SCENE VIII.

LUIS.

LUIS. A most opportune occasion

To my hands has fortune offered;

Since Heaven knows that all the show

Of apparent love and fondness

Which I proffered to Polonia

Was assumed, it being my object

She should go with me, where I,

Seizing on the gold and costly

Gems she carries, so might issue

From this Babylonian bondage.

For although in my person

Was esteemed and duly honoured,

Still 'twas slavery after all,

And my free wild life was longing

For that liberty, heaven's best gift,

Which I had enjoyed so often.

But a great embarrassment

And a hindrance were a woman

For the end I have in view,

Since in me is love a folly

That ne'er passes appetite,

Which being satisfied, no longer

Care I for a woman's presence,

How so fair or so accomplished.

And since thus my disposition

Is so free, of what importance

Is a murder more or less?

At my hands must die Polonia

For her loving at a time

When there's no one loved or honoured.

Had she loved as others love,

Then she would have lived as others.

[Exit.

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The Purgatory of St. Patrick · 第 7 / 18 章