ACT III
Scene I
Some time Later. Room in the Palace of Shushan.
[Enter Ahafid and Smerdis.]
Ahafid
[Singing.]
In the morning man may flourish
In the evening be cut down;
Dawn may find a hero famous,
Nightfall see him lose renown.
Smerdis
[Singing.]
In his youth Ahafid's singing
Was the pride of Persia's rule;
Now that age has come upon him,
Hear him braying like a mule.
Ahafid
Still singing like a nightingale, say you?
Smerdis
[Aloud.]
I did. [Aside] The long-eared kind that crops the grass.
Ahafid
Haman's hanged upon the scaffold that
He built for Mordecai. The Jew now wears
The signet ring that sealed his nation's life.
His nation's life? But how can he explain
The slaughter of the Persian hosts?
Smerdis
Now if he would, I think he could, and if he should,
He'd thus explain: "The hosts were slain because my brain
Was not insane. So I raised Cain, obtained the reign
Of this campaign, and still remain, though they were slain."
Ahafid
I think I must be growing deaf. You rhymed?
Smerdis
I only spoke a little joke. If I could sing, I'd say the ring,
And not the king explains the thing.
Ahafid
But does
The God of Abraham inspire revenge?
The worshippers of Moloch would have shrunk
From such a day of death. I marvel that
Queen Esther did not intervene. She rules
The king. But wherefore did I say the king?
Smerdis
I think it must have been to rhyme with ring.
Ahafid
Darius' son's a spineless debauchee.
[Sings.]
The Jew the purple robe enfolds
And eke the royal gown;
For Mordecai the sceptre holds
And Esther wears the crown.
[Exit Ahafid.]
Smerdis
Ahafid said he couldn't sing Ahasuerus' praise,
And that his harp had lost the tone it had in other days.
But though the Jews are on the throne and Xerxes maudlin full,
Ahafid once more tunes his lyre and bellows like a bull.
Look out, here comes the Jew, a cloud upon
His brow, the weight of empires on his brain.
What matters does he now revolve? I fear
The day of Adar troubles Mordecai.
We'll stand aside and hear the premier.
[Exit Smerdis.]
[Enter Mordecai meditatively, followed by Zeresh, who is unseen by him at first.]
Mordecai
The name of Haman perish from the earth!
The seed of Abraham be multiplied
Until they are as numberless as sands
Upon ocean's shore! This was my prayer,
I learned it at my mother's knee. Was I
Not justified?
Zeresh
[Disguised as a Hebrew woman.]
The Holy Scripture saith,
"Vengeance belongs to God."
Mordecai
But was I not
His instrument? Jehovah wrought through me;
His will, not mine was done.
Zeresh
And yet His will
Was yours?
Mordecai
The wicked Haman would have slain
Even the queen herself and every Jew
That lives within the hundred provinces
Of Xerxes' weak and vacillating rule.
Zeresh
Thy action was no more than self-defense?
Mordecai
Not self-defense of Mordecai alone,
But of my blood, of Esther and the sons
Of Jacob, exiled and defenseless else.
The God of Abraham may chasten, but
He keeps his promises, nor will forsake.
Rameses sat upon his haughty throne
And knew not Joseph, for my people were
Oppressed with bitter bondage and their lives
Made hard in mortar and in brick; but still
They grew in numbers and increased and waxed
Exceeding mighty, till the land was filled
With them. And then the king was sore afraid
And wroth because the Jews had never bent
The knee at Egypt's shrines. He could enslave
But not corrupt the children of the true
And living God. And then he called
The Hebrew midwives and commanded them
To slay thereafter every son that might
Be born to Jacob's sacred blood. God kept
His covenant with Abraham and raised
Up Moses, the deliverer, and when
The plagues had failed to soften Pharaoh's heart,
The Lord smote every firstborn in the land
Of Egypt, save where hyssop mixed with blood
Was sprinkled on the lintel of the door
And on the two side posts, as Moses had
Directed. Saviour of his people, son
Of Amram and of Jochebed, obscure
Levites, found in an ark of bulrushes
Afloat among the flags near by the spot
Where Pharaoh's daughter bathed, and yet, and yet—
Zeresh
Was Moses not selected by the Lord
To lead the Israelites into the Land
Of Promise?
Mordecai
[As in soliloquy.]
And did he not talk with God
Upon the Mount of Sinai, when smoke
Enveloped all the peak, and even priests
Were not allowed upon that holy ground?
Was I more lowly than was Amram's child?
Zeresh
Yet God exalted him until the throne
Of Egypt was within his grasp.
Mordecai
Though I,
Like Jesse's son, was once a shepherd's lad,
To-day I rule ten million souls.
Now Moses was a vessel of the Lord
When Death passed over every Hebrew home,
But slew the firstborn where no blood was found.
Was this revenge? Not Moses' hand, but God's
Was red.
Zeresh
The servant must obey his Lord.
Mordecai
I did not plot the Persians' death. The plan
Of God was in it all.
Zeresh
Else why were you
Made premier at the moment when the Jews
Faced death in every province of the king?
Mordecai
It was my hand that stopped the massacre,
But God avenged the awful wrong!
Zeresh
And Esther! How is it with her? You made
Her queen. She was a humble Hebrew girl,
Unknown and friendless, but for Mordecai.
Mordecai
She should be grateful for the crown I gave.
Zeresh
But Hatach says her cheeks are often wet
With tears.
Mordecai
It may be that she weeps for him
Who won her girlish heart before we came
To Shushan or had ever seen the king.
Zeresh
And yet that can not be. The shepherd's crook
Is not the golden sceptre of a king.
I have no doubt that she has long since ceased
To think of youthful dreams. She rules the king,
And what more does a woman want?
Mordecai
I did
Not hope to make her understand at once.
My reasons were too subtle for her heart.
And so I kept my counsel, for I knew
No girl would ever sacrifice her love
To save the remnant of a nation's life.
Zeresh
[Justifying.]
And why might even Esther not forget
When once she felt the spell of royal power—
The tinsel show and glamour of the court?
No woman lives that would not be a queen.
Mordecai
I knew Ahasuerus was a brute,
But what of that? Through Esther I have saved
A half a million souls.
Zeresh
[Aside.]
Through Esther you
Have slain a million souls.
Mordecai
When Jepthah vowed
A vow unto the Lord he kept his pledge
And slew the only daughter of his flesh
For a burnt offering unto God, because
The Ammonites, his enemy, had been
Delivered to the hands of Israel.
Now Esther was my only child.
Zeresh
[A little sarcastically.]
You have
Not sacrificed, but elevated her.
Although she does not understand your heart,
She can but bless her uncle Mordecai.
Mordecai
But why should Esther weep? She risked her life
At my behest, but did she not obtain
Great favor with the king?
Zeresh
And Esther's life
Was forfeit then through Haman's wicked hate.
Mordecai
I wear the royal robe of blue and white.
Zeresh
Does Esther think because her vanity
Is flattered by the jewels of a queen
That Mordecai is moved by pomp and show?
Mordecai
'Tis not the kingly trappings but the seal—
Not sceptre merely but the signet ring,
Not rank, but rule that Mordecai would have.
I can not understand her tears no more
Than she knows why I wear the crown. But I
Am justified. Jehovah wrought through me.
[Exit Mordecai.]
Zeresh
[Bursting into fury.]
Jehovah wrought through him! Hell wrought through him!
I marvel that his tongue is not consumed
By blasted lies. Wait till he feels the flame
That rages in my heart. Hell may not burn
A Jew, but even he can not withstand
The simoon of a fiery dragon's breath!
Parshandatha
But Zeresh, was the Jew not justified?
Zeresh
Justified! gratified! satisfied! Parshandatha,
Justified in Jepthah; gratified
That he is like the meek and lowly son
Of Amram; satisfied that now the crown
Of Persia presses only Hebrew brows.
Parshandatha
[Sarcastically.]
You do forget my lord, Darius' son.
You can not think the blood of Jacob flows
Through Xerxes' veins? Does he not wear the crown?
Zeresh
[With contempt.]
Ahasuerus wears a pigeon's heart.
The Persian robe's a Jewish gabardine;
The crown, a Hebrew priest's phylactery.
But did you say forget? Have you been so
Long with me, dear, and doubt my memory?
Forget Ahasuerus, did you say?
That minion of a Jewish girl, who sealed
The death of Haman and his sons? His face
Is seared upon my heart, his image burnt
Into my brain. I tell you Xerxes is
No longer king.
Parshandatha
But is not Esther queen?
Zeresh
Parshandatha, why do you taunt me thus?
Have I not proved your friend? Do I deserve
Your mockery?
Parshandatha
I do but speak to sting
You to revenge.
Zeresh
Let fly your venom then.
The Persian empire is in arms. To-night
The king does hold a great carouse. The Jew
Will sit in state beside the profligate.
This blade I have prepared against that hour.
The queen, I understand, will be a blaze
Of gems. Ahasuerus boasts this night
Would all but wreck a petty kingdom.
Parshandatha
He
Should never live to see the rising sun.
Zeresh
The rising sun! My dear, he shall not see
The Pleiades again, and they are up
At nine. When cornet and the trumpet bruit
The entry of the queen, a hundred blades
Like this [disclosing dagger] shall be unsheathed.
Parshandatha,
You know whose blood my blade shall drink!
My hour has come! Ah, Esther, you shall sup
Once more with Haman and your drunken lord,
While Zeresh keeps her lonely watch
Beneath the silent, glittering stars. Come on!
[Exeunt Zeresh and Parshandatha.]
[Curtain.]
Scene II
Place—Outer hall to throne room, curtain back.
Time—The following evening.
[Enter Vashti and Esther from opposite sides of the stage.]
Esther
Ah, here already, Vashti, at my poor
Request, who dared defy a despot king's
Command to come before him and his lords?
Your beauty, radiant and spotless, grows
Each hour of exiled life more potent still
Than when it hurled an oriental crown,
With all its flashing jewels, in the face
Of brutal Xerxes rather than unveil
Unto a drunken court of lustful eyes.
Uncrowned, deposed, you are, yet thrice a queen!
Vashti
The sting, the sting of your envenomed words!
Esther
Forgive me, dear, I do not mock your fate;
No word of mine is spoke in scorn. I would
Exchange the royal robe and crown I wear
For just one hour of virtuous freedom that
Belongs to you.
Vashti
I can not understand!
Esther
I know; 'tis my misfortune, and I called
You to the palace that I might explain.
Yet every word seems cruel mockery.
I do not blame you that your cheek, as chaste
As lilies, blushes at my seeming shame.
Yet, Vashti, can you not believe I need
Your sympathy? I crave your high respect?
Vashti
You must an explanation.
Esther
Well, did you
Not sacrifice a queenship for the gem
That every woman holds above a throne?
How can we estimate your loss? The pomp
That follows majesty; the crooking knee;
Ten thousand minions at your beck and call;
A thousand sycophantic, fawning lords;
A hundred gleaming jeweled chandeliers;
The radiance and rich magnificence
Of court; long hours of revel and of wine;
And then above the splendor and the show
God's finger writing on the wall! Is this
The precious price that you have paid?
Vashti
This is
The price.
Esther
Sweet friend, I thank you. Yes, your loss
Has been my gain! Yet what reward have I?
How I do hate the crown that you did spurn!
O how I love the pearl of greatest price!
God pardon my great sin!
Vashti, I am
A daughter of Rebecca and the blood
Of Rachel pulses in my veins! Beyond
The northern hills, within a valley green,
A shepherd watches o'er his flocks to-night
Beside a starlit stream, and dreams of her
Who gave the promise of her hand when life
Was young and all the earth was pure and fair.
His love was constant as the northern star,
And mine was like the needle pointing true.
That day is but a sad remembrance now.
I never knew the ones who gave me life.
My uncle, Mordecai, who sits in state
Beside the king instructed me in love
And knowledge of my people. Every night,
As well as every day, like Daniel, I
Was taught to pray, my window open toward
Jerusalem. God softened Cyrus' heart
Because of Daniel's prayer. But, Vashti, you
Must know from Persian Gulf to Caspian Sea,
The sons of Jacob still in exile groan
Beneath a tyrant's yoke. I hear the wail
Of Rachel weeping for her children still;
I hear my lover playing on his flute,
Who waits the coming of a faithless bride!
But Mordecai has stayed the hand of Death!
Vashti
And you did eat your heart to save your blood?
Esther
You comprehend at last? Your sympathy,
O Vashti, I must have, if not respect,
Else can I not return unto the king. [Vashti weeps.]
There, there, I thank you, sister, friend, proud queen!
The tears that glitter on your cheeks are worth
A diadem of sparkling Indian stones.
But weep no more—your hand—for Esther's heart
Can now endure, since Vashti understands!
The stars are twinkling in the northern skies;
They shimmer on the stream beyond the hills;
The shepherd's reed is wailing on the breeze;
The revels in the palace now begin;
The call has come; I must no longer stay.
The daughter of a Benjamite will lay
Her heart upon the altar of her blood.
Hear you the crimson riot in my veins?
'Tis Rachel's voice! I would that you could know!
·······
Forgive me, Vashti, for my brain's distraught!
The lights die out beyond the palace walls.
The stars are hid.... I can no longer hear
The wailing flute.... Return unto your hut.
Ahasuerus calls with mantling wine.
My place is yonder by the king. I go!
[Exeunt Esther and Vashti.]
[Enter Ahafid and Smerdis.]
Ahafid
The last word has been spoken
The last true song been sung;
My country's heart is broken,
The poet's harp unstrung.
Smerdis
Ahafid seems to harp upon his strings.
Ahafid
It seems Ahasuerus means to drink
The cup of revel to its bitter lees.
Smerdis
The deeper in the cup he goes
The sweeter is the wine that flows;
The closer to the lees, he thinks,
The purer is the wine he drinks.
Ahafid
Messengers from every province bring
Reports of mutterings and dangerous
Revolt. But Xerxes, heedless still, declares
This night shall dim the glories of the past.
Smerdis
[Sings.]
The lower in the lamp the oil
The fewer are the days of toil.
The brighter burns the wick of life,
The sooner end the days of strife.
'Tis not for oil that Xerxes cares,
But brilliancy of flame that flares.
Ahafid
I hate the Hebrews and their Jewish God;
I hate Jehovah for his jealous love,
But Mordecai refuses to attend
The feast. The God of Israel must save
Us now, or Persia perish utterly.
My hand will pen no ribald verse
This revel to adorn;
Ye gods, inspire my tongue to curse
The day the king was born.
[Exit Ahafid.]
Smerdis
The more he swears the less he sings,
Then welcome is this news he brings;
For listening to his song is worse
Than hearing old Ahafid curse.
[Exit Smerdis.]
[Re-enter Ahafid.]
Ahafid
[Sings.]
Persia's heart is beating low,
Thinking of the long ago,
When the king that wore the crown
Was a prince of great renown;
When her name without a peer
Did inspire the world with fear;
But to-night her sovereign's lust
Trails her banner in the dust.
Now my life is ebbing fast,
Dreaming of the glorious past;
Feeling all the shame and smart,
Dying of a broken heart.
[Sinks to floor.]
[Curtain.]
Scene III
[Curtain rises on Ahasuerus and his court.]
Ahasuerus
Sha-ashgaz, keeper of the concubines,
Ahasuerus drinks your health
And bids you bring immediately before
The court the serpents of the Orient!
The king would have a night of revelry.
[The court fool, Smerdis, dances out before the court.]
Ahasuerus (Continues)
What, Smerdis, is the office of a fool?
Smerdis
To charm these serpents of the Orient!
[Aside] But more to furnish brains for idiot kings.
Ahasuerus
Now tell the chief musicians every one
To string his harp with golden wire and tune
His finest Persian reed to touch the heart
With joy. To-night the emperor of the East,
The monarch of the world from Babylon
To India, would show munificence
Of entertainment never seen within
The palace walls before.
Smerdis
You do forget
That night six years ago. The palace was
A blaze of light. The air was fragrant with
The breath of spice from off the Indian seas.
Ahasuerus, flushed with flattery
And wine, was mad with passion....
Ahasuerus
[Impetuously.]
Smerdis, charm
These serpents, if you will, your glittering words
Are meaningless to me. Carshena, let
The Jewish Esther come in Tyrian robe,
In such a gown as never Vashti wore!
Smerdis
[Aside.]
His orders have not always been obeyed.
Ahasuerus
And I would have my queen adorned with gems,
That diamond cluster from beyond the Ind,
Which, sparkling in her aureole of gold, bedims
The constellation of the Southern Cross.
Smerdis
[Aside.]
And makes the Persian peasants mourn their loss!
Ahasuerus
I say, Meheuman, this shall be a night
In which Ahasuerus feasts his friends—
A banquet for the soul, as well as flesh.
Smerdis
[Aside.]
A famished soul such feasting would refresh!
Ahasuerus
For who does not delight to look upon
The rhythmic beauty of voluptuous form?
Smerdis
[Aside.]
Cold-blooded heart a writhing snake can warm!
Ahasuerus
Whose ear is not enthralled by luscious lute,
Whose heart is not inspired by festive song!
Smerdis
[Aside.]
The one bowed down by tyranny and wrong!
Ahasuerus
But why has Mordecai delayed to come?
The hated sons of Haman are no more;
That reprobate who would have slain the queen
Herself to gratify his wounded pride
Has long since festered in the rain and sun.
No enemy remains alive who dares
To touch the people of the Jew that saved
The life of Persia's king. He wears my ring;
The purple of my empire is a shield
Against the world. I do not understand
Why Mordecai is late. He should be here;
The tabor and tymbrel sound anon.
Smerdis
[Dances and capers before the king, then speaks solemnly.]
O king, I know why Mordecai is late,
He sits once more beside the palace gate,
In sackcloth and bemoans his fate.
He sits and dreams of hills and streams
That flow through pasture lands and fields.
He sees a child of golden hair,
As happy as the vibrant air,
And hears the notes and pulse of song
Where birds and sheep and shepherds throng.
And then he turns to banquet halls
And scenes like this in palace walls,
Where lords and queens and fools and kings,
And concubines and underlings,
Made one with wine and passion's thrall,
Throw dice with Death, nor heed the call
That comes from Persia's bleeding heart,
[Aside] (A fool that can not play his part).
And this explains why he is late,
The Jew beside the palace gate.
Ahasuerus
You are a jester, not a bard. Your cap
And bells, or else Death wins his throw with you.
Meheuman, call the poet of the court,
The great Ahafid. Let him celebrate
This feast in song. This rhyming fool presumes
Too much upon the patience of the king.
Smerdis
Your majesty, I did but rhyme because
Ahafid's dead.
Ahasuerus
Ahafid dead? What caused
His death?
Smerdis
[Aside.]
A broken heart. [Aloud.] He broke his harp
And died of grief. [Aside again.] The good gray poet could
Remember real kings.
Ahasuerus
Of grief? The fool!
Well, let the younger minstrel, Saadi sing.
Saadi
[Sings.]
Lift the voice and let us sing,
The monarch's on his throne;
Xerxes is the greatest king
The world has ever known.
Women, wine and happy song,
Let the revels ring,
Lift your voices loud and long,
For Xerxes is our king.
[Much revel and dancing. The trumpet sounds.]
Ahasuerus
Ahafid's death was only Persia's gain.
[Meditatively.]
Could Vashti look upon this gorgeous scene
The bitter tears would scald her faded cheeks
At thoughts of her own folly.
[Confusion and much disturbance. Ahasuerus, surprised, cries in angry passion.]
Ho! What means
This rude confusion? Who has dared disturb
The king in this unwonted way?
[Enter messenger.]
Messenger
Tidings,
O king, of riot and revolt!
Ahasuerus
Restore
The court to order. I will hear no news!
There is no news but this night's joy. What fear
Need Persia have? The world is safe;
The emperor lives! Go put the messengers to death!
This is no time to cloud the royal brow!
Bring forth the vintage from the deepest vault.
Here are a hundred irised pearls. They cost
A million sesterces. Let each man crush
A lustrous shell and drink it to the health
Of Esther, beauteous queen of all the East.
Arise! She comes! A blaze of splendor. Now
Let every instrument be sounded.
The revels shall continue till the dawn!
Zeresh
[Rushing in with uplifted dagger and thrusting it into the heart of Esther, crying as she flourishes it before the astonished court.]
The dawn, O king, is breaking in the east!
[Curtain.]
Finis