'?v 7:»' , M ^K i i i •? M -" • < THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE •Tl ■s9 1^^ THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMTLLAN & CO., Limited LONDON ■ BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE BY GEORGIANA GODDARD KING THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1908 All rights reserved L|SH,1I*Y of GOM'cJi^ESSy 5 wo wODies rtetstwt!* SEP J7 i^oa Copyright, 1908, By GEORGIANA GODDARD KING. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1908. Nottuooti iPress J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co, Norwood, Mass^ U.S.A. TO ALL BELOVED CONTENTS [vii] PAGE I Argument . . • • The Way of Perfect Love Act I 5 Act II ^7 Act III 55 Act IV 79 Interpretation ^°7 The Duke The Duchess, his cousin Lionella The Wayfarer, Peregrino, called Master Piepowder The Shepherd The Duchess's Waiting Gentlewomen Arianna Mafalda Orsola Ippolyta Laodomia Isotta Fiammetta The Spinners Eva Maddalena MiCAELA [ ^"^ 3 ARGUMENT LiONELLA, the daughter of the late Duke, being un- touched by love, Hved a maid among her seven hand- maidens, seeking always to understand love's nature, until one time, — w^hereas the Duke, her cousin, had long since sought her in marriage vainly, — a Strolling Player drew her away to follow him over the world. Finding at last that he loved her less than the freedom of the soul, she found the courage to send him from her. Then she was sheltered by a Shepherd, whom — he worshipping her as something half-divine — she came to love in his turn, until the years brought by the Way- farer again and renewed the summons of the unknown and the unfettered, breaking up her life of simpler aflFec- tions. The Lady Lionella, thereupon, detached from the Wayfarer and the Shepherd ahke, and withdrawn alone into the deep woods, was further purified by fast- ing and contemplation, and prepared for her ultimate destiny of marriage with her cousin, the assumption of duties of state, the care of her father's subjects. Her presence in the Palace had not been missed, for her Waiting Gentlewomen had by turns supplied her place; her reappearance in the world was the signal, throughout the duchy, for indescribable happiness. The Shepherd, turning from earthly love to heavenly, had moved steadfastly meanwhile towards perfection; so Hkewise had Messer Peregrino, following, through all these years, with a soul emancipate, desire unattainable and therefore immortal. THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE ACT I In the garden of the Duchesses pleasure-palace. The Duchess, her seven Waiting Gentlewomen. The Seven Gentlewomen Welladay! Love is a tyrannous lord. How shall we worship accord Or set our feet in his way? Lord of the world And of life the master! The stars are whirled In their orbits faster By his wings unfurled. fVelladay, Love is a tyrannous lord! Duchess My gentle hearts, what is your song ? Though I have worshipped now so long I think I have not known this love, But as flowers track the sun above, Who Hghtens many ardent lands. Orsola, unclasp those slender hands. To tell me love, from the lute's neck. [5] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Orsola Love is the flower most apt to deck Our beauty; when the feast is done, Colour, savour, ahke are gone. Duchess Silent Laodomia, over-wise, What wisdom smoulders in your eyes? Laodomia 'Tis the amulet o'ercharactered Whose virtue is lost if it be read Even by him who hath control; I mean, the master of my soul. Duchess Unknit, Isotta, arched brows, Unveil gold-crisped locks, and rouse The dreaming heart its dream to tell. Isotta I do repudiate your spell : Love is a perfect polity Where two a single creature be, Each takes, for leave to give, — in fine Each is the other's only mine. Duchess Arianna of the long white throat, Your lauds ? Arianna I cannot praise by rote. I hold love's power a wanton boy's. Unequal to the soul's grave joys. [6] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duchess Fiammetta's lips are fine and thin, A live pale red; can they speak sin Against love's godhead ? FlAMMETTA Love is a fire, Madonna, immortal bright desire. Self-fed and unconsumed, the same As that bush Moyses saw aflame. Who knows vain love, he knows as well How look the Blessed watched from hell: Who knows love's gladness fears not God, He touches heaven's period. Duchess Have a care, child ! Orsola Your blown words flare Like lambent tongues of flame. Duchess Declare Of ageless love the ultimate test, Mafalda of the warm brown breast. Mafalda I cannot speak, L Let me sing An old, plain ditty; a weary thing That children shrill when they would dance. Not knowing its significance. Pray you^ have you seen my love On the road you came? [7] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Each one knows him as he goes By the badge of shame. So at last I hold him fast Past the Judgment-morning, Heart may break, but love will reck Of wrong no more than scorning. Ippoltya That way God loves us. But for me I'd wish my lover a spreading tree Whence to break buds for coronals Wreathing, upon high festivals, My hair's dense darkness: he, the while, At my child's play should softly smile. Duchess The wheel swings round : twice in the hour Has love, heighho, been but a flower! Maids, shall we sing, or with slim grace Trip on this chequered grassy space. In sphery turns weaving a measure ? Laodomia and Orsola resume their lutes, Arianna, Mafalda and Fiammetta stand ready to wheel in the dance, when the Duke approaches. Excellence, welcome. Is it your pleasure Music to hear, or converse share .? Duke Let me but watch upon your hair The flecks of sunlight fallen through green Wavering as shifts the beechen screen; Forget, all you, that I am by. [8] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duchess So be it. Isotta, music try. ISOTTA Now comes the May time, the wild hawks^ play-time. With long blithe daytime and zvarm night showers In tangled cover each feathered lover Sings one song over the white thorn flowers. Yield, maiden quire, to lovers empire. Lovers scorn is dire, ruthless his quarrel. Syrinx a reed is, Adon to bleed is. All Daphne's speed is to fruitless laurel. Duchess Is there no word to-day but love ? Duke What better could we reason of? Duchess Have you known his radiant face Or tasted the dew of his grace ? Tell me what signs declare him, W^ho his father, who bare him, What his service, and all Of his solemn ritual. The high doctrine unfold! Duke It is a doctrine old: It is a rule austere. Princess, have you no fear ? These immortal mysteries Are not for laughter-litten eyes. [9] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duchess We are grave disciples, who would win To adept's place. Ippolyta Ere he begin, Maidens, close in at either hand Like curving wings. to D Duchess There, Duke, you stand. Duke How can man's words, that change and shiver Like stormy sunshine on a river, That splendour-winged spirit compel, Inaccessible, unalterable, Express the unravished constancy Set above time and change on high ? Love, of man's heritage, only is free From the stress of mutability. Duchess Yet a hard saying. Master, this. Are all those passions named amiss That like the moon wax and grow lean, Or, moon-like, have their image seen In dimpled spring and lucent pool ? Girls, are these heretics of love's school ? Arianna Rather, the right initiate. No traitor to love's high estate, [10] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Loves not the incomparable She, But beauty, wheresoe'er that be. Some are love's lovers, and can that lie In a white hand, or a quick eye ? Duchess Let me rehearse a little. So Not shadowing hair nor temples' snow Love men, but Beauty, which abides In us some fleeting halcyon-tides: Not ardour, honour, loyalty, Though for a scruple a maid should die, Foster, but love, who nests perhaps A season in these silken laps. Till the poor perishing flesh is dust ? Amen, if so believe I must ! A moment stay. Lend me your hands. Sweethearts : these weary plaits and strands Intricate coiled of heavy hair, Make my head ache. Child, loose that; there. . Duke O jewel of pearl and sand-searched gold Wrought by dead craftsmen for some old Dead princess, eastward of the sun. And deftly cusped and wrought upon With stones of all the bland bow's colours seven ! O virgin sunflower in the top of heaven. With seven star-flowers ringed ! O harmony That complicates all webs of melody ! Lift up your hearts. Let faith approve: Behold the way of perfect love ! Love, first begotten of all created things, [II] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Above the void hung on strong brooding wings Till light sprang up, and straight from love and light Were earth and heaven born, and day and night; Green cranny-moss, and thousand-year-old tree, And all the swift folk of the air and sea ; The furry tribes; and man, that sole knows why He has been born — which is to love, and die. The starry flock their orbits impHcate Hold, amid which the great sun moves in state; By sweet compulsion, each constraining each. They weave across the skies their soundless speech. The sad white moon wanders the earth around. While as she goes blue ocean breaks his bound To follow, and through all the secular quest To her pulse heaves his vast tumultuous breast. Fiammetta, Isotta, Laodomia, Mafalda, Arianna, Orsola, Ippolyta, and — great and graciciis one. Lioness coloured of the tropic sun. Superb — Lionella, give me a graver mind, For this before was but of love of kind. Unfit your ears to hear, my lips to tell. Of the Hght loves in marish-pools that dwell. Or what gross sorts frequent the trough and mire. Upward tends love, part of the primal fire Which streams, incorporal flame, in the noble heart, Being all in heaven and all in every part. Loveliness, equal in her heavenly birth. Do ye not encounter errant over earth Having donned mortal vesture ? What, do your eyes Repeat their green light from terrestrial skies ? Then, love goes seeking his immortal twin. And the unimagined form he sees her in [12] i\ THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Reverent he worships straight; yet if thereafter What seemed all wisdom prove but theme for laughter, What seemed clear fire prove but painted glass, Nought rests for love but wearily to pass Upon his timeless pilgrimage, and pray That beauty unearthly yet may cross his way; For, one at fiist with beauty, he holds the quest Till the two souls, made one soul, shall find rest. So much for love imperfect, how it gains Perfection. Now of perfect love remains. You have grieved for flesh, that pales and falls to dust, But what is patience, lady, what is trust. But the flesh worshipping a bodiless power In faith that at the fixed, the ultimate hour, He entering fills the shrine with so great glory That all pain past is a forgotten story. Yea, doth augment delight, as strings harsh-sounding Mix into music sweetness more abounding ? Some say, a bitter lordship is this same. Calling his servants wan-hope, worldly shame. And drowsy grief, and lidless vain desire. And blind death : — these adore a devil, a fire Earth-kindled, gluttonous as the ravening wave. No man is free that owns a single slave. The emperor said, nor rich, but who hath nought, Nor he at peace who can be pricked in aught. And therefore perfect love must ever be A beggar gaunt, living on charity. Craving no thing of right but all of pity. A beggar? No; throned, from his royal city He reigns to grant, and all the spoils of sense He lavishes of his magnificence: And all the spirit's splendours he will shower 1 13] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Idly as one of you ruffles a flower : To crown with goods is his : taking, be sure, His magnanimity could not endure. Mark, he does more. To the Beloved he Does of free will, true service, and is free. Even as he laid deHght and all sweet things At the dear feet, so now desire he brings. And last, the will : and having put that off Goes healed and free. Say, is not love enough ? Duchess Highness, you have praised royally, Gracing your subject. Say not ye So, maidens seven ? The Seven We had not thought Dear lord, to be so nobly taught. Duchess What, you change colour, you are not well ? Duke Madonna, the ancient miracle; The priest who speaks the consecration Must shrink before the revelation Of very God between his hands : Let him confirm who understands. My soul is shaken — permit I go. Duchess Cousin, and would you leave us so, With many fine points yet unraised And many an attribute unpraised ? [H] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duke Pity! Ah, cousin, I love in vain, And love at ease is a dear pain. But love at uttermost, agony. Suffering its swift ascendency, I pray, dear ladies, for your talk All delicate pleasures as you walk. He goes slowly down the cypress alley. Duchess Fiammetta, take the lute and sing. FlAMMETTA Madonna, what ? Duchess Some quiet thing. Fiammetta Dear to the sailor-kings. Bronze-bearded, steadfast-hearted. Oars* dash, when galley swirigs Black through the grey waves parted. But they said : ''Make the cove Where breathes a moonless grove. And larks hang glad 0\r pebbly pools and sweet; He sickens with the heat. Our little lad:' The Seven Sto they call, the gold-browed kings, Hylas, Hylas, Hylas! clear; [15] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE And Alcides* great voice rings, — For he loved the brown child dear. FlAMMETTA He left the blue profound To follow winding valleys ; He lost the surfs faint sound In aspen-shivering alleys. Beside the freshes cold He found white fingers hold His brown hand hot; He heard an elfin song; The dark kings waited long But he came not. The Seven Yet they call him from the shore, Hylas, Hylas, Hylas! thrice; But Alcides sails no more. Remembering the drowned child's eyes. Duchess I thank you, sweet. The sun is low, Between the orchard trees a-row The warm gold washes. Listen, a swell Of hushed notes, very tuneable ! Look out, Mafalda, through the trees. Laodomia Stay, 'twixt the rows of cypresses One comes, or by the yew-tree arch. Duchess The voice is like the rain in March. [i6] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Orsola He loiters by the ragged fir. Mafalda Madonna, 'tis a lute-player With a strange-fashioned silver lute. Ippolyta And hark, the nightingales are mute ! FlAMMETTA A dark rose opens its moth-kissed leaves. PlEPOV^DER Something calls and whispers, along the city street. Through shrill cries of children and soft stir of feet. And makes my blood to quicken and makes my flesh to pine. The mountains are calling; the winds wake the pine. Arianna Madonna Lionella walks here eves, Wayfarer. Laodomia If you are astray Let us two set you in your way. Piepowder The turf its dewy cool preferred, And dusty feet unwitting erred. Yet, since you pardon their offence, Will you not, gracious handmaidens, Or will her Highness, leave bestow, To end singing before I go ? [17] THE WAY OF PERFECT LO\T Fl\mmetta Madonna — if it be not too long! D-CHZ55 Fetch him, Fiamnierta. Friend, your son^. PlEPO^iVDER Past the qui-Jiring poplars that tell of Ziz:--r ^.czr The long road is sleeping, the ^hite rzal is cUnr. T^et scent and touch can summon, afar from c-^zoz and tree. The deep boom of surges, the grey naste oj sci. S'JL'eet to dream and linger, in zvindless orchard close. On bright hrmvs of ladies to garland the rose, Bui all the time are gleaming, beyond this little iLorld, The still lizht of planets and the star-su:arms 'ujhirled. Duchess What are voa, and what make you here so late That sill^'Sowers and stocks shake out their myrrh, Down all our pleasaunce alleys hushed and strait. Towards a dead sun, O stany voyager : Piepowder You are pleased to mock me. Excellence, Yet know me, bv the eWdence Of dust\- feet and tireless heart. Free of the desert as the mart. I have marched in half a score of wars In this flesh, or among the stars Before I put on humdrum clay. Ippolyta You are sure ? [i8] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder Nay, doth not Plato say ? Sadly, madonna, I am a poor Strolling player of grave allure : Your steward gave me liberty That I and my quaint company Might in the city square rehearse An excellent comedy in verse, This evening, after compline said. Leaving the palace, I was led Of my kind genius to this spot. Your beauteous Grace can blame it not ? Laodomia You are the mocker, as I think. Piepowder Good sweet, should wisdom never wink ? Orsola Your fingers on the instrument Followed well where the sweet voice went. Piepowder God gave to a hand dexterity, And unto feet inveteracy, And to a spirit the wind's will, To blow all ways but ne'er be still. Duchess Touch at your pleasure the Hght string. Piepowder Then hear more praise of wandering. [19] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE A man called Dante, I have heard, Once ranged the country-side, He knew to dawn's mysterious word What drowsy birds replied; He knew the deep seci s voice, its gleams And tremulous lights afar. When he lay down at night, in dreams He tramped from star to star. Arianna Such shadowy grace I have not seen; Yet marred a Httle, and worn keen, The swart, boy's face. Ippolyta The dense short hair Blown back by the damp evening air Is struck with grey. Orsola To a hawk belong Those lean, brown, restless talons strong. Mafalda A dangerous creature, at the last. As are the Hons you keep fast Down in the courtyard cage: they pace With that same easy shambling grace. Duchess His eyes are like a windy sky. [20] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Laodomia And low he speaks, and subtilely, Though he may say a forthright thing. ISOTTA His chance look leaves me shivering. May he not go ? The Hght is gone. FlAMMETTA Fie, sweet ! Madonna, I think him one Whom human passion cannot hold; For he has tasted love more old — The strong embrace of the warm earth. Arianna His soul was free before time's birth, And dimly that lost freedom yet Seeks, for it cannot quite forget. Duchess Dreamers, strange talk ! The gathering dark Creeps in our brains; the wide hushed park Lies glimmering; whitely, a bough beneath, Shine lilies; all things hold their breath. Yet have they something to declare. Perhaps the silent lute-player Can tell what lies at evening's heart. While I demand, walk you apart. The Seven Love is a tyrannous lord — How shall we worship accord? Welladay! [21] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE They go away where the Duke went. Duchess Is it so good, your wandering way ? Piepowder Its excellency how shall I say ? Great sorrows and deep joys are rife; One in the brimming cup of life Passion with anguish interfuses: All the wide various world one uses. In lonely farms where shepherds keep To lie a night among the sheep; On the warm-smeUing earth, next tide; A third, the kindly hearth beside In Httle towns, or, four-deep, share The church steps on the city square; — After the drum in tattered smock. Bare-head, bare-foot, when children flock, As their frail hands our finery turn, And treble voices hum, to learn Their fleeting griefs; among themselves What women talk by tens and twelves Above the nuzzling babe; to know What tanned men brood on, all the slow Hot noontide 'neath the berried hedge; Yea, what the wren says in the sedge. What the hot thunder calls aloud When rose-red lightning decks the cloud: This is the wisdom, this the part Of dusty-foot and restless-heart. Duchess Are you not tired ? [22] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder How should he be Whose bed is under every tree ? Duchess Nor lone ? Piepowder He never alien Who, world-unwearied, returns to men. Duchess Nor loth to fare companionless? Piepowder The stars can counsel and can bless. Duchess Ah, might I toil and grieve and know, Facing the noon sun and the snow, A^nd search out God's imaginings. And live the Hfe of humble things. Ah, might I follow the wind's will ! Piepowder Madonna, just across the hill. Where the last amber yet Hes dark. Waits the wide world, and calls you — hark ! The sun shall be your comrade staunch. For your white feet the moon shall blanch The powdery road, and winds shall tell A song in speech unutterable. If your heart speed you straight and right [23] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Come out with me into the night And learn what Hfe may live the free, And what, madonna, love may be. Duchess The mounting twilight lies so thick My eyes are dizzy, my bosom is quick. Yet rumour of love's name rings round me — Piepowder Is love not of the company ? I heard his wings winnowing the air, I felt the touch of floating hair — Ah, come with me the way of love ! Duchess You draw me, as adamant should move. Piepowder Breath of the night, on the shimmering tresses That shroud the Beloved, shake skyey caresses ; For the fountain once sealed is a brook to meander ; For the ivory tower has unloosed its strong gateway That love, the late comer, may take his throne straightway ; For the garden enclosed is a pleasaunce to wander Where August shall lead us afield with her far light; And through the long season of snowfall and starlight One shall lie in my breast like a ball of pomander. Duchess Your voice like the autumnal winds Troubled my soul, but your face blinds Eyes which till now had but the sun To spend their steadfast gazing on. [24] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder O heavy-headed gold sunflower, Perfect exponent of love's power, Light risen on me, I should be loth Us two to wrong with slavish oath. Shall I not see you kind and true So long as I am dear to you ? And you, too, find my loyalty Of like date with my constancy ? And may my death's day be that date! How Hke you honest wooing, mate ? Duchess Sir, I am yours, and to your say Subject, but would my master pray, Since even an hour can work such change That the old, sloughed-ofF life looks strange, Unless he, standing here to-night. With heart and spirit love me quite And altogether and utterly. That straightway he depart from me. Yea, leave his handmaid here behind. Piepowder O comrade after my own mind. The noble blood runs quick and bright ! Stoop downward from your towering height Proud spirit poised beyond my reach, Whom I love past the use of speech. Even as the tossed sea loves the moon, As the struck lute the lilting tune. As the for-wearied traveller, rest. [25] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE And this high heart, that shakes your breast So stormily, is love's celebrant. Duchess Look you, I am quite ignorant Of love. The sanguine face on me Lightened not, I was sick to see. Men said he walked where my feet strayed; His splendours ofttimes have affrayed My tender foolish handmaidens. And his voice tuned to eloquence Of hi^h converse even at this noon A noble spirit; then see, how soon The long-desired rises in view, And refluent love is mine, in you. Piepowder Be to him, princess, rather than me. Made over in perpetuity. Gravely, then, seal the comradeship, Gentle fellow, give pomp the sHp, And come, through grasses drenched and chill. By a few stars, across the hill. Voices of the Seven Gentlewomen Well ad ay I How shall our feet hiow his way? He lays on the marble seat from which the Duchess has risen, her embroidered mantle, neatly folded, and on it the changing jewel from her brow and her wrought girdle set around with seven precious stones. They go through the park toward the wall of the orchard. [26] ACT II The city square. Down a street running into it the Duchess comes to sit on the edge of the fountain; her hair is cropped and curly, in the tight bodice and short skirt of a haladine she looks very slight and small. Piepowder comes in search of her. Duchess Slant-shuttered windows blink no eye, Long street and moon-illumined sky Are bright and empty; the bleared moon Will peer above the house-fronts soon; Already 'tis a sickly day. 'Twixt wall and wall runs pavement grey: The fountain, splashing in the still. Makes my heart beat Hke something ill. What passed ? A crouching cat, the clear Deserted middle square by fear Debarred, sent skulking three sides round. Hark ! Those are loitering steps. The sound Rings on the century-trodden stone. And how the man looks small and lone ! Dear God, is it you ? Piepowder In what a fright ! You must not run away at night, Child. You have to sup and sleep. You know To-morrow again westward we go. THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duchess My friend, suppose I stay behind ? Piepowder Poor tired small creature, do you find The highway rougher than once was Turf crocus-fretted ? Courage ! The ass Shall carry you the livelong day. Vine-wreathed and elm-girt, the swift way Runs hillward, till blue crests begin To lift as twihght closes in. And the moonrise will bring them near. Duchess O, I am sick of road and gear ! What is a moon when the feet ache, Or hills to hinder a heart to break ? Piepowder Grave, this. What ails my gallant heart ? Duchess So ill I fit the player's part; Unapt for wrangling and for spite. I danced, you know, sadly to-night, And the girls laughed, well pleased. They think, Rightly, I scarce earn meat and drink. Piepowder Say, from your beauties' light they shrink. Duchess And when at evening, over-spent, We make an inn, the rest, intent On common good, who dress and lay [28] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE The common meal, put me away. I spoil good food ; — I may not sit, Even, to twirl the tardy spit. Piepowder True: soft hands these, for toil unfit. Duchess For clumsiest groom's work all unable, Strength lacking even to clean the stable Or fetch foul water and musty hay To the rough ass, patient and grey. Piepowder That not till I am fast in clay. Duchess Scorn is the web, and pain the woof. I am not sullen at reproof. But I grow dull as I do ill. And my part of Parthenophil Yourself have blamed, though when rehearsed It was a pretty thing at first. Piepowder Well-grown your brood, though secret nursed. Yet have you other griefs to show ? Duchess My very dear, I can but go. Piepowder Why, troubled-heart, I am sick and sorry [29] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE That I marked not, to mend, this worry. Kissing your hot face weary, I swear It has done with sawdust and with glare. For we will turn our backs on men And learn the hill-wind's word again, And smell the curling blue wood-smoke Of dales, and shelter with grim folk Where nets dry brown along the beach. In cities loud with outland speech. Close-barred within whose roadstead He Tall masts against a cold green sky. Shall we not lodge, and taste in these Odours and rumours of far seas Filling the narrow streets .? And, blown Into your lap from every zone. Find jade and topaz; cups of price. Rock-crystal, brimmed with scent and spice; Ambers and ivories; broidery, wrought Seed-pearl on gossamer; or new-caught Pale Indian apes with pink small paws, Piteous and docile; blue macaws Prisoned in gilded wires; or, prime And spoil of unguessed sunset-clime. Gay feather-woven cloaks, your sleep To cover, and — why, child ! Duchess I weep Being, as just now you rightly said, Aweary and all uncomforted. Piepowder Comfort can you lack whilst I love ? [30] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duchess It is just that my grief is of. Piepowder Take then my hoarded offering! Though my heart be a tameless thing, And in the long glad years may range, Yet something is in me will not change For you, I think, until I die. Duchess Not yet assuaged the wailful cry At heart. Piepowder Then you grow different. Duchess I could not, else, know all love meant, Never ! — for hourly knowledge grows : Thence, love; my breast cannot enclose All, yet all speech alike is vain. Piepowder Alas, beloved, the world-old pain ! For the wind's will is strong desire's. Boundless and tameless, yet flesh tires, And sometimes, in the stress, turns just A piteous handful of blown dust. And but the soul austerely bent To find, or do without, content, Living in ice or else in fire. Renouncement, or unquenched desire, [31] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Moves unafraid, looking not back, And free, along the viewless track. Duchess I cannot follow these high things. I only know a worm that stings Evermore, evermore my heart. Piepowder Sweet silent comrade, every smart Is eased in telling. Duchess I do not know. Quick, do you love me ? Piepowder I love you so That your touch starts and stays my blood. Your look can rule song's tide in flood; That absence turns rich summer's height Into a blanched Saint Lucy's night; That the thronged world of sound and seeing Is but your flesh, your breath, your being. Duchess Yet in all time I shall not tell The rhythm of your faint pulse's swell; Nor learn the thoughts, secure and plain To read, that scurry through your brain. Passions that throb and lapse in me Your vision intent shall never see. Nor your heart taste my sorrow's sharp Savour; were my deep soul a harp [32] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Under your fingers quivering, You could not feel nor hear one string. O, I am cold and very lonely. Piepowder I think great spirits, madonna, only, Have known your pain, and known no cure. Mortality can but endure. Yet though man have no anodyne A counter-passion I divine : If I can give not to my brother My life, nor life take of another — By virtue of that, unalterably While the soul burn the soul is free. Duchess Still I am lonely, and still cold. See, dawn has come and made us old. Reddened that lamp, and turned the square Into a horrible ghosts' lair. I can have courage, and go on My manifest way, and go alone. While I could bear no longer, now, To watch your sleep, not knowing how Wanders the soul I cannot follow Through that dream-world where all is hollow, A strong straight sword-cut should heal well, And you have a medicinal spell. And I can nurse my proper wound : So where the suns go, you are bound. Piepowder How can I go ? My limbs are weak With new grief. Though I cannot speak, [33] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE With face averse must I get hence, Steadfast in hard obedience ? If the god utters who shall gainsay ? The wisdom on your hps to-day, The courage of your princely soul. Carry you on safe to the goal. . . . Child, child, I cannot let you go ! . . . Princess, your dog you would not so Turn off, when he had shared your meat And slept so long time at your feet ! Across your door to He like him — Duchess My strength sickens, the light grows dim, There is no nice farewell to take. Nay, even for human kindness' sake. For love's own, touch me never again. Lest I turn weak with the dear pain As of old time, and suck sweet death Into faint veins with every breath. Piepowder Nay, since we love, silence is best. Piepowder goes hack down the street. Duchess I am so weary I can rest. Yet ere I sleep, what prayer to say ? Because I sent my love away For my love's sake, God, from my heart, Lest it should learn the servile art To bind a tameless creature, then, Make me, dear God, forget! Amen. [34] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE She sleeps. The square fills up with people and the day goes on. The Merchants' Call Come buy, white maids, come buy, come buy! Laces, fans, and broidered gloves. Ribbons for true-lovers^ knots. Cushions stuffed with down of doves, Roses' balm distilled, and pots Brimmed with orient philtery. Come buy, come buy! Come buy, tall lads, come buy, come buy! Damasked stuffs for a pretty neighbour. Lawn as light as April air. And the spinning worm's bright labour; Corals to bind up her hair, Owches to enchant her eye. Come buy, come buy! The Comedians Pass Here to-day And gone to-morrow ; While we stay A fig for sorrow ! Wine IS bright, A grey eye brighter; Largess sweet, A white girl sweeter; Whom we meet We clip and greet her : Heart is light When purse is lighter^ [35] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE We who borrow Never pay^ For to-morrow Is not to-day. From the Church a Litany For long years of aspiration. For high strength of concentration. For calm age^s contemplation, Non nobis, Domine. For the end of peaceful days. For the coffin crowned with bays. For the after-comers* praise, Non nobis, Domine. Saviour, by thy dear-bought power. Under which fallen spirits cower. Keep us at the mortal hour, Non nobis, Domine — From the hungry worm^s desires. From the lust that never tires. From the sharp, mysterious fires — Non nobis, Domine ! The ducal party passes, from hunting. Three spinners, on the fountain steps, gossip as the spindle twirls. MiCAELA The hunt comes empty-handed home. Eva Yet the good horses sweated. [36] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE MiCAELA Some Did not uncouple, I think, at all; Trimly step out the huntsmen tall. That foremost brace of greyhounds lean In the scarlet leash — their paws are clean. Eva The hawks sit, sulky, on their frame, The Duke — Maddalena As sulky, twice as tame; Yet the old bright splendour flashes still. MiCAELA Never the same since she fell ill. Our lady, sweet Lionella. Maddalena Tutt — ! Eva She is his uncle's child. Maddalena Aye, but — ! I mind the christening — dukes pell-mell ! Dear Christ, he loved her mother well ! Eva As our duke loves this sunnier head. [37] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE MiCAELA Abundant time they have had to wed, Being affianced how long since The Hfetime of our late brave prince ! Some lack of love must somewhere be. Maddalena Of this remediless malady She sickened a great while ago. Eva Nay, not so long, neighbour, not so ! Maddalena Will you the whole tale I relate ? I have it from inside the great Shut palace where she darkened Hes. 'Twas one of countless fantasies Her waiting gentlewomen should Be seven in number, wise as good, And chaste as witty, by a word Called from the stars. Eva Pleiads ? MiCAELA I heard That sisterhood was one time seven. But six walk now the wintry heaven : One fell. Maddalena And of the princess* band — Who loved like sisters, understand — One loved outside the ring, and fell. [38] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Eva Which one ? Maddalena Nay, I — I cannot tell : One told me not. But she so grieved For her of whom was heaven bereaved Heart-stricken she sank, and, laid abed, She sleeps there like one newly dead. And scarcely swallows, and cannot speak, And 'twixt the linen and her cheek Is no more difference, than show The w^hite narcissus-cups on snow. And you may mark in April weather When the six ladies walk together. How they go veiled, as mourning her That fled, and her that cannot stir Outside her one-time pleasure-palace. MiCAELA They go Hke doves, so void of maHce Their meek distress, that her their shame As if among them still, they name. Eva Methinks not always cloistered they, For sometimes by the hilly way That runs above the park, I have crossed. Where, deep retired, in boskage lost And in the dusk of twilight air, I have seen Ippolyta's black hair. Maddalena Aye, they come forth; for I espied At mass last week, half turned aside, [3Q] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Grave Arianna's slender throat Mid the court folk. I took no note, Not looking for her out of door. Eva When last old rose-hued moon swung o'er The dawning world, I woke and went To pick cool mushrooms, dew-besprent. From the oozy meadow; in startled view, A girl, gathering hoary dew To fill a vial ere the sun rise. Lifted Laodomia's strange green eyes Like precious stones men singing praise. MiCAELA An hour since, in this market-place I knew a creature slight; it turned; Fiammetta's rose-pale beauty burned Through her white veil like flames through glass. Maddalena And where the Eastern merchant was I have watched Orsola's long white hands Fingering the stuffs from Indian lands. Eva Will you not laugh, or think I dream, If I say on ? I sought the stream One amethyst noon, beyond the hill. For the heat's sake, to bathe in still Cool water, and as I lay along Hearing its limpid under-song. Screened by thick grasses, some one came [40] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE To dip slim hands. I lay for shame Couched, seeing a silken petticoat. A white web, wind-blown, chanced to float My way, a little murmuring cry Pursued it, then a splash close by, A white arm reaching, and through the boughs I saw Isotta's pencilled brows. "It is wet," I cried, **but safely here." She was sped thence, Hke a brown deer That feeds on lilies in a lake. I keep the white thing for her sake. Maddalena Where the dames drag their purfled dress Along the wrought stone terraces, I watch them evenings through the grate. And one I have remarked of late Nearer the gates, to shun the rest. And known Mafalda's grieving breast. MiCAELA Have we not named the seven names o'er Although one girl is here no more ? There is enchantment in this thing. Maddalena No ill could soil our lady's wing; It is white magic if 'tis aught. Eva I shall not tire myself v/ith thought About great folk who are not as we. The shadows all are shrunken; see, One lies here sleep-sequestered still. [41] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Maddalena Such sleep as poppy-heads distil. MiCAELA Let her sleep on, poor lass. Eva I fear Her mates stole off and left her here : I will come back for her ere night. Maddalena Come now; the pavement waves with light. Micaela Touch her. She does not wake, yet yields; So men sleep, after stricken fields. Maddalena So women, when their hearts are eased. Eva Babes, too, that sob and are appeased. Noon goes over the silent square. Then the Duchess stirs and rises. Duchess I dreamed I lost the fervid stone Upon my brow that binds my hair; I dreamed I lost the gold-wrought zone [4J] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Bossed with clear jewels, high ladies wear; And, outcast from my maiden throne. Left my furred robe I knew not where. What idle pain a dream may cost, To think that pride and place were lost ! Mafalda, Isotta, Orsola, Fiammetta and Ippolyta, Arianna, Laodomia ! I thought to tell my handmaidens A strange dream, but they lie far hence, Cool in white tissue of distant looms. In marble-paven and arras'd rooms. Sharp, breathless light brims up the square, Rose-red houses beat back fierce air, But the high fountain-basin flings Upward in brilliant waverings A slender shaft; the crystal breaks; While the white pillar turns and shakes Drops tinkle and fall; softly they drip To dim stone tank from brazen lip. I have slept well. Where shall I turn. Where moons strike not nor suns do burn ? I have, I think, a sleepy will. . . . What music comes so sweet and shrill .? What is that Httle rusthng sound Like dead leaves hurried along the ground By autumn winds or through the street Harried in droves ? Lo, tiny feet Toiling and pressing, an anxious stream Of silky goats comes — white as cream, Brown as a moth, or tanned and shagged; This has a curled horn, that is ragged. [43 THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE The shepherd follows his goats, his pipe at his lips to resume the tune; he pauses on seeing the Duchess. The goats push up to the fountain and he helps them drink from the conduit below, but blindly; having drunk, the little creatures lie down in such thin lines of shade as they can find, all along under the wall of'the church. Shepherd Her face is the moonlit air, Her touch is the cold sea foam; I have not kissed her cloudy hair. Nor seen quick tears her eyelids brighten; But when the sun has changed his latr And the last pilgrim-bird is home. Shall I not know how she is fair. While the warm dark shall laugh and lighten ? Duchess What make you, shepherd, here ? More sweet Your upland pastures, screened from heat By chestnuts, and your calm employs. Shepherd O hush not yet that singing voice ! let those emeralds, as in dreams 1 have prayed, bend on me their beams Spirit-enkindling, yet a while ! And let that slow mysterious smile Inscrutable, just curve the cheek, The lids just narrow, as if you seek Waters that run deep under ground Or gems rock-bosomed. I have found [44] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE In the dim woods' most silent seat Where noonday dew has splashed my feet, Buds and leaves fallen as you passed through. You are a witch-lady, are not you ? Or are you, as the priests complain. After your exile come again. One of the great lost goddesses. Vineyard and tilth to touch and bless In August, and the orchard croft In March ? I have hung you garlands oft Of purple clover and silvery thyme. And sere oak-boughs in fall, with rime O'er-whitened, wreaths in spring-time shed. Of the rathe cyclamen's troubled red Fashioned, to win your grace for men. Are you in very presence, then. The mighty Mother, care-beguiled. Or are, indeed, her ravished child. The wedded maid, come back to share For the sweet season, the warm, swift air, And the remembered light of flowers ? Duchess What, did I climb, these drowsy hours, The dark road, thronged with shadows grey, From the faint under-world away Into large daylight and the breath Of life that never questioneth ? Your eyelids beat, lad ! Shepherd O, benign Lighten on me, Monna Proserpine! [45] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duchess I am no divine thing, but a girl. Shepherd You set my sun-steeped brain awhirl! Then I may kiss, maybe, your feet. And, without anger, hands so sweet My reverent Hps do wrong them ? Bear I pray with patience, unaware If I am clumsy and amiss; I have had but hyacinths to kiss. And brown soft cubs, and the quick breasts That quiver in squirrels' holes, and nests Of bright-eyed friendly singing-birds. Look you, I have not any words, My poor throat cannot even sing. Only my arms, that quicken and cling Around you, strong and fast enlaced. While I kneel here, hold you embraced. Speak not now, stir not, only smile. You are a spray-dashed, flower-flecked isle, And I the circling mountain brook. There is a kindness in your look That veils its lightning: let me cool My forehead in your pitiful Soft hands, or touch your fragrant dress To ease my bosom's new distress. Duchess A delicate lord is love, wooing of voice. Mild-eyed and subtle-spoken; But sanguine-hearted, sleepless : for his toys Tossing mens hearts till broken. [46] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE While in his footprint set I found his aspect sweet; Now I would fain forget Where trod his charmed feet. Shepherd White throat that exquisitely throbs, Even your music some grace robs From the pure curve; your cheek's thin line Is as the jonquil's chaHce fine. And all your honey-coloured hair Is warm and live, its curls ensnare The sun, a nest of spiceries. Though the curved lashes veil your eyes, Large, bright, belov^, a slow tear sHps. The music burns between your Hps : Like a fruit smeUing of the south, Like a pomegranate is your mouth, I hunger and fear to taste thereof Lest I die. Lo you, this is love ! . . . My pipe, where is it ? Sweet flock, awake ! Green waits your pasture by the lake. Creature benign, come home with these To where, beneath dense chestnut trees. Girt in by wattled cotes for sheep. The rough, wise dogs shall guard your sleep. You are not loth to climb the pass ? So thick the pines, so tall the grass, That men come never from below. Duchess Shepherd, I am content to go. I think all voices there will cease. And but one name be worshipped — peace. [47] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE They go out. The market begins again. The Merchants Importunate Come buy, sweethearts, come buy, come buy! Here be dainties sold by measure, Eyes* delight and passion s treasure, Touth is taken in change for pleasure. Come buy of us, come buy I Come buy, good sir; bright dame, come buy! Why ere nightfall be a sleeper? Goods are tarnished but are cheaper; Feed flesh full, earth soon shall keep her! Come buy at last, come buy! A Candle-light Hymn Lord, we have wrought and praised thee since red morn. And now the sun goes down : The burthen and the day's long heat are borne, Lights quicken through the town. Thick in the quiet air soft shadows creep. Swift darkness is anear; Sun of Righteousness, lighten our sleep. And keep our hearts from fear ! The spinners return in the late twilight. Maddalena I wish the sleeper that is gone Find nothing harder than a stone To lay her tired gold head upon. [48] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Eva Man's days are a child's feverish dreams Who in the market sleeps, and deems That the sole real, which only seems. MiCAELA Hither she strayed out of the night, She went hence into deep twilight, Yet her feet lead her safe and ricrht. o They spin in silence. Piepowder comes back, walking and calling softly through the dark. Piepowder Is she here ? Lionella, stay. For I have given my soul away And I must have it back or die. Up through the mountains toward the sky I climbed, where dark-leaved ilexes Straggle and dwindle and lastly cease. Firs and great rocks stand lonely: there, In the white noon-tide's tenuous air. Supine upon the slippery brown Warm earth and odorous, I flung down To see the sun blaze through the pine; But the sun was a tavern sign. The earth a great house masterless, The very sky, that leans to bless. Prisoned me in its brazen dome; The jade-green, arrowy torrent's foam Frothed lifeless underneath the fall As tired mimes toss the heavy ball. The mountain had no word, in fine. I left the dizzying sunshine, . [ 49 ] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Dropping, in oak-wood glades concealed, Down to a hidden grassy field With fragrant Hmes and poplars set, Whose twinkling leaves, in ceaseless fret, Lisp into pleasant rainy noises. The clamorous thicket's fiery voices All noon-day try the night-song o'er; Untouched, wide gossameres sparkle hoar Even till mid-morning, while the thrush Unfrighted, from a swaying bush Rolls her clear descant rich and shrill; Violet and gilded daffodil Border the meadow forestward. Once more I found the sense turned hard. So, being heavy, I fell asleep. I stood where clouds trailed o'er a steep Grey, sullen, trembling waste of sea : A strong grey wind blew ceaselessly Across it on me; at either hand Ran the long beach's printless sand, And the sounds strove of wind and sea; But the vast had no voice for me. I woke — blue twilight's filmy eyes Were empty, and the darkening skies Paper pricked over with a pin By a foolish hand. It was my sin To love one girl more than all earth: I, that was wanderer from my birth, My love being lost, am sick at soul; Where grows the herb shall make me whole ? Eva Who in the shadow walks unseen ? [50] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder My mother called me Peregrin', But in a far sea-isle, whose mart Was thronged with blue-eyed sailors swart, They named me Master Piepowder. Maddalena Why, furtive, scan the empty square, Messer Piepowder, in thickening light ? Piepowder Before the brown dusk blackened quite I hoped by whistle and by lure A restless eaglet to secure That took flight, startled, from my wrist. Eva Your chance, good subtle-tongue, is missed A longsome while may be to wait. Beneath my mother s eyes I span. Or broidered, set apart: I left her for a roving man To sleep upon his heart. But some come early, some come late. Where all at last must he; And now I wait inside hell's gate Till he shall lie by me. Piepowder A wind storms up from the city gate, Fanning the wretched straws about As soldiers hunt a peasant rout. [5-] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE MiCAELA Tell me your loss apart, fair youth. Piepowder A beryl, an amulet in truth, From my neck; hereabouts it lies. MiCAELA No search till the aging moon shall rise. Three queens in the tower are spinning a thready Over their laps it lies tangled and red. In the choking white sea-fog the stones drip with rime. And hushed is the bell that rang vespers and prime. — Is it finished? My fingers are wrinkled with cold ; We were spinning so long we must he very old. — A lock of the fine scarlet wool is unspent; But the vair on our bosoms is faded and rent. Strong from the void mounts the cry of the tide, While never sweet airs blow the cold mist aside. — The sun is dead, sister ; it darkens to night, And how shall we measure the thread without light? Our lamps at the stair-foot were left long ago, But we are too feeble to venture below. Piepowder The air, though pale with hope of light, Is colder than a mountain height. THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Maddalena The others spin, and with shut breast Review their stored-up thoughts. No jest : Your errand in my ear: stoop lower! Piepowder My bosom bore a gold sunflower, Good dame; though lost, the flower august Must not wither here in the dust. Maddalena A flower can bloom a single day: Man has a single Hfe, they say. The Christmas child is blithe and douce. The Pasque-child makes a holy house. St, John's can hear the fairy talk. All Hallows' with the dead can walk. But never honest girl was horn Upon a dark Good Friday morn. Piepowder Gossips, I know not what you be, But, 'faith, you sing not cheerfully. To sit and spin, how should you know God's birds alight and walk below. And oft with plumes unsinged, and dress Unscorched, love treads in furnaces ? Yon windows show a silver streak, When the moon tops the first house-peak I must be breathing country air. Maddalena Gossip, the player is debonair. [53] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder 'Give you good even, and better tunes. Eva May dewy coolness charm your noons — Maddalena Stars show by day — MiCAELA And nights be Hght. The Three Spinners Messer Piepowder, a kind good-night. They gOy sttll sptnningy along the dark street. Piepowder The high heart shall not stoop to ill; Faith can outdare old women s lore. Bitter prove cure for sore. She has her proud life lonely to fulfil And I must urge my way and purge my will. The ardent quiet of the strong Is to the winds and waters dear. For spirits still and clear Only, can mirror steadily and long The mountains and the uncounted starry throng. [S4] ACT III Among the mountains. The Duchess at the door of a hut^ waiting under a vine-trellis hung with purple hunches; the shepherd's pipe is heard as the shepherd comes home. Duchess The pale, still, autumn-tasting air Is all too thin and cool to upbear Those fluttering notes, that flag and waver, With many a trill and plaintive quaver Lingering out the v^istful strain. So, you come back to me again. Dear heart and goodly, to whom each hour My bosom turned, as the sunflower Fast rooted, through diminished gyres Follows Hyperion's splendid fires. At even, my breast becomes the sea Where that sun sinks triumphantly Empurpling its pure hyaline. Shepherd Your mouth, like honeyed eglantine, Sweetest heart, all day thirsted for, I taste, and thirst for it the more : Then touch each quivering eyelid thin, Shutting the moony ghmmer in : Your tender hand, that cHngs and tightens : Lastly, your throat, that dusks and whitens. Through all its firm, pale, slender length, [55] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE From sharp chin's grace to shoulder's strength Sweeter than dappled sycamore. Duchess Ruddy curls, bronzed and burnished o'er, The sun and wind that in you played Together, have left you disarrayed With memories of the pine forest. Shepherd Linger a moment on my breast. Your pale red lips are tremulous fire, I am the phoenix' unpriced pyre, I the lone bird aerial. As, for the nobler grape in fall. The sun, now pausing on the line, Turns all his being into wine. Your lip's touch is the lustral rite Transmuting mine to essence bright, Till from your mouth's high sacrament I mount all spirit. Duchess With strength unspent. Brown arms that close, ye hold me fast Where time knows neither first nor last. Yea, in God's fire-girt paradise. . . . Even while we touch it, yonder flies The moment, far already away. Tell me, how passed the slow sweet day ? Shepherd The soft sheep cropped a lawny shore, In face of where the torrent hoar [56] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Down the rock-wall of its own weight A dangling skein drops fine and straight. To-night I could not hear its rush, The air sets thither; yet in the hush Through the deep reeds that fringe the lake I heard the long pale ripples break With a low, ceaseless, lapping noise. Duchess Came there not any wandering boys Up the stream's bed, intent to find Green-bearded filberts, or behind The pinfold, chestnuts glossy brown ? Or a strayed hunter, scrambling down The barren-ridged mountain-crest ? Or pilgrim in his earth-grey vest ? Shepherd I saw none such ; who should there be ? Duchess Who should come hither, verily? Shepherd Why question of so unHke a thing ? Duchess Because the air has seemed to sing All day. A far-off lute-player I thought — but 'twas a kind of purr O' the blood; the ear dreamed, as the eye Sees the world reel in mid-July. Still sit, amidst this leafy green, [57] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE And pause, the little words between, To touch your reed-stops fitfully. Till a beam climbs the cypress tree Rusty, to gild its tawny peak. Shepherd Your strong white kid was far to seek At noon; those hoofs, Hke agate blocks Polished and streaked, among sharp rocks They danced on upward, who so gay ? He paused to pasture on the way. Glancing bright looks, the slender head Lifting each instant as he fed, And ever in pretended fear Leaping steep shelves as I drew near, Till I must fetch a half mile round And come on him from higher ground. He will dance some day to the wolf's den. Duchess I will smoke out the grim wolf then, And save my wanton wanderer. Pallid gold of the windless air Blazons summer's accomplished time. Sing, my dear heart, and when the rhyme Pauses and turns with iterant passion. As is our comely country fashion, I will awake my harsher throat To answer on another note. Shepherd Sweetheart^ zvhen you are old and small and grey, And your dear voice is but a rustling sound, [58] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE And in the sun or by the fire all day You spin and tell of me to girls around, Tell of me only how I loved you so That my days breathed a%uay like April snow ; Tell of me to no bold girl or her lover. But in your deep heart murmur my name over. Duchess ^ Now we love : who knows age, alas ? When you do pipe, beloved, I shut my eyes And think I hear the brook's voice and the wind, And when you sing, I know in Paradise One bird had such a note before Eve sinned : But when you sing and hold me, next December, I wonder, shall I all spring s sweets remember? Ah, sing and clasp me, for I wonder yet If Eve remembered; if you will forget! Hold me close, ere the good hour pass. Shepherd A white moth flits beneath the trees Whose crests are hushed with mysteries. While all the sward is barred and quaint With radiance cool and shadow faint. What filled your lonely hours of sun ? Duchess I took my tufted distaff, dun With carded hemp, down the thick wood Of gnarly ilex dark; and stood Where through the blue air crystalline [59] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE I saw old cities, hill-set, shine, Dark-walled, slim-towered, against the sun; But white-crowned flashed to southward one Ringed with red walls; and from the plain, Thin as the tinkle of sun-smit rain. The Angelus bell I heard, and thought How love is all and we are nought. Then I dreamed, right in purple noon, That music, Hke the cradle tune My mother might have stilled me by, Though ere the moon that in the sky Signed my birth, dwindled and was gone, She was asleep and under stone. Shepherd This was a dream, foolish sweet creature. Magic to make from things of nature. I know right well your Angelus-spell. It was the silver-tempered bell From the brown church's tower, that, set Upon our mighty flanks, is yet Hid by a spur from all our pass: There where you have heard your Christmas mass, And borne pink HHes, Lady-Day. Duchess Happen it did, then, as you say, I think 'twas nothing, for my part. But woke and echoed in my heart Forgotten dreams: one evening After a long day's journeying. When I climbed up to such a town; The grass was tall and green; a brown Fine dust was under-foot, and soft; [60] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Rose-red, the city hung aloft; Sparse olives, silver-leafed and frail, Tinged the declining sunlight pale But cast no shade. The road sv^ung on In vv^ide loops, narrov^ing sharp; upon The level last, hard by the gate — For it was there we had to wait While a rude soldier munched his bread — I saw, to all the eastward spread. Like the waves' waste in form and hue, Innumerous, tossing vast and blue, A tumbled sea of hills, all kissed By Hghts enmeshed of amethyst. These are these mountains magical; I dwell, enchanted, amidst them all. Piepowder^ out of sight^ sings the song of the three queens^ the lute continuing to sound through the trees as he moves en- tangled among the sheep-cotes. Duchess Listen ! Shepherd How late a traveller! Duchess Did you not hear the falcon stir His bells ? Shepherd And a dog whines thereby. Duchess Listen ! He ruffles drowsily His downy bosom's changing sheen. [6i] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Shepherd Aye, something has roused our peregrine. In the dusk wind the trees begin To talk together; let us go in. Your hand is cold as a snow-wreath. Duchess Look how the darkness Hes beneath The boughs, and still its tide mounts higher, Starward. Shepherd You shiver. You shall have fire, See, the first fire of the late year. A week ago I ranged it here With cedarn boughs and cinnamon And odorous gums from lands all sun, That you might kindle at our door On the wind-haunted threshing-floor The very fire should scare off harm Through the long rainy nights, while warm We are singing spring to us. Duchess Not to-night. The south blows warm. Shepherd This coal is alight; Look, as I blow the filmy ashes The rose-breast of it wanes and flashes. Touch but these leaves before we sing The autumnal hymn of fire-lighting. The wavering flame that creeps and hides [62] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Licks round the logs, veers and subsides, Tlien roaring leaps to flicker and curl As though a world-rose should unfurl. Or, in an airy jet, aspire Topaz, ruby, sharp sapphire, The accumulated treasuries all Of palaces ethereal. Poised like a living thing, it breathes. Laughs, and flings from its supple w^reaths In hot triumphant mockery Spark-showers toward the eclipsed sky. Sweet, take this bough with flames abloom And wake the hearth-fire in the room. Still listless ? Then my arm about you Does what I shall not do without you. The faggots crackle and hiss, unbound. And the warm light wavy, a gold embrowned, Plays through the shut-in, kindly place. Once more grow nights dearer than days. While the sap shrieks, the blue flames spring, Against my shoulder lean and sing. Duchess What you have done I cannot stay. The stars have marched, which met to-day, Since on their road God set them first. Sing you. I cannot if I durst. Shepherd O presence holy Of divine unrest. Virginal, lowly. To thine unmemoried breast [63] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE With faith secure The world's rejections Kindly thou takesty Man's best perfections Only thou makest Utterly clean and pure. . . . Duchess Hark, the dogs ! Knocking at the door ! Yet still I will not cross the floor Nor lift the latch to summoning fate. Shepherd What, you are feverous ! It is late : The wandering voice we heard — I come ! — Would ask the road or beg a crumb. Your brow and palm are moist and cool. Cling not, dear heart; take you that stool Screened in the chimney corner dim, For I must open indeed to him. The dogs are waking: Silver, Tray, List how they clamour, Blanche and Stray! Piepowder A good night, friends; your mountain is high. Have you clean straw for such as I, A loaf's end, and, from shaggy-shanks, A cup of milk ? For meed, my thanks; Then, ere we sleep, at tune and song A match, so it were not too long. Shepherd In a good hour for us you came. Will you not sit and watch the flame ? [64] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder I thought to have crossed the pass to-night But found it in the owlet light Dangerous. Your bale-fire drew me back, When I had lost the plainer track And among sheep-cotes groped astray, To he by it content till day: Then, as beneath your door I spied Flames' changeful Hght, and heard inside Singing, hard on a softer tone — But your companion is gone. Shepherd Sir, eye not so these empty bowls; A pipkin simmers on the coals Within there, which we must await. Piepowder Kind sylvan folk, to come so late Is not to earn so large ^ share Of shepherd's peace and shepherd's fare. Three queens in the tower are spinning a thread. Shepherd Is it lute, voice, or song, or all, Has that ambiguous, haunting fall. Like an old nurse's lullaby To a child born too sad to cry ? Piepowder I learned it long since, as I think. From three strange spinners, by the brink [65] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Of a town fountain. Sharp folk they, But kindly, with wise words to say To whoso neither fawns nor fears. Shepherd Learned they their wisdom from the years ? Piepowder Each, rather, from her bosom deep. Eva's was moulded so to keep A tired child warm : childlike her thought. But Maddalena's lore was bought: Her eyes have lost their languishment, And round the shrunk shape, shaken and bent. Softer than ermine, hangs her hair. Shepherd What is the other who spins there ? Piepowder In her aspect two habits stand, — Virginity, and long command. As who an abbess should have been. The Duchess passes to go out under the vine-trellis. Shepherd Where goes my love ? What has she seen ? Duchess Nothing. The night is hushed and dark. Dew patters from the branches stark. [66] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE I would fain taste the silent air Dark, cool as is deep well-water. Shepherd They talk of many things, no doubt, Down in the cities all about ? Piepowder Aye, of themselves, then of the court, — Each other's sins duly report. Shepherd I saw the Duke once. I am told That since his wife died, he grows old. Piepowder The Duke was never married — nayj Madonna Lionella Hves; men say She sickened in her palace fair And tranced Hes, love-havened, there. Shepherd Yet I remember how it was said When the great Duke died, this should wed His child, who no way else might take The realm that for her mother's sake Whom he so loved, he would have for hers. Piepowder That intent, common talk avers; But though his dying wish was sore His child was not deUvered o'er Loveless, unloved, to wedlock strait : The royal bird must choose, to mate. [67] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Shepherd Does the Duke love her, so to pine ? Piepowder I think he loved, by a sure sign, That never pledge nor promise lay Betwixt them, till that sorry day Which cost men's eyes their Duchess' face, And cost the Duke all life's dear grace. Yet may it be Hes, all said of her. Shepherd Please you to sup, good wayfarer ? Seethed with all spices, here is kid. White bread, cream by the cool wave hid All noontide, dark in earthen crock. Where wind-swept grasses ripple and rock. And here are grapes of silvery green With sunrise flushed, the bloomy sheen Of others globed purple; and sweet, Cold, and a Httle crisp to eat. Tender figs, dun and violet. Pearled over with night's freshness yet; Firm curd-balls snowy, and last, a few Green, velvet almonds, milky-new. Dainties more rare we lack; here not Flushed peach, nor freckled bergamot, Nor vermeil pomegranate, alas ! Such ripen not thus far up the pass. Piepowder Than Salomon we are more blest; His supper Balkis never dressed, [68] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Nor yet the black-browed Shulamite : But does our hostess fast to-night ? Duchess I have drunken milk : I want no more. Shepherd Is no wine, sweetheart, in our store ? The unfrequent guest more worthily To honour, let us merry be. Piepowder Great-bellied flasks, that nought may lack. Be here. Shepherd This, Roman tongue calls black But we up here, red wine; beside Sits pale, sweet, sleepy, amber-eyed Vintage of Orvieto, whose Dome Gilds the rich clusters round its home. Piepowder Still do you taste neither of these ? Shepherd She is half-way a Sienese. Those hold, the best of country wine Is that warm, darker brewage fine That in the vats leaps hot and red By Montepulciano's head. [69] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder Men have strange customs over-sea. One kind takes pleasure curiously When the wine lightens in the glass, To name kind dame or winsome lass, And in her honour to drink about As Romans poured libation out. Stately, grave, scarce-seen shepherdess, I drink your health in humbleness. Duchess Though, wanderer, I may not pay Your courtesy in the same way, Because to-night I fast, your grace Will let my thanks supply the place. Shepherd You are a lute-pIayer, I see. The oaten pipe suits best with me. Yet, not unmindful whom you follow, Nor how the cruel bright Apollo Once served poor fluting Marsyas, While, hidden in the ripe, tall grass, Old, kind Pan heard heaven's clear notes And limped back sorrowful to his goats, Furry brown fauns, white Dryades, Weeping, obscure among the trees : — I am still for trial, as you invited. Our prize shall be of gold hair plighted, A bracelet, woven from a soft tress While we sing, by this shepherdess. And as she plaits the subtle braid She shall pronounce a judgment weighed. [70] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder Agreed, but little does it fit In the deep chimney-shade she sit. Shepherd Yet Hes the fire-Hght on her hands. Piepowder They play among the golden strands Like doves in the Hesperian tree. So, since the essay took start from me, Set you the pace. Arcadian. Shepherd Mistress, when you weary grow Of your royal giving. Have no fear for me, that know But one good tn living. Speak sad words without a frown, Then, untouched of sorrow. Kiss my heavy eyelids down; They will not wake to-morrow. Piepowder Now I halt after, if I can. — Whither, stripling, runs your way Into deepening night? — Sweet, I follow hard on day. Overtaking light. — Dusty-foot, the wind is chill In the trees above. THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE — Harbour lies where, past the hill. Eddying marsh-lights move. — Thick-set stars will mock your pain. Until dawning rest. — That desire which men call vatn. Is of all things best. Duchess If sweeter basil be, or rue, Is a point, who may answer to ? The hollow lute awake again. And teach your oat a soother strain. Shepherd I know no descant; all my skill Leaves me at forthright plain-song still. Piepowder Love me to-day, while roses are falling. And faint from the cypresses birds are a-calling, For the rose zvill be past, the song be forgotten, And this eager flesh dust ere a green tree be rotten. Love me to-day ere the passion pass over And the dead love's perfume be forgot of the lover; Love me while pleasure is fragrant and warm. For love like a bird can outsoar the swift storm. And to-day, though arms slacken and fevered lips tire. Love is singing aloft in the seraphim-quire. Shepherd I cannot counter to such art, To hush the breath, and stir the heart: Take you the bright hairs implicate. [72] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE How should I grudge a flower to fate When the whole rose-garden is mine ? Duchess Let loose my hand, your arm untwine ! Nay, I was well whereas I was. Piepowder How the old images repass ! Say, deftest weaver of bright things, Have you no cunning with the strings ? I did not think God had graced two Women's small heads with this self hue. Gold honey-coloured; so soft its weight, So rich its sweets inviolate. So live it curls and stirs, awaking The ancient wound to set that aching! Duchess You give me, God, a grievous part. But I must do what bids my heart, I cannot else. The lute, then, friend ! Long since I had some skill to bend Less sunburnt fingers on the frets. Is it so — and so .? How one forgets ! Welladay! Love IS a tyrannous lord, How shall I worship accord. Or set my feet in his way? Piepowder O heart superb, are you found here ? O littlest comrade and most dear; [73] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Close, hand, on mine; gird up, slight form, To dare the sun-shower and the storm. To ford the loud stream, swim the deep, And by the roadside fire to sleep. To watch the horizon's hill-cloven rim As we mount upward, upward swim All round us, till we pluck the rose That loves the silence of the snows. Shall we not go at birds' first stir ? Duchess You forget, Messer Piepowder. Piepowder I had forgot. Shepherd, your grace; My brain was dizzy for a space. Yet we may sit here the night through And talk across the fire as do All old friends .? When the last cocks crow I will take up my lute and go. You are the master, you give leave .' Shepherd Stay ever, if so she will not grieve. She is my blood, my breath; what should, Save her desire, become my good ? Duchess An hour long, or a life long, stay! When you go, goes my heart away. You breathe the unknown of dreams : your eyes Lighten through time's immensities. [74] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder And woofed songs of sorrowful laughter, And sound of dead feet following after, I waken. Duchess In enchantment deep Long laid, my spirit shakes off her sleep. And plumes her mighty wings, and light Poises herself for sunward flight. Her pinions rustle and unfurl. Piepowder There spoke again my radiant girl. Duchess O long-beloved, O kind and dear. How can I thus depart ? Yet hear The quiring call from peak to peak. The way of love is still to seek ; And my heart owns the skyey spell. The secret incommunicable, Therefore I go whilst you abide. Shepherd So — may I speak now ? I have tried Listening the spoken word, to know The unsaid things you uttered so. Your noble nature shrinks to wound Mortally, something helpless found And leave it in the dark to moan. But you being gone, I am not alone; For all the hours of all our days [75] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Sit by me, company my ways; The peace of hopes once satisfied, Pride of possession — O never pride Had such rich banquet as affords My store, of memory's unsunned hoards ! I shall want long to tell them all. Always I knew this must befall; How should a wordless creature, mute As powers that swell the flowers and fruit, Fit but to watch the woolly herd, How should I mew a strong-winged bird ? In your august and splendid soul Never could such fill up the whole. Or such supply your high heart's food. Therefore, in full glad gratitude, only love and stainless sweet. Let me a last time kiss your feet That they not weary nor be cold ! Duchess There is a doctrine old, There is a rule austere. Passing I have no fear Although the road is paved with pain: To want is more than to attain. 1 go in humble reverence Even by your teaching, shepherd, hence, Leaving you, in exchange, a token; God's love breaks not as mine has broken. Wayfarer, on the open road Your tireless strength shall know no load, Companioned by your singing heart. My soul and I must dwell apart: [76] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE We have to learn, being all untaught, The miracles by silence wrought, And by the soHtude that Hes Inside the bosom. Piepowder You are more wise Than aught quite mortal, and me, a fool, You have sent back to bitter school. Duchess No bitterness shall tinge, I know, Messer Piepowder, your dusky glow. Piepowder You cannot go out in night alone. Shepherd Nor, solitary, try ways unknown. Duchess Fie, children, frightened of the dark ! I have ranged this mountain, when the lark On her nest shivered, for lambs new born, Or an aged dog the wolf had torn. When chill day whitens, we three divide. With you, for comrade and for guide Go patient strength, and constant will. Shepherd All my life is your service still. That the unguessed fire burn strong and high Lest you feel cold and know not why. [77] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duchess You, bear aloft your proper fire, Unappeased, unattained desire; Nor brow nor cheek holds more of light Than windy clouds a moonlight night, Beauty rides high, untouched, austere, Far. Piepowder Nay, confessed in presence here. You are a heaven-born stray on earth Seeking the country of your birth; Angels, your first playmates, attend you. Duchess Farewell : a sunshine day God send you. Now all is said that may beseem, And look, the east begins to dream ! [78] ACT IV A loggia, opening on a high terrace: below may be seen the palace gate. The seven Waiting Gentlewomen. Ippolyta You have the gem, dear Orsola, Safe ? Orsola In my breast, Ippolyta. Laodomia Mafalda holds the girdle's gold That so long empty lay, and cold. ISOTTA Its daedal stones, cleft never apart. Soon shall be warmed against her heart, Arianna Here is the deep-furred pall. FlAMMETTA Her state She will not assume ere at the gate Showing herself, when all the poor Her mooned beauty caress secure. [79] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Mafalda How fair she comes! Ippolyta The Duke is by. Arianna What if the marriage song we try ? The Seven Gentlewomen First when Phosphor trembled, lucent-pale^ Ere dawns rose had flowered across the sky. When a chill wind restlessly All the jasmine's sweets had shed And withdrawn days cloudy veil, ''Open sweet eyelids, '^ cried we, ''leave your maiden bed We have cherished. And your white dreams, in the sun s beams at last to hind The noble heart fast to the constant mind!'* Duchess Good-morrow again, hearts debonair, Whose excellency can declare No tongue, nor compass any mind, Nor time on earth your likeness find. Look, in your grace my soul I dress To-day, you lend me worthiness. Arianna Love unearthly and without spot The forms of I and Thou knows not; We vibrate to your strong control In diapason full, one soul. [80] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duke Lingering beside this marble seat, Maids, break not off: your cadence sweet The scaly lizard charms : his throat Tremulous, quivers to the note. With lisp and plash in mossy urn The fountain every fall and turn Reiterates, echoing plaintively To hollow^ lilies shaken with spray. The seven Gentlewomen, withdrawn in the loggia, sing among themselves or talk by snatches. The Seven Sun, old sun, upon the small gold head By its heavy tresses overweighed. And the beryl-inwoven braid. Rain a glory, shroud the bride. All her goodly white and red, Ardent, fairer than the pearl, and steady-eyed. From our side Secure she goes, for love she knows, who sole can bind The noble heart fast to the constant mind. Duke You lost, the spark of soul was gone. The huge world's substance seemed withdrawn, Till among shadowy accidents Hollow I walked in blind intents. Even through the battle's straining force Where man cleaves man, horse tears at horse, I paused to question why I strove And scorned the useless end thereof; [8r] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Put ofF the armour's bright inlay, Turned, and from triumph rode away. At Milan, to my young advice The Emperor's self paid honour twice. He walked, an arm about my neck; There hung this toy, my breast to deck With Jason's quest, Medea's wrong; I was glad in it one hour long. ISOTTA Forth, for winter is past. Sweethearts, at last. Clouds in the curded blue Sail whitely aloft. Rains rustle soft Shimmering with sun-streaks through. Ippolyta Crocus and tulip trim Their chalices brim As lessening nights allow. Tender and ardent green, Rose-blooms between. Fledges the youngling bough. Duke At last God chose I go to Rome, And in the shade of the great Dome Hold with the Pope some conference; Great prelates dyed the audience Blood-red and Tyrian; cap at knee Princes assented, I and he Having our say out, much at one; [82] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE And when the lordly farce was done And I was sickening for home, — For it stinks in my nose, does Rome — "Yet I will speed you," said the Pope, "As Pontiff," and I saw a hope Where other talisman was none : A mass to my intention Said by a saint in that vast gloom Which shrines the prince-apostle's tomb. Genial, the great Pope shook his head: "What should saints do at Rome?" he said, Scanning with humorous eye the throng Where prides and pomps and lusts showed strong; Yet through gold, purple, scarlet, lay An ashen thread, Franciscan grey. He signed, and cat-like stepped to call The Order's gaunt shrewd General. — One saint, a parish priest, might be In swarming, foul Trastevvere. Fetched by a gorgeous church-steward, At nightfall next, I pressed him hard To do mine and the good Pope's will. White, hushed, and meek, he checked me still: "I can ask not God for goods, if aught Less than all good be blessing-fraught. So your heart's wish is His will too, Each instant fills the soul of you." He blessed me and went; each day again His prayers Hke rain have fallen since then; Not any more I saw his face. Yet in my heart sprang herb-of-grace. And I have been content to wait. Secure God lured me back my mate, [83] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Touched your arm, led feet unbenighted Though ways should wind and inns invited; And for love's sake, unwearied I have ruled my people as in your stead. Laodomia Orange bees all noon fVill drowse, and a moon Will dream in the amber west; But warm hours drift away, Night swallows day; Ton shall pass with the rest. Duke I rode, that day of earliest frost, After a wounded stag, till, lost My way in mountain fastnesses, In icy cell an anchoress Sheltered the deer, but succoured me. Duchess That day is safe in memory. Duke In cloth of frieze, your hair close-bound, Folded your dehcate brows around, Your white feet as the white frost cold. You stood, like the worn goddess old On that last Roman-bought relief. And for surprise, and pity, and grief, My calmed soul turned sick and hot. Duchess I was at peace, though you were not. [84] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duke How often I came again, how prayed. Before you left your horrid shade. Your savage rocks, reluctant came To your high place and your great name And the splendid ornaments thereof. Arianna Death's hand strikes on the door, Charon hts oar Plies where the light ghosts move. White flesh wastes in the dust. Gold hair will rust Though lilies sweeten above. Duchess I came, for these were here, and love. Orsola Kind is our lord love's might But brief is delight; Live in the hurrying day! Fragrant as April air. Supple and fair, Laugh and love while ye may! FlAMMETTA Idle and light, this Hkes me ill. Mafalda The ancient song falls sweetlier, still. His is the sign That we follow after, By tears for wine [8s] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE And sighing for laughter He IS known divine. The Seven Welladay! How shall one service accord^ Or set her feet in the way Of love, our tyrannous lord? Duchess Ah, my dear lord, the dusty ways. The mountain sheep-cote's earthher grace, The wood that star-dawn never knew. Were stages on the road to you. Duke You are the same she who one day Held converse of love's perfect way And all the time between is nought. Sunk beyond speech, beyond even thought, Forgotten of us, unguessed of men. Duchess Not such the doctrine you spoke then. Though you are, my lord, no neophyte. Affords love's quintessential might Courage in this, life's ultimate proof. To fix another soul's behoof. You to guide ? . . . Love is the unplumbed green, Thither flows all, it is salt and clean; And love, the phoenix's rich pyre. Turns all to hieratic fire. So, all my life and the acts thereof Are parcel of this moment's love. [86] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Think you that if I held it shame To have adored twice, thrice, his name Holy — not held it excellence To have loved nobly, soul and sense, Should I stand robed to-day to wed ? Should I not be this long time dead ? The string accordant to my soul You are, the part that makes me whole; One blood through members fashioned like Flows, in our breasts the same hours strike; Mine are your folk, this duchy great My flesh cries out to as my state. These I would serve a long life through, And my sweet seven, and, dear lord, you. But man can serve not till he is free, And hard won is soul's liberty. In the mid-forest's chill recess The virtue I proved of loneliness. The discipline of the heart self-known, The grace of recollection : Till the ancient oaks uttered their spell One hour, the light turned audible; Till the eye, — threading the thick wood At noon, where slender and listening, stood Dark stems 'mid delicate boughs, all seen In a strange air, golden and green — Grew penetrant, felt at point to see Not far depths, but infinity. Thereafter I knew, who loves one form How bright soever, how white and warm And tender, all fairness learns to love. And the vision grew, winging above, Where lovely ideas and dreams abide, [87] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Delicate poesy, slumberous-eyed Music, the ardours of poignant life; So, beyond time's drift, fortune's strife, — Spirit and blood being stricken mute — Last, I saw Beauty absolute, One, unalloyed; in whose compare Our growing, perishing earthly fair Is as cloud-shadow on waters fleet; Waning nor waxing not, complete, Self-poised; 'mid thought's evanishings Stablest of perdurable things. I walk, since orbed that hour on me, Free, in that light see differently Perhaps. You have my doctrine, have My love on earth and in the grave; Your own so equal is in measure That each can give exhaustless treasure A life long, without bankruptcy, So, no debts lie 'twixt you and me. One thing I owe : this shining seven, In love than yours more perfect even, Shame for my sake long underwent. Therefore it is my fixed intent An hour hence at the palace gate Where children and old women wait Already, and all the town shall be Greeting their duchess honourably, That my handmaiden's names be clean To tell the tale of what has been. Duke Though many a swine your pearls will swill, My Duchess, do your gallant will. [88] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE I will draw up my troops at hand So clowns who no word understand With a foul word flush not your cheek. Duchess Wrong them not. To a spirit meek The simple heart is ever kind. Duke You shame me to a better mind; Say what you will, it shall be right. Ippolyta Please you, madonna, to be dight ? All the townsfolk already are come. Can you not hear the insistent hum ? Duchess Mount to the loggia, and there deck me Duchess and spouse, fair as men reck me. First kiss me, hearts. Child, your dense hair Lies on your neck too much. Unware Grown softer, are grown no whit less wise, Laodomia, your brown-green eyes. Isotta of the arched brows, You are pale with sitting in the house At virginals or broidery. Fiammetta's thin red mouth to me Sweeter than wine is. Orsola, Your whiter hands than cassia Must bind the jewel's flickering light Upon my brow — nay, bind it tight, My father's name is in the glow. The girdle, quick, Mafalda. So ! [ 89,] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Though I, now being no more free, Love-cinctured go contentedly, Still, let me pause a breath, and rest My head upon your fragrant breast Before my state I take upon. The momentary chill is done. Now clasp the heavy minever About my throat, than yours less fair, Arianna. Maids, ring me around. My Duke awaits, on this high ground The last thing I shall do alone. The Duchess goes down the steps, surrounded by her gentle- women, and crosses the lower terrace toward the stair which mounts from the gate. From the bench by the fountain, the Duke and those who join him can see but cannot hear. The one-time shepherd, cowled and habited in the white Car- thusian dress, separates from the compact and motley crowd which IS about the Duchess, and passing along the lowest terrace, climbs by narrower steps to where stands the Duke in dark dress and unattended. Afterwards from the same direction comes Pie- powder and salutes the Duke. Duke Day shadows o'er when she is gone. O radiant heart immaculate. Stronger than change, surer than fate, God keep me in your light ! Amen. Who leaves the eager, crowding men ? Shepherd That flower of all sweet eloquence. Mirror of wit, her Excellence The Duchess, I have words for her. [90] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duke Yonder from down the marble stair The Duchess talks with her own folk Freely, and when the rest have spoke, Father, you shall command her ear. Shepherd Let me attend her coming here. Duke Does your despatch come from afar ? Shepherd Farther beyond the farthest star Than that from us. God led me hither Who went, last night, I knew not whither. I thought I lay in town to assist But at the Blessed Eucharist Where the cathedral rears in air Its storied front above the square. With twisted shafts about the door On lions based, each grinning o'er A hind he rends with blood impassioned, - All of old sullen porphyry fashioned. Mass done, I drifted with the press Of citizens in feast-day dress That jostled palaceward; and, free While velvet stuffs and cramoisie Trailed down the marble, flight by flight, And a star shook on her brows white. Descending, ringed by girls, in guise Like pied and fluttering butterflies, Shone, like a dream remembered. That gold, that unforgotten head ! [91] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Duke Under your hood — stay, whose that song ? For lute and voice the strain prolong. Piepowder The faithful heart no murmurous peace requireth. Nor richer joy desireth Than leave to worship meetly. O love fulfilled, though two he one completely. Ends all love so? no, no, no, no ! Tet interfused quires consort most sweetly. Though passion into song can hammer sorrow. And discord raptures borrow. And faith most flourish thwarted. Tea, love grow heavenliest whenas loves are parted, Ends all love so? O no, no, no, no I For love denied fares ever lonely-hearted. Your Excellence, when, this holiday. The whole poor world has leave to stray, Hear graciously a poor lute-player Who rests, your constant good-luck-prayer. Duke Is the speech at the gateway done ? Piepowder Our Duchess-lady had scarce begun. The throng so flocked and cried, to bless Her strength refound and loveHness. [92] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE What, shepherd, so you did find God, As you were sent ? Shepherd By paths untrod I have reached, at last, love's perfect way. What fetched you hither on this day, Messer Piepowder? Piepowder To look upon Once more those emeralds, and be gone Ever on my tireless march again; Great gladness bought with such small pain. Highness, you stand displeased and loth. But the same power that called us both Calls the stork back from Pyramids When spring first opens rose-flushed Hds, And in bright streams distils the snow. BUKE Your excellent good wills I know. And take your hands each, if I may; I am more moved than I can say. Yet if you go my thanks are doubled — I would not have the Duchess troubled. Piepowder She is worth, kind lord, a lustier faith. Who proves not, loves not, the word saith. She who would nor eat nor drink with me Owning another loyalty, She who has deigned become your spouse [93] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE To bear sons to your princely house, She, whom this monk is jealous of For God and not for any love Touched humanly, — O, Duke, you miss The very, unmatched, pearl she is, By which rock-veined soft gold is dust, If in your deep heart's treasury, trust Be so a-wanting! Duke Truth indeed. But the fault springs from bitter need. Lovinor a visitant high and wise How shall I find grace in her eyes ? Piepowder So as in God's eyes, even by grace, And grow by gazing on her face. That, brother austere, why venture seeing ? No adept you of vivid Being, Preaching pain's perfect alchemy. Shepherd I would teach immortal ecstasy. First, I would hold her ear with song. Comrade, my pipe is lost since long, Touch you your lute, but wistfully. And let my poor weak cunning try Again the tender dawn-song over. An hour before the weeping day Had fired the white and green. Three Maries took the garden way, [94] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE And one was Magdalene. They talked of great doors barred and locked And nobody astir. They found an empty cave, that mocked The fine lawn and the myrrh. Tet one tear-bltnded girl did meet'- She thought, the gardener ; She fell to kiss his wounded feet : ^'Mary!'' he said to her. Pray, were not that the worthiest lover For the white soul ? Then I should say, — I have rehearsed it day by day : All things go by, and change, and are no more, And that can never be which was before. The perfect kiss of perfect lovers, the hour Which is an amorous lifetime's fieriest flower Withers, the instant fleets, the love may range Or die, for what shall be sure, except change ? Then from this tragic and tumultuous sea. This refluent waste of mutability. Where we lie drowning, palsied feet and breast, Or drift, where nothing stable is to rest. Is there no rescue ? Yea. One walks dry-shod On the shiftino; waves to take us : He is God. And all the crash and thunder of the sea Turns to the silence of His constancy, When we find, lying close upon His breast, That the wheel's centre, absolute, is at rest. Exiles we wander, stubborn sons of Eve, Striving the grey day's burdens to deceive, And to the night's hot languors to afford Rehef, in vain, all vain, not knowing, O Lord, [95] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Thou didst create us for Thyself, and we Can for our souls find rest only in Thee. But O how poor, how dull is sense, How strait, to measure the immense, How dark, to scan deep space withdrawn, When in the pallid air of dawn To seek the bride, the Heavenly Spouse Comes to the dim and low-browed house! The vigilant soul, that when He knocks Opens, shall find her Master's locks Damp with chill dew, His wounded feet With spikenard and camphire sweet. O now not hers to watch and miss. The Master comes and calls for His. Along the pleached herby walk Rose-girt, she goes in tender talk With frankincense about her shed; She hears the stir above her head Of unseen wings, presences holy Henceforth to wait upon her lowly And at her will tune their bright throats In rapturous descant, their own notes Seraphic, which they used to sing Age-long and sleepless, — echoing From the pearl-gated city white Firm-stablished upon chrysolite. Yea, and that glorious city has come down Decked like a bride; the Lamb reigns from His throne ! For where the clustered shafts that never tire Lift the far, shadowy vaulting to aspire. And through the hushed, warm, odorous dusk the eyes Mark, far aloft, bluer than deep noon skies, Or decked in ardent reds past day-set's glories, [96] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Ranged round, the potentates of saintly stones : When, at the hours on either edge of night, The sapphire panes blaze with their proper light Unearthly, when the vast space tremulous Grows with deep plaintive song melodious, That turns and falls and mounts to sudden cry As I have seen a bird in great winds fly: When the pale tapers ray their pointed fires, When the orient incense wreathes in thickening spires Or filmy smokes, evermore upward bearing A thousand grieved prayers in their heaven-faring: When, stiff with gold and scarlet, jewel-sown. The priest invests pomp the Lord would not own, The sad world's gifts in homage brought too late To Him who went but once in purple state. Yet is Kings' King and Emperors' Emperor A.nd reigns in splendour ever and ever more: When hearts are hushed, and eyes are veiled, alone, Organs and quires checking their jubilant tone, Then the sharp sacring-bell shrills out to tell What overhead the bourdon's heavy knell Gives on — the word through the wide careless town. This IS my Body: for God has come down. Even the fair Christ that supped with His beloved Stands on the altar-stone in Presence proved, And all the throng of bygone years and ways Rings Him around, deepening the incense-haze. Salt sweat, tears, blood, all anguish spirits have borne, Flames of triumphant hopes, or joys forlorn. All men aspired to, sought or dreamed or planned. He holds in the hollow of His pierced hand; While, seen as rays around His dazzling brows. Muster the saints and servants of His house. [97] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Since, then, so brief and evil is our day And such delight harbours love's perfect way, O, if you love, must it not stand approved You will turn thitherward those feet beloved ? Piepowder The people, who as hushed have been As before storms the wood-folk green, Murmur and stir under the winds That blow about their startled minds. Here come three ancient spinners, who Shall tell us all the discourse through. Duke I will stand back; set them to talk. Maddalena Bless me — not one step more I walk ! Eva Sit here. These gentlemen are good. MiCAELA And player's hosen and white monk's hood Own to the distaff kinship near. Maddalena Messer Piepowder, what halts you here ? Piepowder What brings you, gossip ? Eva To see her wed Who has come back as from the dead. [98] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder Pray you, for us resume her speech, For we were out of heariffg's reach. Maddalena Who knows her matter ? Eva Nay, not I. Some such perhaps as stood close by, For the throng pressed with murmurous noise And buzzed above her singing voice. Micaela No soul divined her gracious words. Ears not attuned to such high chords Hear nothing, or a tuneless babble. Eva Fawning on her came all the rabble. Micaela They kissed her hands, her garmenting. Maddalena Surely, she is a blessed thing. Piepowder Mark how the single eye can hit And simple heart sees more than wit. Duke Stir not, good souls, but spin and rest. [99] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE The Three Spinners Our duty is our lord's behest. Duke You have loved the Duchess long, and for Her goodly father's sake of yore ? Maddalena I mind her lady mother, who died. She was of Siena, narrow-eyed And dolorous-Hpped. The wind's caress Breathed languorous on her loveliness. Her long, slim fingers frail, showed flame Against the sun: her delicate name, Monna Alessandra, on all men's tongue Grew Fiordespina; and poets sung As Biancofiore her soul-fraught flesh. How slept the sun in her locks' pale mesh ! Eva Where our sweet lady's feet have been Violets must stud the enamel green For she walks chastely; her large eyes fair, Tinged with cold green of sea-water, Set singing, where they rest, one string, And the heart vibrates, worshipping. MiCAELA Highness, God sometimes makes a creature Of heavenly stuff" though human feature, Aloof from even the scent of sin. Illuminate by a light within. To such are penitence, grief, regret, [ 100 ] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Alien, illusory, fiend-beset: Woe to whoso offends them, woe ! God sets their feet where they should go. Duchess Was I an hour ? The kindly throng In strong love, confidence more strong, Made me their voice and minister To my girls. Messer Piepowder! God give you grace of the wise feet That fetched you hither to make complete This glad day's gladness. I take each hand Nay, kiss my two cheeks — nay, but stand ! Are we not comrades, through all years Fellow-adepts and high compeers In that good order of dusty-foot War cannot scatter or sloth uproot ? Dear spouse and lord, here I commend My bosom- jewel to you for friend; And this third, where but two have been, Pray you admit, dear Peregrin'. You shall initiate of your craft. Teach him the lost word night winds waft, And that the green-streaked torrents cry, And the great silence of the sky. But through the dark months ominous You and your lute shall sit with us. Solace with song the rain-bound days. Honour our palace with your bays. Duke The spell is broken whereby he drew her But it shall call his spirit to her. [ lOI ] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Piepowder Say, Duchess, are your soft white feet Safe in the way of all most sweet ? Nay, speak not; on your folded Hps, And in your eyes' sudden eclipse I read, and knowing, I am content. The seven Gentlewomen return with garlands to fetch the spouse. Arianna It is time your Excellencies went; The hall fills up with wedding guests, But the Duke dreams and the day rests. Duchess Aye. Sleeps, then, dear Piepowder, a hope Till snow-clouds first blanch the blue cope. Duke Good friends, farewell. Have me at heart. You, too, farewell, who stand apart. The Seven Roses, flushing faint auroral white. Others heavy-headed, gold and red. In old gardens nourished. Frail narcissus, troubled szueet As a pale saint^s dreams at night. Bay leaves crushed to glad the dust before her feet. All odours meet. Bring and strew, only no rue. Here time shall hind The noble heart fast to the constant mind. [ 102] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Shepherd Stay, tender-heart, dear brightness, stay! Maddalena You that cry, what have you to say ? Shepherd O I would woo her love to God, Leading her where His pierced feet trod ! Eva Let her alone ! A baby's hand Groping upon her bosom bland Will teach her more of God on high Than all your stored divinity. Maddalena Let her alone ! The sweet Lord said By love alone all debts were paid. Her love is infinite: He knows. MiCAELA Let her alone ! The Spirit blows : His wisdom is immutable, So are His ways inscrutable, Yet souls endure unto the end. And such are saved. Piepowder They speak truth, friend. Whither your way ? The sun swings down. [103] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Shepherd My convent is a mountain's crown. God's angels there take up abode. Piepowder For me the secular Roman road That runs, a dusty shimmering band, From sea to sea slantwise the land. Gossips, I will bring you a new song When I come next. The Three Spinners Be that not long; God bless your merry heart. Maddalena The heart That laughs must ache. Eva 'Tis the wise part, For sorrow knocks at each man's door But mirth lies liefest with the poor. MiCAELA He that hath played for a great stake His heart may ache but shall not break. The Three Spinners Good son, God keep you in his sight. Shepherd Farewell. I have far to go ere night. Will you not turn to follow God, [ 104 ] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Even to endure the yoke and rod ? For He exacts abjection first But by grey Penance, Peace is nursed. Piepowder Who can redeem his brother's soul ? We shall meet, may be, at the goal, Though now our several ways divide Even as straight lines, once crossed, run wide. If yours is hot and rough and long, Go with God's blessing and a song. Shepherd I wish you song, and blessing too, Cool to sick hearts as breathing dew. Piepowder Free, strong, and bearing, not in vain, A not-intolerable pain. Out of the scents and smoke and smother Alone I go to the great mother. Warm earth's green bosom shall give me rest And strength the grey sea's heaving breast. The winnowing winds shall search my soul. When solemn hours resume the pole And pale-stemmed lines of poplars gleam That sigh and whisper along a stream, Couched by the great road's glimmering white I shall behold and hear all night Along the skyey battlement The starry sentinels ambient. Where down the dark o'er-beetling walls Arcturus to Antares calls [105] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE Till, to pass on the mighty cry, Aldebaran climbs up the sky. Then, while cold night-airs drowse and stir, My heart shall keep the watch with her. So shall forever-young desire, Quickened and warmed by his own fire, Following the still-advancing goal, Guard silence in the enfranchised soul. [io6] INTERPRETATION Of this mystery, as of all, there are divers interpre- tations. The Duchess signifies Nature Benign, as may be guessed from the Shepherd's first song in recognition of her. The Wayfarer is the poet, for whom she is forever the Beloved, but yet less dear than the abstract and the eternal. The Shepherd is the natural man, for v^hom she is ail that is, until she shovv^s him God, and then he seeks her no more save as he v^ould bring her into the glorious manifestation of redemption : the Duke is the man of science and the modern. Nature is his mate and his helper, by alliance v^ith w^hom the sufferings of the masses shall be allayed, and all pov^er reach attainment, all activity accomplishment. Or, otherwise construed, the Duchess may be the human soul, that seeks in this way and that after perfec- tion. The Wayfarer's is the life of the imagination and of reason ; it is chilly, exacting, and barren : the Shep- herd's is the life of the affections and beauty, and, as Faustus knew, the spirit turns to that only when foiled and weary. Neither can it satisfy always. The noble mind still feels the call to adventures and ideals too high for it, and finds content at last in a life of complexity and ceaseless endeavour. Equally and rightfully mated, in a world of duties and responsibilities, of friendships and mutual loyalties, the Duchess looks for faithful companionship to the Wanderer, but she does not even recognise the Shepherd under his white hood. [107] THE WAY OF PERFECT LOVE A third reading shall be for the nonce enough. The three Spinners stand for the wisdom of the world in its better no less than its baser aspects; their whimsical favour is won by quiet scorn, their profound comprehen- sion is just and true. The Way is Life, which each soul, so it seeks not ignobly, shall ultimately, in its own kind, find the way of perfection. [io8] X '^> .'b^r ^^ * o « o ,0 ^ '"" ^-^..^^ /,^^'v \/ ;;^^'. ^^>^ -'^ s«" ... °-u ^^ i°-^ ..>.*• .'■: