THE SIEGE



Put courage in thy heart to gender wings
That we may dart as swallows to the sun
And tread the rosy air where love may breathe!
  Ara. My lord
  Aris.     Come! come! Greece is our home of light.
There you, my wife, shall rule a lesser heaven
And tutor souls for God's. [She turns to go]
                       One moment hear me!
You love me, Aratea.
  Ara.             Fare you well.
  Aris. [Against the curtains] First say thou lovest me!
                   Dost thou not hear
A voice at night when calm Eirene leads
Sleep to all eyes but thine
  Ara.                  Have mercy, sir!
  Ami. What leap of soul or dream of sense hast thou
That is not sweeter for you hold me dear
When Theia's daughter, priestess gray, unhoods
Her morning face, and all her clouds of rose
With flying petals light the waking world,
Does not your ecstasy swim on the flood
Of my remembered eyes, and their delight
Re-jewel beauty's diadem
  Ara.                  I beg-
  Aris. When throbbing wonders of a dying sun
Trail off their glories like escaping souls,
And Night with lustred heaven round her neck
Lures up immensities, whose spirit longs
Through all your longings till it leads your own
To crowned and still content
  Ara.                     Will you not go
  Aris. And when thy gaze is on the sibyl sea,
Striving to read her ancient wave-writ script,
And break the seal a differing language sets



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