WALTER.
I'd be above all things the summer wind
Blowing across a kingdom, rich with alms
From ev'ry flower and forest, ruffling oft
The sea to transient wrinkles in the sun,
Where ev'ry wrinkle is a flash of light.
EDWARD.
Like God, I would pervade Humanity,
From bridegroom dreaming on his marriage morn,
To a wild wretch tied on the farthest bough
Of oak that roars on edge of an abyss,
The while the desperate wind with all its strength
Strains the whole night to drive it down the gulf,
Which like a beast gapes wide for man and tree.
I'd creep into the lost and ruined hearts
Of sinful women dying in the streets,—
Of pinioned men, their necks upon the block,
Axe gleaming in the air.
WALTER.
Away, away!
Break not, my Edward, this consummate hour;
For very oft within the year that's past
I've fought against thy drifts of wintry thought
Till they put out my fires, and I have lain,
A volcano choked with snow. Now let me rest!
If I should wear a rose but once in life,
You surely would not tear it leaf from leaf,
And trample all its sweetness in the dust!
Thy dreary thoughts will make my festal heart
As empty and as desolate's a church
When worshippers are gone and night comes down.
Spare me this happy hour, and let me rest!
EDWARD.
The banquet you do set before your joys
Is surely but indifferently served,
When they so readily vacate their seats.
WALTER (abstractedly).
Would I could raise the dead!
I am as happy as the singing heavens—
There was one very dear to me that died,
With heart as vacant as a last-year's nest.
Oh, could I bring her back, I'd empty mine,
And brim hers with my joy!—enough for both.