Selected Poems (93 page)

For this last is a malady which slays

More than are number’d in the lists of Fate,

Taking all shapes, and bearing many names.

Look upon me! for even of all these things

150

Have I partaken; and of all these things,

One were enough; then wonder not that I

Am what I am, but that I ever was,

Or having been, that I am still on earth.

ABBOT
: Yet, hear me still —

MANFRED
:Old man! I do respect

155

Thine order, and revere thine years; I deem

Thy purpose pious, but it is in vain:

Think me not churlish; I would spare thyself,

Far more than me, in shunning at this time

All further colloquy – and so – farewell.

[
Exit
MANFRED
.]

160

ABBOT
: This should have been a noble creature: he

Hath all the energy which would have made

A goodly frame of glorious elements,

Had they been wisely mingled; as it is,

It is an awful chaos — light and darkness —

165

And mind and dust – and passions and pure thoughts

Mix’d, and contending without end or order,

All dormant or destructive: he will perish,

And yet he must not; I will try once more,

For such are worth redemption; and my duty

170

Is to dare all things for a righteous end.

I’ll follow him – but cautiously, though surely.

[
Exit
ABBOT
.]

SCENE II

Another Chamber.

[
MANFRED
and
HERMAN
.]

HERMAN
: My lord, you bade me wait on you at sunset:

He sinks behind the mountain.

MANFRED
:Doth he so?

I will look on him.

[
MANFRED
advances to the Window of the Hall
.]

Glorious Orb! the idol

Of early nature, and the vigorous race

5

Of undiseased mankind, the giant sons
¹

Of the embrace of angels, with a sex

More beautiful than they, which did draw down

The erring spirits who can ne’er return. –

Most glorious orb! that wert a worship, ere

10

The mystery of thy making was reveal’d!

Thou earliest minister of the Almighty,

Which gladden’d, on their mountain tops, the hearts

Of the Chaldean shepherds, till they pour’d

Themselves in orisons! Thou material God!

15

And representative of the Unknown –

Who chose thee for his shadow! Thou chief star!

Centre of many stars! which mak’st our earth

Endurable, and temperest the hues

And hearts of all who walk within thy rays!

20

Sire of the seasons! Monarch of the climes,

And those who dwell in them! for near or far,

Our inborn spirits have a tint of thee

Even as our outward aspects; — thou dost rise,

And shine, and set in glory. Fare thee well!

25

I ne’er shall see thee more. As my first glance

Of love and wonder was for thee, then take

My latest look: thou wilt not beam on one

To whom the gifts of life and warmth have been

Of a more fatal nature. He is gone:

30

I follow.

[
Exit
MANFRED
.]

SCENE III

The Mountains — The Castle of Manfred at some distance — A Terrace before a Tower. — Time, Twilight.

[
HERMAN
,
MANUEL
,
and other Dependants of
MANFRED
.]

HERMAN
: ’Tis strange enough; night after night, for years,

He hath pursued long vigils in this tower,

Without a witness. I have been within it, –

So have we all been oft-times; but from it,

5

Or its contents, it were impossible

To draw conclusions absolute, of aught

His studies tend to. To be sure, there is

One chamber where none enter: I would give

The fee of what I have to come these three years,

10

To pore upon its mysteries.

MANUEL
:’Twere dangerous;

Content thyself with what thou know’st already.

HERMAN
: Ah! Manuel! thou art elderly and wise,

And couldst say much; thou hast dwelt within the castle –

How many years is’t?

MANUEL
: Ere Count Manfred’s birth,

15

I served his father, whom he nought resembles.

HERMAN
: There be more sons in like predicament.

But wherein do they differ?

MANUEL
:I speak not

Of features or of form, but mind and habits;

Count Sigismund was proud, – but gay and free, -

20

A warrior and a reveller; he dwelt not

With books and solitude, nor made the night

A gloomy vigil, but a festal time,

Merrier than day; he did not walk the rocks

And forests like a wolf, nor turn aside

25

From men and their delights.

HERMAN
:Beshrew the hour,

But those were jocund times! I would that such

Would visit the old walls again; they look

As if they had forgotten them.

MANUEL
: These walls

Must change their chieftain first. Oh! I have seen

30

Some strange things in them, Herman.

HERMAN
:Come, be friendly;

Relate me some to while away our watch:

I’ve heard thee darkly speak of an event

Which happen’d hereabouts, by this same tower.

MANUEL
: That was a night indeed! I do remember

35

’Twas twilight, as it may be now, and such

Another evening; – yon red cloud, which rests

On Eigher’s pinnacle, so rested then, –

So like that it might be the same; the wind

Was faint and gusty, and the mountain snows

40

Began to glitter with the climbing moon;

Count Manfred was, as now, within his tower, –

How occupied, we knew not, but with him

The sole companion of his wanderings

And watchings – her, whom of all earthly things

45

That lived, the only thing he seem’d to love, —

As he, indeed, by blood was bound to do,

The lady Astarte, his —

Hush! who comes here?

[
Enter the
ABBOT
.]

ABBOT
: Where is your master?

HERMAN
:Yonder in the tower.

ABBOT
: I must speak with him.

MANUEL
:’Tis impossible;

50

He is most private, and must not be thus

Intruded on.

ABBOT
:Upon myself I take

The forfeit of my fault, if fault there be –

But I must see him.

HERMAN
:Thou hast seen him once

This eve already.

ABBOT
:Herman! I command thee,

55

Knock, and apprize the Count of my approach.

HERMAN
: We dare not.

ABBOT
:Then it seems I must be herald

Of my own purpose.

MANUEL
:Reverend father, stop –

I pray you pause.

ABBOT
:Why so?

MANUEL
:But step this way,

And I will tell you further.

[
Exeunt.
]

SCENE
IV

Interior of the Tower.

[
MANFRED
alone
.]

The stars are forth, the moon above the tops

Of the snow-shining mountains. — Beautiful!

I linger yet with Nature, for the night

Hath been to me a more familiar face

5

Than that of man; and in her starry shade

Of dim and solitary loveliness,

I learn’d the language of another world.

I do remember me, that in my youth,

When I was wandering, – upon such a night

10

I stood within the Coliseum’s wall,

Midst the chief relics of almighty Rome;

The trees which grew along the broken arches