Gives some resemblance of her own concernsTo the straws of chance, and things inanimate.
I seek her here; stand thou upon the watch. 15
[Exit Moresco.
Naomi (looking wistfully to the distance). Stretch’d on the rock!
It must be she — Alhadra!
[ALHADRA rises from the rock, and advances slowly,
as if musing.
Naomi. Once more, well met! what ponder’st thou so deeply?
Alhadra. I scarce can tell thee! For my many thoughts
Troubled me, till with blank and naked mind
I only listen’d to the dashing billows. 20
It seems to me, I could have closed my eyes
And wak’d without a dream of what has pass’d;
So well it counterfeited quietness,
This wearied heart of mine!
Naomi. ‘Tis thus by nature
Wisely ordain’d, that so excess of sorrow 25
Might bring its own cure with it.
Alhadra. Would to Heaven
That it had brought its last and certain cure!
That ruin in the wood.
Naomi. It is a place
Of ominous fame; but ‘twas the shortest road,
Nor could we else have kept clear of the village. 30
Yet some among us, as they scal’d the wall,
Mutter’d old rhyming prayers.
Alhadra. On that broad wall
I saw a skull; a poppy grew beside it,
There was a ghastly solace in the sight!
Naomi. I mark’d it not, and in good truth the night-bird 35
Curdled my blood, even till it prick’d the heart.
Its note comes dreariest in the fall of the year:
[Looking round impatiently.
Why don’t they come? I will go forth and meet them.
[Exit NAOMI.
Alhadra (alone). The hanging woods, that touch’d by autumn
seem’d
As they were blossoming hues of fire and gold, 40
The hanging woods, most lovely in decay,
The many clouds, the sea, the rock, the sands,
Lay in the silent moonshine; and the owl,
(Strange! very strange!) the scritch owl only wak’d,
Sole voice, sole eye of all that world of beauty! 45
Why such a thing am I! Where are these men?
I need the sympathy of human faces
To beat away this deep contempt for all things
Which quenches my revenge. Oh! — would to Alla
The raven and the sea-mew were appointed 50
To bring me food, or rather that my soul
Could drink in life from the universal air!
It were a lot divine in some small skiff,
Along some ocean’s boundless solitude,
To float for ever with a careless course, 55
And think myself the only being alive! [NAOMI re-enters.
Naomi. Thy children ——
Alhadra. Children? Whose children?
[A pause — then fiercely.
Son of Velez,
This hath new-strung my arm! Thou coward tyrant,
To stupify a woman’s heart with anguish, 60
Till she forgot even that she was a mother!
[A noise — enter a part of the Morescoes; and from the
opposite side of the stage a Moorish Seaman.
Moorish Seaman. The boat is on the shore, the vessel waits.
Your wives and children are already stow’d;
I left them prattling of the Barbary coast,
Of Mosks, and minarets, and golden crescents. 65
Each had her separate dream; but all were gay,
Dancing, in thought, to finger-beaten timbrels!
[Enter MAURICE and the rest of the Morescoes
dragging in FRANCESCO.
Francesco. O spare me, spare me! only spare my life!
An Old Man. All hail, Alhadra! O that thou hadst heard him
When first we dragg’d him forth! [Then turning to the band.
Here! in her presence —— 70
[He advances with his sword as about to kill him. MAURICE
leaps in and stands with his drawn sword between
FRANCESCO and the Morescoes.
Maurice. Nay, but ye shall not!
Old Man. Shall not? Hah? Shall not?
Maurice. What, an unarm’d man?
A man that never wore a sword? A priest?
It is unsoldierly! I say, ye shall not!
Old Man (turning to the bands). He bears himself most like an
insolent Spaniard! 75
Maurice. And ye like slaves, that have destroy’d their master,
But know not yet what freedom means; how holy
And just a thing it is! He’s a fallen foe!
