	D
Oh sweet was the purple clover	J3
And sweet was the yellow grain	D
And sweet were the woody hollows	M
On the summery Rhineward track	M
But a winter untimely swallows	M
All sweets as I travel back	M
	-
Yet I feel assured in some fashion	D
Ere the hedges are crisp with rime	W3
I shall conquer this senseless passion	D
'Twill yield to toil and to time	W3
I will fetter these fancies roaming	M
Already the sun has dipped	E2
I will trim the lamps in the gloaming	M
I will finish my manuscript	E2
Through the nightwatch unflagging study	J3
Shall banish regrets perforce	M
As soon as the east is ruddy	J3
Our bugle shall sound To Horse	M
	-
	-
SCENE Another Wayside House Near the Norman Frontier	J3
	-
Hugo and Orion in a chamber Evening	M
	-
	-
Orion	D
Your eyes are hollow your step is slow	M
And your cheek is pallid as though from toil	T3
Watching or fasting by which I know	M
That you have been burning the midnight oil	T3
	-
Hugo	M
Aye three nights running	M
	-
Orion 'Twill never do	E2
To travel all day and study all night	E2
Will you join in a gallop through mist and dew	E2
In a flight that may vie with the eagle's flight	E2
	-
Hugo	M
With all my heart Shall we saddle Rollo	M
	-
Orion	D
Nay leave him undisturb'd in his stall	T3
I have steeds he would hardly care to follow	M
	-
Hugo	M
Follow forsooth he can lead them all	T3
	-
Orion	D
Touching his merits we will not quarrel	T3
But let me mount you for once enough	O2
Of work may await your favourite sorrel	T3
And the paths we must traverse to night are rough	O2
But first let me mix you a beverage	G3
To invigorate your enfeebled frame	W3
He mixes a draught and hands it to Hugo	M
All human ills this draught can assuage	G
	-
Hugo	M
It hisses and glows like liquid flame	W3
Say what quack nostrum is this thou'st brewed	E2
Speak out I am learned in the chemist's lore	J3
	-
Orion	D
There is nothing but what will do you good	E2
And the drugs are simples 'tis hellebore	J3
Nepenthe upas and dragon's blood	E2
Absinthe and mandrake and mandragore	J3
	-
Hugo	M
I will drink it although by mass and rood	E2
I am just as wise as I was before	J3
	-
	-
SCENE A Rough Hilly Country	J3
	-
Hugo and Orion riding at speed on black horses	M
Mountains in the distance Night	E2
	-
	-
Hugo	M
See the sparks that fly from our hoof strokes make	M
A fiery track that gleams in our wake	M
Like a dream the dim landscape past us shoots	M
Our horses fly	E2
	-
Orion They are useful brutes	M
Though somewhat skittish the foam is whit'ning	M
The crest and rein of my courser Lightning	M
He pulls to night being short of work	M
And takes his head with a sudden jerk	M
Still heel and steady hand on the bit	E2
For that is Tempest on which you sit	E2
	-
Hugo	M
'Tis the bravest steed that ever I back'd	E2
Did'st mark how he crossed yon cataract	E2
From hoof to hoof I should like to measure	J3
The space he clear'd	E2
	-
Orion He can clear at leisure	J3
A greater distance Observe the chasm	W3
We are nearing Ha did you feel a spasm	W3
As we flew over it	E2
	-
Hugo Not at all	T3
	-
Orion	D
Nathless 'twas an ugly place for a fall	T3
	-
Hugo	M
Let us try a race to yon mountain high	E2
That rears its dusky peak 'gainst the sky	E2
	-
Orion	D
I won't disparage your horsemanship	Z3
But your steed will stand neither spur nor whip	Z3
And is hasty and hard to steer at times	M
We must travel far ere the midnight chimes	M
We must travel back ere the east is grey	J3
Ho Lightning Tempest Away Away	J3
They ride on faster	J3
	-
	-
SCENE A Peak in a Mountainous Country Overhanging a Rocky Pass	M
	-
Hugo and Orion on black horses Midnight	E2
	-
	-
Hugo	M
These steeds are sprung from no common race	M
Their vigour seems to annihilate space	M
What hast thou brought me here to see	M
	-
Orion	D
No boisterous scene of unhallow'd glee	M
No sabbat of witches coarse and rude	E2
But a mystic and musical interlude	E2
You have long'd to explore the scrolls of Fate	E2
Dismount as I do and listen and wait	E2
They dismount	E2
	-
Orion chanting	M
Spirits of earth and air and sea	M
Spirits unclean and spirits untrue	J3
By the symbols three that shall nameless be	M
One of your masters calls on you	J3
	-
Spirits chanting in the distance	M
From the bowels of earth where gleams the gold	E2
From the air where the powers of darkness hold	E2
Their court from the white sea foam	W3
Whence the white rose tinted goddess sprung	M
Whom poets of every age have sung	M
Ever we come we come	W3
	-
Hugo	M
How close to our ears the thunder peals	M
How the earth beneath us shudders and reels	M
	-
A Voice chanting	M
Woe to the earth Where men give death	P3
And women give birth	P3
To the sons of Adam by Cain or Seth	P3
Plenty and dearth	P3
To the daughters of Eve who toil and spin	D
Barren of worth	P3
Let them sigh and sicken and suffer sin	D
Woe to the earth	P3
	-
Hugo	M
What is yon phantom large and dim	W3
That over the mountain seems to swim	W3
	-
Orion	D
'Tis the scarlet woman of Babylon	D
	-
Hugo	M
Whence does she come Where has she gone	D
And who is she	M
	-
Orion You would know too much	H3
These are subjects on which I dare not touch	H3
And if I were to try and enlighten you	J3
I should probably fail and possibly frighten you	J3
You had better ask some learned divine	D
Whose opinion is p'rhaps worth as much as mine	D
In his own conceit and who besides	M
Could tell you the brand of the beast she rides	M
What can you see in the valley yonder	J3
Speak out I can hear you for all the thunder	J3
	-
Hugo	M
I see four shadowy altars rise	M
They seem to swell and dilate in size	M
Larger and clearer now they loom	W3
Now fires are lighting them through the gloom	W3
	-
A Voice chanting	M
The first a golden hued fire shows	M
A blood red flame on the second glows	M
The blaze on the third is tinged like the rose	M
From the fourth a column of black smoke goes	M
	-
Orion	D
Can you see all this	M
	-
Hugo I see and hear	J3
The lights and hues are vivid and clear	J3
	-
Spirits sing at the first altar	J3
Hail Mammon while man buys and barters	M
Thy kingdom in this world is sure	J3
Thy prophets thou hast and thy martyrs	M
Great things in thy name they endure	J3
Thy fetters of gold crush the miser	J3
The usurer bends at thy shrine	D
And the wealthier nations and the wiser	J3
Bow with us at this altar of thine	D
	-
Spirits sing at the second altar	J3
Hail Moloch whose banner floats blood red	E2
From pole to equator unfurl'd	E2
Whose laws redly written have stood red	E2
And shall stand while standeth this world	E2
Clad in purple with thy diadem gory	M
Thy sceptre the blood dripping steel	T3
Thy subjects with us give thee glory	M
With us at thine altar they kneel	T3
	-
Spirits sing at the third altar	J3
Hail Sovereign whose fires are kindled	E2
By sparks from the bottomless pit	E2
Has thy worship diminish'd or dwindled	E2
Do the yokes of thy slaves lightly sit	E2
Nay the men of all climes and all races	M
Are stirr'd by the flames that now stir us	M
Then as we do they fall on their faces	M
Crying Hear us Oh Ashtaroth hear us	M
	-
Spirits all in chorus	M
The vulture her carrion swallows	M
Returns to his vomit the dog	M
In the slough of uncleanliness wallows	M
The he goat and revels the hog	M
Men are wise with their schools and their teachers	M
Men are just with their creeds and their priests	M
Yet in spite of their pedants and preachers	M
They backslide in footprints of beasts	M
	-
Hugo	M
From the smoky altar there seems to come	W3
A stifled murmur a droning hum	W3
	-
Orion	D
With that we have nothing at all to do	J3
Or at least not now neither I nor you	J3
Though some day or other possibly	M
We may see it closer both you and I	E2
Let us visit the nearest altar first	E2
Whence the yellow fires flicker and burst	E2
Like the flames from molten ore that spring	M
We may stand in the pale of the outer ring	M
But forbear to trespass within the inner	J3
Lest the sins of the past should find out the sinner	J3
They approach the first altar and stand within the	P3
outer circle which surrounds it and near the inner	J3
	-
Spirits sing	M
Beneath us it flashes	M
The glittering gold	E2
Though it turneth to ashes	M
And dross in the hold	E2
Yet man will endeavour	J3
By fraud or by strife	O2
To grasp it and never	J3
To yield it with life	O2
	-
Orion	D
What can you see	M
	-
Hugo Some decrepit shapes	M
That are neither dwarfs nor demons nor apes	M
In the hollow earth they appear to store	J3
And rake together great heaps of ore	J3
	-
Orion	D
These are the gnomes coarse sprites and rough	O2
Come on of these we have seen enough	O2
They approach second altar and stand as before	J3
	-
Spirits singing	M
Above us it flashes	M
The glittering steel	T3
Though the red blood splashes	M
Where its victims reel	T3
Yet man will endeavour	J3
To grapple the hilt	E2
And to wield the blade ever	J3
Till his life be spilt	E2
	-
Orion	D
What see you now	D
	-
Hugo A rocky glen	D
A horrid jumble of fighting men	D
And a face that somewhere I've seen before	J3
	-
Orion	D
Come on there is naught worth seeing more	J3
Except the altar of Ashtaroth	P3
	-
Hugo	M
To visit that altar I am loth	P3
	-
Orion	D
Why so	M
	-
Hugo Nay I cannot fathom why	E2
But I feel no curiosity	M
	-
Orion	D
Come on Stand close to the inner ring	M
And hear how sweetly these spirits sing	M
They approach third altar	J3
	-
Spirits sing	M
Around us it flashes	M
The cestus of one	D
Born of white foam that dashes	M
Beneath the white sun	D
Let the mortal take heart he	M
Has nothing to dare	J3
She is fair Queen Astarte	M
Her subjects are fair	J3
	-
Orion	D
What see you now friend	M
	-
Hugo Wood and wold	M
And forms that look like the nymphs of old	M
There is nothing here worth looking at twice	M
I have seen enough	O2
	-
Orion You are far too nice	M
Nevertheless you must look again	D
Those forms will fade	M
	-
Hugo They are growing less plain	D
They vanish I see a door that seems	M
To open a ray of sunlight gleams	M
From a window behind a vision as fair	J3
As the flush of dawn is standing there	J3
He gazes earnestly	M
	-
Orion sings	M
Higher and hotter the white flames glow	M
And the adamant may be thaw'd like snow	M
And the life for a single chance may go	M
And the soul for a certainty	M
Oh vain and shallow philosopher	J3
Dost feel them quicken dost feel them stir	J3
The thoughts that have stray'd again to HER	J3
From whom thou hast sought to fly	E2
	-
Lo the furnace is heated till sevenfold	M
Is thy brain still calm Is thy blood still cold	M
To the curls that wander in ripples of gold	M
On the shoulders of ivory	M
Do the large dark eyes and the small red mouth	P3
Consume thine heart with a fiery drouth	P3
Like the fierce sirocco that sweeps from the south	P3
When the deserts are parch'd and dry	E2
	-
Aye start and shiver and catch thy breath	P3
The sting is certain the venom is death	P3
And the scales are flashing the fruit beneath	P3
And the fang striketh suddenly	M
At the core the ashes are bitter and dead	M
But the rind is fair and the rind is red	M
It has ever been pluck'd since the serpent said	M
Thou shalt not surely die	E2
	-
Hugo tries to enter the inner ring	M
Orion holds him back they struggle	T3
	-
Hugo	M
Unhand me slave or quail to the rod	M
Agatha Speak in the name of God	M
	-
The vision disappears the altars vanish	H3
Hugo falls insensible	T3
	-
	-
SCENE The Wayside House	M
	-
Hugo waking in his chamber Orion unseen at first Morning	M
	-
	-
Hugo	M
Vanish fair and fatal vision	D
Fleeting shade of fever'd sleep	X3
Chiding one whose indecision	D
Waking substance failed to keep	X3
Picture into life half starting	M
As in life once seen before	J3
Parting somewhat sadly parting	M
Slowly at the chamber door	J3
	-
Were my waking senses duller	J3
Have I seen with mental eye	E2
Light and shade and warmth and colour	J3
Plainer than reality	M
Sunlight that on tangled tresses	M
Every ripple gilds and tips	M
Balm and bloom and breath of kisses	M
Warm on dewy scarlet lips	M
	-
Dark eyes veiling half their splendour	J3
'Neath their lashes' darker fringe	A4
Dusky dreamy deep and tender	J3
Passing smile and passing tinge	A4
Dimpling fast and flushing faster	J3
Ivory chin and coral cheek	M
Pearly strings by alabaster	J3
Neck and arms made faint and weak	M
	-
Drooping downcast lids enduring	M
Gaze of man unwillingly	M
Sudden sidelong gleams alluring	M
Partly arch and partly shy	E2
Do I bless or curse that beauty	M
Am I longing am I loth	P3
Is it passion is it duty	M
That I strive with one or both	P3
	-
Round about one fiery centre	J3
Wayward thoughts like moths revolve	O2
He sees Orion	D
Ha Orion thou didst enter	J3
Unperceived I pray thee solve	O2
These two questions Firstly tell me	M
Must I strive for wrong or right	M
Secondly what things befell me	M
Facts or phantasies last night	M
	-
Orion	D
First your strife is all a sham you	J3
Know as well as I which wins	M
Second waking sins will damn you	J3
Never mind your sleeping sins	M
Both your questions thus I answer	J3
Listen ere you seek or shun	D
I at least am no romancer	J3
What you long for may be won	D
Turn again and travel Rhineward	M
Tread once more the flowery path	P3
	-
Hugo	M
Aye the flowery path that sinward	M
Pointing ends in sin and wrath	P3
	-
Orion	D
Songs by love birds lightly caroll'd	M
Even the just man may allure	J3
	-
Hugo	M
To his shame in this wise Harold	M
Sinn'd his punishment was sure	J3
	-
Orion	D
Nay the Dane was worse than you are	J3
Base and pitiless to boot	M
Doubtless all are bad yet few are	J3
Cruel false and dissolute	M
	-
Hugo	M
Some sins foreign to our nature	J3
Seem we take no credit when	D
We escape them	W3
	-
Orion Yet the creature	J3
Sin created lives to sin	D
	-
Hugo	M
Be it so come good come evil	T3
Ride we to the Rhine again	D
	-
Orion aside	M
'Gainst the logic of the devil	T3
Human logic strives in vain	D
	-
	-
SCENE A Camp Near the Black Forest	M
	-
Rudolph Osric Dagobert and followers Orion disguised as	M
one of the Free lances Mid day	M
	-
	-
Osric	M
Now by axe of Odin and hammer of Thor	J3
And by all the gods of the Viking's war	J3
I swear we have quitted our homes in vain	D
We have nothing to look to glory nor gain	D
Will our galley return to Norway's shore	J3
With heavier gold or with costlier store	J3
Will our exploits furnish the scald with a song	M
We have travell'd too far we have tarried too long	M
Say captains all is there ever a village	B3
For miles around that is worth the pillage	G3
Will it pay the costs of my men or yours	M
To harry the homesteads of German boors	M
Have we cause for pride in our feats of arms	M
When we plunder the peasants or sack the farms	M
I tell thee Rudolph of Rothenstein	D
That were thy soldiers willing as mine	D
And I sole leader of this array	M
I would give Prince Otto battle this day	M
Dost thou call thy followers men of war	J3
Oh Dagobert thou whose ancestor	J3
On the neck of the Caesar's offspring trod	M
Who was justly surnamed The Scourge of God	M
Yet in flight lies safety Skirmish and run	D
To forest and fastness Teuton and Hun	D
From the banks of the Rhine to the Danube's shore	J3
And back to the banks of the Rhine once more	J3
Retreat from the face of an armed foe	M
Robbing garden and hen roost where'er you go	M
Let the short alliance betwixt us cease	M
I and my Norsemen will go in peace	M
I wot it never will suit with us	M
Such existence tame and inglorious	M
I could live no worse living single handed	M
And better with half my men disbanded	M
	-
Rudolph	O2
Jarl Osric what would'st thou have me do	M
'Gainst Otto's army our men count few	M
With one chance of victory fight say I	E2
But not when defeat is a certainty	M
If Rudiger joins us with his free lances	M
Our chance will be equal to many chances	M
For Rudiger is both prompt and wary	M
And his men are gallant though mercenary	M
But the knave refuses to send a lance	M
Till half the money is paid in advance	M
	-
Dagobert	M
May his avarice wither him like a curse	M
I guess he has heard of our late reverse	M
But Rudolph whether he goes or stays	M
There is reason in what Jarl Osric says	M
Of provisions we need a fresh supply	E2
And our butts and flasks are shallow or dry	E2
My men are beginning to grumble sadly	M
'Tis no wonder since they must fare so badly	M
	-
Rudolph	O2
We have plenty of foragers out and still	T3
We have plenty of hungry mouths to fill	T3
And moreover by some means foul or fair	J3
We must raise money 'tis little I care	J3
So long as we raise it whence it comes	M
	-
Osric	M
Shall we sit till nightfall biting our thumbs	M
The shortest plan is ever the best	M
Has anyone here got aught to suggest	M
	-
Orion	D
The cornfields are golden that skirt the Rhine	D
Fat are the oxen strong is the wine	D
In those pleasant pastures those cellars deep	X3
That o'erflow with the tears that those vineyards weep	X3
Is it silver you stand in need of or gold	M
Ingot or coin There is wealth untold	M
In the ancient convent of Englemehr	J3
That is not so very far from here	J3
The Abbot esteem'd a holy man	D
Will hold what he has and grasp what he can	D
The cream of the soil he loves to skim	W3
Why not levy a contribution on him	W3
	-
Dagobert	M
The stranger speaks well not far away	M
That convent lies and one summer's day	M
Will suffice for a horseman to reach the gate	M
The garrison soon would capitulate	M
Since the armed retainers are next to none	D
And the walls I wot may be quickly won	D
	-
Rudolph	O2
I kept those walls for two months or more	J3
When they feared the riders of Melchior	J3
That was little over three years ago	M
Their Abbot is thrifty as well I know	M
He haggled sorely about the price	M
Of our service	M
	-
Dagobert Rudolph he paid thee twice	M
	-
Rudolph	O2
Well what of that Since then I've tried	M
To borrow from him now I know he lied	M
When he told me he could not spare the sum	W3
I asked If we to his gates should come	W3
He could spare it though it were doubled and still	T3
This war with the Church I like it ill	T3
	-
Osric	M
The creed of our fathers is well nigh dead	M
And the creed of the Christian reigns in its stead	M
But the creed of the Christian too may die	M
For your creeds or your churches what care I	M
If there be plunder at Englemehr	J3
Let us strike our tents and thitherward steer	J3
	-
	-
SCENE A Farm house on the Rhine About a mile from the Convent	M
	-
Hugo in chamber alone Enter Eric	M
	-
	-
Eric	M
What Hugo still at the Rhine I thought	M
You were home You have travell'd by stages short	M
	-
Hugo with hesitation	D
Our homeward march was labour in vain	D
We had to retrace our steps again	D
It was here or hereabouts that I lost	M
Some papers of value at any cost	M
I must find them and which way lies your course	M
	-
Eric	M
I go to recruit Prince Otto's force	M
I cannot study as you do I	M
Am wearied with inactivity	M
So I carry a blade engrim'd with rust	M
That a hand sloth slacken'd has I trust	M
Not quite forgotten the way to wield	M
To strike once more on the tented field	M
	-
Hugo	M
Fighting is all a mistake friend Eric	M
And has been so since the age Homeric	M
When Greece was shaken and Troy undone	D
Ten thousand lives for a worthless one	D
Yet I blame you not you might well do worse	M
Better fight and perish than live to curse	M
The day y	-

Adam Lindsay Gordon

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