The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume I Part 103

PHORKYAS

Nathless 'tis said thou didst in two-fold shape appear; Seen within Ilion's walls, and seen in Egypt too.

HELENA

Confuse thou not my brain, distraught and desolate!

Here even, who I am in sooth I cannot tell.

PHORKYAS

'Tis also said, from out the hollow shadow-dream, Achilles, pa.s.sion-fired, hath joined himself to thee, Whom he hath loved of old, 'gainst all resolves of Fate.

HELENA

As phantom I myself, to him a phantom bound; A dream it was--thus e'en the very words declare.

I faint, and to myself a phantom I become.

[She sinks into the arms of the semi-chorus._]

CHORUS

Silence! Silence!

False seeing one, false speaking one, thou!

Through thy horrible, single-tooth'd lips, Ghastly, what exhaleth From such terrible loathsome gulf!

For the malignant one, kindliness feigning, Rage of wolf 'neath the sheep's woolly fleece, Far more terrible is unto me than Jaws of the hound three-headed.

Anxiously watching stand we here: When? How? Where of such malice Bursteth the tempest From this deep-lurking brood of h.e.l.l?

Now, 'stead of friendly words, freighted with comfort, Lethe-bestowing, gracious and mild, Thou art summoning from times departed, Thoughts of the past most hateful, Overshadowing not alone All sheen gilding the present, Also the future's Mildly glimmering light of hope.

Silence! Silence!

That fair Helena's soul, Ready e'en now to take flight, Still may keep, yea firmly keep The form of all forms, the loveliest, Ever illumined of old by the sun.

[HELENA _has revived, and again stands in the midst._]

(_The scene is entirely changed. Close arbors recline against a series of rocky caverns. A shady grove extends to the base of the encircling rocks_. FAUST _and_ HELENA _are not seen. The_ CHORUS _lies sleeping, scattered here and there_.)

PHORKYAS

How long these maids have slept, in sooth I cannot tell; Or whether they have dreamed what I before mine eyes Saw bright and clear, to me is equally unknown.

So wake I them. Amazed the younger folks shall be, Ye too, ye bearded ones, who sit below and wait, Hoping to see at length these miracles resolved.

Arise! Arise! And shake quickly your crisped locks!

Shake slumber from your eyes! Blink not, and list to me!

CHORUS

Only speak, relate, and tell us, what of wonderful hath chanced!

We more willingly shall hearken that which we cannot believe; For we are aweary, weary, gazing on these rocks around.

PHORKYAS

Children, how, already weary, though you scarce have rubbed your eyes?

Hearken then! Within these caverns, in these grottoes, in these bowers, Shield and shelter have been given, as to lover-twain idyllic, To our lord and to our lady--

CHORUS How, within there?

PHORKYAS Yea, secluded From the world; and me, me only, they to secret service called.

Highly honored stood I near them, yet, as one in trust beseemeth, Round I gazed on other objects, turning hither, turning thither, Sought for roots, for barks and mosses, with their properties acquainted; And they thus remained alone.

CHORUS

Thou would'st make believe that yonder, world-wide s.p.a.ces lie within, Wood and meadow, lake and brooklet; what strange fable spinnest thou!

PHORKYAS

Yea, in sooth, ye inexperienced, there lie regions undiscovered: Hall on hall, and court on court; in my musings these I track.

Suddenly a peal of laughter echoes through the cavern'd s.p.a.ces; In I gaze, a boy is springing from the bosom of the woman To the man, from sire to mother: the caressing and the fondling, All love's foolish playfulnesses, mirthful cry and shout of rapture, Alternating, deafen me.

Naked, without wings, a genius, like a faun, with nothing b.e.s.t.i.a.l, On the solid ground he springeth; but the ground, with counter-action, Up to ether sends him flying; with the second, third rebounding Touches he the vaulted roof.

Anxiously the mother calleth: Spring amain, and at thy pleasure; But beware, think not of flying, unto thee is flight denied.

And so warns the faithful father: In the earth the force elastic Lies, aloft that sends thee bounding; let thy toe but touch the surface, Like the son of earth, Antaeus, straightway is thy strength renewed.

And so o'er these rocky ma.s.ses, on from dizzy ledge to ledge, Leaps he ever, hither, thither, springing like a stricken ball.

But in cleft of rugged cavern suddenly from sight he vanished; And now lost to us he seemeth, mother waileth, sire consoleth, Anxiously I shrug my shoulders. But again, behold, what vision!

Lie there treasures hidden yonder? Raiment broidered o'er with flowers He becomingly hath donned; Ta.s.sels from his arms are waving, ribbons flutter on his bosom, In his hand the lyre all-golden, wholly like a tiny Phoebus, Boldly to the edge he steppeth, to the precipice; we wonder, And the parents, full of rapture, cast them on each other's heart; For around his brow what splendor! Who can tell what there is shining?

Gold-work is it, or the flaming of surpa.s.sing spirit-power?

Thus he moveth, with such gesture, e'en as boy himself announcing Future master of all beauty, through whose limbs, whose every member, Flow the melodies eternal: and so shall ye hearken to him, And so shall ye gaze upon him, to your special wonderment.

CHORUS

This call'st thou marvelous, Daughter of Creta?

Unto the bard's pregnant word Hast thou perchance never listened?

Hast thou not heard of Ionia's, Ne'er been instructed in h.e.l.las'

Legends, from ages primeval, G.o.dlike, heroical treasure?

All, that still happeneth Now in the present, Sorrowful echo 'tis, Of days ancestral, more n.o.ble; Equals not in sooth thy story That which beautiful fiction, Than truth more worthy of credence, Chanted hath of Maia's offspring!

This so shapely and potent, yet Scarcely-born delicate nursling, Straight have his gossiping nurses Folded in purest swaddling fleece, Fastened in costly swathings, With their irrational notions.

Potent and shapely, ne'ertheless, Draws the rogue his flexible limbs, Body firm yet elastic, Craftily forth; the purple sh.e.l.l, Him so grievously binding, Leaving quietly in its place; As the perfected b.u.t.terfly, From the rigid chrysalid, Pinion unfolding, rapidly glides, Boldly and wantonly sailing through Sun-impregnated ether.

So he, too, the most dextrous, That to robbers and scoundrels, Yea, and to all profit-seekers, He a favoring G.o.d might be, This he straightway made manifest, Using arts the most cunning.

Swift from the ruler of ocean he Steals the trident, yea, e'en from Ares Steals the sword from the scabbard; Arrow and bow from Phoebus too, Also his tongs from Hephaestos Even Zeus', the father's, bolt, Him had fire not scared, he had ta'en.

Eros also worsted he, In limb-grappling, wrestling match; Stole from Cypria as she caressed him, From her bosom, the girdle.

(_An exquisite, purely melodious lyre-music resounds from the cave. All become attentive, and appear soon to be inwardly moved; henceforth, to the pause indicated, there is a full musical accompaniment._)

PHORKYAS

Hark those notes so sweetly sounding; Cast aside your fabled lore: G.o.ds, in olden time abounding,-- Let them go! their day is o'er.

None will comprehend your singing; n.o.bler theme the age requires: From the heart must flow, up-springing, What to touch the heart aspires.

[_She retires behind the rock._]