Evil Spirit.
Forbear that dream—forbear that dream!
Onora (in sleep).
Nay, sweet fiend, let me go:
I never more can walk with him, oh, never more but so!
For they have tied my father's feet beneath the kirk-yard stone,
Oh, deep and straight! oh, very straight! they move at nights alone:
And then he calleth through my dreams, he calleth tenderly,
"Come forth, my daughter, my beloved, and walk the fields with me!"
Evil Spirit.
Forbear that dream, or else disprove its pureness by a sign.
Onora (in sleep).
Speak on, thou shalt be satisfied, my word shall answer thine.
I heard a bird which used to sing when I a child was praying,
I see the poppies in the corn I used to sport away in:
What shall I do—tread down the dew and pull the blossoms blowing?
Or clap my wicked hands to fright the finches from the rowan?
Evil Spirit.
Thou shalt do something harder still. Stand up where thou dost stand
Among the fields of Dreamland with thy father hand in hand,
And clear and slow repeat the vow, declare its cause and kind,
Which not to break, in sleep or wake thou bearest on thy mind.