Act II: Scene II

(Enter Pauline)

PAUL.Yes, that debt I pay,Hard--wrung, acquitted,--his my love alway!Who has my hand, he holds--shall hold--my heart!Truth is my guide,--let sophistry depart!Had Fate been kind, then had Pauline been thine,Heart, faith and duty, linked with bliss divine.In vain had fickle Fortune barred the way,Want had been wealth with thee, my guide, my stay,And poverty had fallen from the wingsOf soaring love, who mocks the wealth of kings!Not mine to choose, for he--my father's choice--Must needs be mine; yes, when I heard his voice,Duty must echo be: if thou couldst castBefore my feet an emperor's crown,--a pastBy worth and glory lit--beloved, adored--Yet at my father's word, 'Not this thy lord;Take one despised--nay, loathed--to share thy bed,'--Him, and not thee, beloved, would I wed.Duty, obedience, must have been the partOf me, who own their sway, e'en with a broken heart!

SEV.O happy thou! O easy remedy!One poor faint sigh cures love's infirmity!Thy heart thy tool, o'er every passion queen,Beyond all change and chance thou sit'st serene!In easy flow can pass thy love new-bornFrom cold indifference to colder scorn;Such resolution is the equal mateOf god or monster, love, aversion, hate.This fine-spun adamant Ithuriel's spearCould never pierce: for other stuff is here!(Points to himself.)No faint 'Alas!' no swift-repented sighCan heal the cureless wound from which I die.Sure, reason finds that love his easy preyWith Lethe aye at hand to point the way;With ordered fires like thine, I too could smotherA heart in leash, find solace in another.Too fair, too dear--from whom the Fates me sever!Thou hast no heart to give--thou lov'dst me never!

PAUL.Too plain, Severus, I my torture show,--Tho' flame leap up no more, the embers glow;Far other speech and voice, and mien were mine,Could I forget that once thou call'dst me thine!Tho' reason rules, yes, gains the masteryNo queen benignant, but a tyrant she!Oh, if I conquer--if the strife I gain,Yet memory for aye is linked with pain!I feel the charm that binds me still to thee;If duty great, yet great thy worth to me:I see thee still the same, who waked the fireWhich waked in me ineffable desire.Begirt by crown of everlasting fameThou art more glorious--yet art still the same.I know thy valour's worth,--well hast thou justifiedThat bounding hope of mine, though fruitage was denied,Yet this same fate which did our union banHath made me, fated--wed another man.Let Duty still be queen! Yea, let her breakThe heart she pierces, yet can never shake.The virtue, once thy pride in days gone byDoth that same worth now merit blasphemy?Bewail her bitter fruit--but praised beThe rights that triumph over thee and me!

SEV.Forgive, Pauline, forgive; ah! grief hath made me blindTo all but grief's excess, and fortune most unkind.Forgive that I mistook--nay, treated as a crimeThy constancy of soul, unequalled and sublime;In pity for my life forlorn, my peace denied,Ah! show thyself less fair,--one least perfection hide!Let some alloy be seen, some saving weakness left,Take pity on a heart of thee and Heaven bereft!One faintest flaw reveal, to give my soul relief!Else, how to bear the love that only mates with grief?

PAUL.Alas! the rents in armour donned and provedToo well my fight proclaim; yes, I have loved;The traitor sigh, the tear unbid, attestThe combat fierce--the warrior sore distrest.Say, who can stanch these wounds, that armour mend?Thou who hast pierced, thou, thou alone defend!Ah, if thou honourest my victoryDepart, that thou may'st still defender be!So dry the tears that, to my shame, still flow--So quench the fire would work my overthrow!Yes, go, my only friend, with me combineTo end my torture, for thy pain is mine!

SEV.This last poor drop of comfort may not be?

PAUL.The cup is poisoned both for me and thee!

SEV.The flower is gone--I cherish but the root!

PAUL.Untimely blossom bears a fated fruit!

SEV.My grief be mine! Let memory remain!

PAUL.That grief might hope beget, so leave a stain!

SEV.Not mine to stain what Heaven hath made so pure!For me one offering left: 'tis this: Endure!Thy glory shall be mine, my load I bear,So, spotless, thou thy peerless crown shalt wear!Farewell, my love, farewell; I go to prove my faith,To bless, to save thy life, so will I mate with death!If prostrate from the blow, there yet remains of lifeEnough to summon death, and end the piteous strife!

PAUL.My grief, too deep for voice, shall silent be,There, in my chamber, will I pray for thee!When thou art gone, great Heaven shall hear my cry;Grief's fruit for thee be hope--death--immortality!

SEV.Now with my loss alone let Fate contented be.May Heaven shower bliss and peace on Polyeucte and thee!

PAUL.Stern Fate obeyed, end, Death, his agony,And Jove receive my hero--to the sky!

SEV.Thou wast my heaven!

PAUL.My father I obeyed--

SEV.O victim pure, obedient, undismayed!Pauline--too fair--too dear--I can no more!

PAUL.So must I say--depart--where I adore!

(Exit Severus.)