Evil Spirit.
Speak out to me, speak bold and free.
Onora (in sleep).
And then I heard thee say—
"I count upon my rosary brown the hours thou hast to stay!
Yet God permits us Evil ones to put by that decree,
Since if thou hast no need of Him, He has no need of thee:
And if thou wilt forgo the sight of angels, verily
Thy true love gazing on thy face shall guess what angels be;
Nor bride shall pass, save thee" ... Alas!—my father's hand's a-cold,
The meadows seem ...
Evil Spirit.
Forbear the dream, or let the vow be told.
Onora (in sleep).
I vowed upon thy rosary brown, this string of antique beads,
By charnel lichens overgrown, and dank among the weeds,
This rosary brown which is thine own,—lost soul of buried nun!
Who, lost by vow, wouldst render now all souls alike undone,—
I vowed upon thy rosary brown,—and, till such vow should break,
A pledge always of living days 't was hung around my neck—
I vowed to thee on rosary (dead father, look not so!),
I would not thank God in my weal, nor seek God in my woe.
Evil Spirit.
And canst thou prove ...