Samuel Coleridge - The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

That I have struck the innocent babe in anger. 225

Teresa. O Heaven! it is too horrible to hear.

Alhadra. What was it then to suffer? ‘Tis most right

That such as you should hear it. — Know you not,

What nature makes you mourn, she bids you heal?

Great evils ask great passions to redress them, 230

And whirlwinds fitliest scatter pestilence.

Teresa. You were at length released?

Alhadra. Yes, at length

I saw the blessed arch of the whole heaven!

‘Twas the first time my infant smiled. No more —

For if I dwell upon that moment, Lady, 235

A trance comes on which makes me o’er again

All I then was — my knees hang loose and drag,

And my lip falls with such an idiot laugh,

That you would start and shudder!

Teresa. But your husband —

Alhadra. A month’s imprisonment would kill him, Lady. 240

Teresa. Alas, poor man!

Alhadra. He hath a lion’s courage,

Fearless in act, but feeble in endurance;

Unfit for boisterous times, with gentle heart

He worships nature in the hill and valley,

Not knowing what he loves, but loves it all — 245

Enter ALVAR disguised as a Moresco, and in Moorish garments.

Teresa. Know you that stately Moor?

Alhadra. I know him not:

But doubt not he is some Moresco chieftain,

Who hides himself among the Alpujarras.

Teresa. The Alpujarras? Does he know his danger,

So near this seat?

Alhadra. He wears the Moorish robes too, 250

As in defiance of the royal edict.

[ALHADRA advances to ALVAR, who has walked to the back

of the stage, near the rocks. TERESA drops her

veil.

Alhadra. Gallant Moresco! An inquisitor,

Monviedro, of known hatred to our race ——

Alvar. You have mistaken me. I am a Christian.

Alhadra. He deems, that we are plotting to ensnare him: 255

Speak to him, Lady — none can hear you speak,

And not believe you innocent of guile.

Teresa. If aught enforce you to concealment, Sir —

Alhadra. He trembles strangely.

[ALVAR sinks down and hides his face in his robe.

Teresa. See, we have disturbed him.

[Approaches nearer to him.

I pray you, think us friends — uncowl your face, 260

For you seem faint, and the night-breeze blows healing.

I pray you, think us friends!

Alvar (raising his head). Calm, very calm!

‘Tis all too tranquil for reality!

And she spoke to me with her innocent voice, 265

That voice, that innocent voice! She is no traitress!

Teresa. Let us retire (haughtily to Alhadra).

Alhadra. He is indeed a Christian.

Alvar (aside). She deems me dead, yet wears no mourning garment!

Why should my brother’s — wife — wear mourning garments? 270

[To TERESA.

Your pardon, noble dame! that I disturbed you:

I had just started from a frightful dream.

Teresa. Dreams tell but of the past, and yet, ‘tis said,

They prophesy —

Alvar. The Past lives o’er again

In its effects, and to the guilty spirit 275

The ever-frowning Present is its image.

Teresa. Traitress! (Then aside.)

What sudden spell o’ermasters me?

Why seeks he me, shunning the Moorish woman?

Alvar. I dreamt I had a friend, on whom I leant

With blindest trust, and a betrothéd maid, 280

Whom I was wont to call not mine, but me:

For mine own self seem’d nothing, lacking her.

This maid so idolized, that trusted friend

Dishonoured in my absence, soul and body!

Fear, following guilt, tempted to blacker guilt, 285

And murderers were suborned against my life.

But by my looks, and most impassioned words,

I roused the virtues that are dead in no man,

Even in the assassins’ hearts! they made their terms,

And thanked me for redeeming them from murder. 290

Alhadra. You are lost in thought: hear him no more, sweet Lady!

Teresa. From morn to night I am myself a dreamer,

And slight things bring on me the idle mood!

Well sir, what happened then?

Alvar. On a rude rock,

A rock, methought, fast by a grove of firs, 295

Whose thready leaves to the low-breathing gale

Made a soft sound most like the distant ocean,

I stayed, as though the hour of death were passed,

And I were sitting in the world of spirits —

For all things seemed unreal! There I sate — 300

The dews fell clammy, and the night descended,

Black, sultry, close! and ere the midnight hour

A storm came on, mingling all sounds of fear,

That woods, and sky, and mountains, seemed one havock.

The second flash of lightning shewed a tree 305

Hard by me, newly scathed. I rose tumultuous:

My soul worked high, I bared my head to the storm,

And with loud voice and clamorous agony,

Kneeling I prayed to the great Spirit that made me,

Prayed, that Remorse might fasten on their hearts, 310

And cling with poisonous tooth, inextricable

As the gored lion’s bite!

Teresa. A fearful curse!

Alhadra. But dreamt you not that you returned and killed them?

Dreamt you of no revenge?

Alvar. She would have died

Died in her guilt — perchance by her own hands! 315

And bending o’er her self-inflicted wounds,

I might have met the evil glance of frenzy,

And leapt myself into an unblest grave!

I prayed for the punishment that cleanses hearts:

For still I loved her!

Alhadra. And you dreamt all this? 320

Teresa. My soul is full of visions all as wild!

Alhadra. There is no room in this heart for puling love-tales.

Teresa (lifts up her veil, and advances to Alvar). Stranger,

farewell! I guess not who you are,

Nor why you so addressed your tale to me.

Your mien is noble, and, I own, perplexed me, 325

With obscure memory of something past,

Which still escaped my efforts, or presented

Tricks of a fancy pampered with long wishing.

If, as it sometimes happens, our rude startling,

Whilst your full heart was shaping out its dream, 330

Drove you to this, your not ungentle, wildness —

You have my sympathy, and so farewell!

But if some undiscovered wrongs oppress you,

And you need strength to drag them into light,

The generous Valdez, and my Lord Ordonio, 335

Have arm and will to aid a noble sufferer,

Nor shall you want my favourable pleading.

[Exeunt TERESA and ALHADRA.

Alvar (alone). ‘Tis strange! It cannot be! my Lord Ordonio!

Her Lord Ordonio! Nay, I will not do it!

I cursed him once — and one curse is enough! 340

How sad she looked, and pale! but not like guilt —

And her calm tones — sweet as a song of mercy!

If the bad spirit retain’d his angel’s voice,

Hell scarce were Hell. And why not innocent?

Who meant to murder me, might well cheat her? 345

But ere she married him, he had stained her honour;

Ah! there I am hampered. What if this were a lie

Framed by the assassin? Who should tell it him,

If it were truth? Ordonio would not tell him.

Yet why one lie? all else, I know, was truth. 350

No start, no jealousy of stirring conscience!

And she referred to me — fondly, methought!

Could she walk here if she had been a traitress?

Here where we played together in our childhood?

Here where we plighted vows? where her cold cheek 355

Received my last kiss, when with suppressed feelings

She had fainted in my arms? It cannot be!

‘Tis not in nature! I will die believing,

That I shall meet her where no evil is,

No treachery, no cup dashed from the lips. 360

I’ll haunt this scene no more! live she in peace!

Her husband — aye her husband! May this angel