|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 84
I see now this "vile blood" was yours, my friend, and that of brave men
like you. Cursed be those who forced us to fight together!
Hussar. Cursed be the contrivers of War!
War (_advancing_). Shame on you, degraded warriors! Your very
wives would disown you. (_The_ Dead _gaze fixedly._) You are
silent! What have you to answer?
Peace. The Dead do not reply. (_Points with her hand to the
stage entrance._) These shall answer for them.
_Enter_ Four Veiled Women.
[_One of the_ Veiled Women _slowly advances. When in front of
the stage she lifts her veil, and is seen by the audience. The others
afterwards do the same._
First Woman. Oh, my brother! where are you now? If you are ill,
who nurses you? If you are wounded, who watches over you? If you are a
prisoner, who comforts you? If you are dead--Alas! every night I go to
rest weeping, because I have had no news of you; and every morning I
awake dreading to receive it. We were so happy! We lived so comfortably
together! and now I sit at our little table, with your empty place
before me, and cannot eat for looking at it. Yet I made you promise to
come back when we said good-bye. Ah! unkind! Why are you so long in
fulfilling your promise?
[_She closes her veil and crosses to one side of the stage. The others
afterwards do the same._
Grenadier. It is my sister, friends. She is repeating the words
of our last adieu.
Second Woman. Oh, my father! why have you left your child?
Alas! when you went away I played--poor fool!--with your brilliant
uniform. (Dark livery of death, would that I had never seen thee!) I
said I should be proud of you when you came back to me, having killed a
great many of your enemies. Child that I was to speak of killing, not
knowing what it meant! And now, when will you return? What have they
done with you, dear Father? What has become of that revered head, which
my lips never approached but with respect? Perhaps at this very moment
it is dragged, all stained and livid, through the dust or in the mud.
Oh, God! if my prayers may still avail for him, withdraw him
speedily from those frightful conflicts, where every blow falls upon a
father, a son, a brother, or a husband. Pity the many tears that flow
for every drop of blood!
Highlander. It is my daughter! I yet hear the last farewell
her innocent mouth sent after me.
Third Woman. Oh, my beloved! where can I go to look for you?
Little did we think, when we vowed before God never in this
life to forsake each other, that War would come and carry you away as a
leaf is driven before the wind. Perhaps at this moment you are stretched
upon an armful of bloody straw, and other hands than mine dress your
glorious wounds. Ah, miserable me! of what does my tender jealousy
complain? Who knows if you are not by this time safe from wounds for
ever? Oh, my God! if Thou hast taken him, take me also. I
promised to follow him when I received his parting kiss.
Hussar. It is my wife beyond a doubt! I recognize the words her
sweet voice murmured that very day in my ear.
Fourth Woman. I said, "Go, and bear yourself like a man." He
went, and he has not returned. Ah, merciless tigers! we rear our
children with fear and weeping. We pass whole nights bent over their
little cradles, and when we have made men of them you come and take them
away from us that you may send them to death. And we, miserable women!
must encourage them to die if we would not have them dishonoured. Poor
dear boy! so strong! so handsome! so good to his mother! Ah! if there be
a God of vengeance, surely the cries of desolate mothers will
allow no sleep to those who provoke such massacres. They will haunt them
to the grave, and rise behind them to the foot of that throne where the
great Judge of all awaits them.
[_She buries her face in her hands._
Cossack. It is my mother! I recognize her last words. (_He
springs towards her_.) It is I, Mother, it is I! (_She raises her
head_.) What do I see? A stranger! and it is an Englishwoman!
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|