Each drop will be a tear, and so
Will with its saltness make life very bitter.
guido
I pray you speak no more, for I must go
Forth from your life and love, and make a way
On which you cannot follow.
duchess
I have heard
That sailors dying of thirst upon a raft,
Poor castaways upon a lonely sea,
Dream of green fields and pleasant water-courses,
And then wake up with red thirst in their throats,
And die more miserably because sleep
Has cheated them: so they die cursing sleep
For having sent them dreams: I will not curse you
Though I am cast away upon the sea
Which men call Desolation.
·72· guido
O God, God!
duchess
But you will stay: listen, I love you, Guido.
[She waits a little.]
Is echo dead, that when I say I love you
There is no answer?
guido
Everything is dead,
Save one thing only, which shall die to-night!
duchess
If you are going, touch me not, but go.
[Exit Guido.]
Barrier! Barrier!
Why did he say there was a barrier?
There is no barrier between us two.
He lied to me, and shall I for that reason
Loathe what I love, and what I worshipped, hate?
I think we women do not love like that.
For if I cut his image from my heart,
My heart would, like a bleeding pilgrim, follow
·73· That image through the world, and call it back
With little cries of love.
[Enter Duke equipped for the chase, with falconers and hounds.]
duke
Madam, you keep us waiting;
You keep my dogs waiting.
duchess
I will not ride to-day.
duke
How now, what’s this?
duchess
My Lord, I cannot go.
duke
What, pale face, do you dare to stand against me?
Why, I could set you on a sorry jade
And lead you through the town, till the low rabble
You feed toss up their hats and mock at you.
duchess
Have you no word of kindness ever for me?
·74· duke
I hold you in the hollow of my hand
And have no need on you to waste kind words.
duchess
Well, I will go.
duke [slapping his boot with his whip]
No, I have changed my mind,
You will stay here, and like a faithful wife
Watch from the window for our coming back.
Were it not dreadful if some accident
By chance should happen to your loving Lord?
Come, gentlemen, my hounds begin to chafe,
And I chafe too, having a patient wife.
Where is young Guido?
maffio
My liege, I have not seen him
For a full hour past.
duke
It matters not,
I dare say I shall see him soon enough.
Well, Madam, you will sit at home and spin.
I do protest, sirs, the domestic virtues
Are often very beautiful in others.
[Exit Duke with his Court.]
·75· duchess
The stars have fought against me, that is all,
And thus to-night when my Lord lieth asleep,
Will I fall upon my dagger, and so cease.
My heart is such a stone nothing can reach it
Except the dagger’s edge: let it go there,
To find what name it carries: ay! to-night
Death will divorce the Duke; and yet to-night
He may die also, he is very old.
Why should he not die? Yesterday his hand
Shook with a palsy: men have died from palsy,
And why not he? Are there not fevers also,
Agues and chills, and other maladies
Most incident to old age?
No,
