_Some Maidens_
Will they ever come to me, ever again,
The long long dances,
On through the dark till the dim stars wane?
Shall I feel the dew on my throat, and the stream
Of wind in my hair? Shall our white feet gleam
In the dim expanses?
Oh, feet of a fawn to the greenwood fled,
Alone in the grass and the loveliness;
Leap of the hunted, no more in dread,
Beyond the snares and the deadly press:
Yet a voice still in the distance sounds,
A voice and a fear and a haste of hounds;
O wildly labouring, fiercely fleet,
Onward yet by river and glen ...
Is it joy or terror, ye storm-swift feet? ...
To the dear lone lands untroubled of men,
Where no voice sounds, and amid the shadowy green
The little things of the woodland live unseen.
What else is Wisdom? What of man's endeavour
Or God's high grace, so lovely and so great?
To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait;
To hold a hand uplifted over Hate;
And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever?
_Others_
O Strength of God, slow art thou and still,
Yet failest never!
On them that worship the Ruthless Will,
On them that dream, doth His judgment wait.
Dreams of the proud man, making great
And greater ever,
Things which are not of God. In wide
And devious coverts, hunter-wise,
He coucheth Time's unhasting stride,
Following, following, him whose eyes
Look not to Heaven. For all is vain,
The pulse of the heart, the plot of the brain,
That striveth beyond the laws that live.
And is thy Fate so much to give,
Is it so hard a thing to see,
That the Spirit of God, whate'er it be,
The Law that abides and changes not, ages long,
The Eternal and Nature-born--these things be strong?
What else is Wisdom? What of man's endeavour
Or God's high grace so lovely and so great?
To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait;
To hold a hand uplifted over Hate;
And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever?
LEADER
Happy he, on the weary sea
Who hath fled the tempest and won the haven.
Happy whoso hath risen, free,
Above his striving. For strangely graven
Is the orb of life, that one and another
In gold and power may outpass his brother,
And men in their millions float and flow
And seethe with a million hopes as leaven;
And they win their Will, or they miss their Will,
And the hopes are dead or are pined for still,
But whoe'er can know,
As the long days go,
That To Live is happy, hath found his Heaven!
[_Re-enter_ DIONYSUS, _from the Castle_]
DIONYSUS
O eye that cravest sights thou must not see,
O heart athirst for that which slakes not! Thee,
Pentheus, I call; forth and be seen, in guise
Of woman, Maenad, saint of Dionyse,
To spy upon His Chosen and thine own
Mother!
[_Enter_ PENTHEUS, _clad like a Bacchanal, and strangely excited,
a spirit of Bacchic madness overshadowing him._]
Thy shape, methinks, is like to one
Of Cadmus' royal maids!
PENTHEUS
Yea; and mine eye
Is bright! Yon sun shines twofold in the sky,
Thebes twofold and the Wall of Seven Gates....
And is it a Wild Bull this, that walks and waits
Before me? There are horns upon thy brow!
What art thou, man or beast! For surely now
The Bull is on thee!
DIONYSUS
He who erst was wrath,
Goes with us now in gentleness. He hath
Unsealed thine eyes to see what thou shouldst see.
PENTHEUS
Say; stand I not as Ino stands, or she
Who bore me?
DIONYSUS
When I look on thee, it seems
I see their very selves!--But stay; why streams
That lock abroad, not where I laid it, crossed
Under the coif?
PENTHEUS
I did it, as I tossed
My head in dancing, to and fro, and cried
His holy music!
DIONYSUS (_tending him_)
It shall soon be tied
Aright. 'Tis mine to tend thee. . . . Nay, but stand
With head straight.
PENTHEUS
In the hollow of thine hand
I lay me. Deck me as thou wilt.
DIONYSUS
Thy zone
Is loosened likewise; and the folded gown
Not evenly falling to the feet.
PENTHEUS
'Tis so,
By the right foot. But here methinks, they flow
In one straight line to the heel.
DIONYSUS (_while tending him_)
And if thou prove
Their madness true, aye, more than true, what love
And thanks hast thou for me?
PENTHEUS (_not listening to him_)
In my right hand
Is it, or thus, that I should bear the wand
To be most like to them?
DIONYSUS
Up let it swing
In the right hand, timed with the right foot's spring....
'Tis well thy heart is changed!
PENTHEUS (_more wildly_)
What strength is this!
Kithaeron's steeps and all that in them is--
How say'st thou?--Could my shoulders lift the whole?
DIONYSUS
Surely thou canst, and if thou wilt! Thy soul,
Being once so sick, now stands as it should stand.
PENTHEUS
Shall it be bars of iron? Or this bare hand
And shoulder to the crags, to wrench them down?
DIONYSUS
Wouldst wreck the Nymphs' wild temples, and the brown
Rocks, where Pan pipes at noonday?
PENTHEUS
Nay; not I!
Force is not well with women. I will lie
Hid in the pine-brake.
DIONYSUS
Even as fits a spy
On holy and fearful things, so shalt thou lie!
PENTHEUS (_with a laugh_)
They lie there now, methinks--the wild birds, caught
By love among the leaves, and fluttering not!
DIONYSUS
It may be. That is what thou goest to see,
Aye, and to trap them--so they trap not thee!
PENTHEUS
Forth through the Thebans' town! I am their king,
Aye, their one Man, seeing I dare this thing!
DIONYSUS
Yea, thou shalt bear their burden, thou alone;
Therefore thy trial awaiteth thee!--But on;
With me into thine ambush shalt thou come
Unscathed; then let another bear thee home!
PENTHEUS
The Queen, my mother.
DIONYSUS
Marked of every eye.
PENTHEUS
For that I go!
DIONYSUS
Thou shalt be borne on high!
PENTHEUS
That were like pride!
DIONYSUS
Thy mother's hands shall share
Thy carrying.
PENTHEUS
Nay; I need not such soft care!
DIONYSUS
So soft?
PENTHEUS
Whate'er it be, I have earned it well!
[_Exit_ PENTHEUS _towards the Mountain._]
DIONYSUS
Fell, fell art thou; and to a doom so fell
Thou walkest, that thy name from South to North
Shall shine, a sign for ever!--Reach thou forth
Thine arms, Agâvê, now, and ye dark-browed
Cadmeian sisters! Greet this prince so proud
To the high ordeal, where save God and me,
None walks unscathed!--The rest this day shall see.
[_Exit_ DIONYSUS _following_ PENTHEUS.]