NERO. I kill you!
AGRIPPINA. 'O,' I said,
'I have wearied him: he is weary of his mother.'
NERO. Oh!
AGRIPPINA. In my ears there buzzed that prophecy—
'Nero shall reign but he shall kill his mother.'
[NERO starts.
AGRIPPINA. Now—now—I had not told you had I not
Been above measure happy. Now no more
Wild words, no more mad words between us two,
Who all the while are aching to be friends.
O how your hands come waxen once again
Within my own: again behind your voice
The hesitating tardy bird-like word
And the sweet slur of 'r's.' O but to-night
Even grandeur palls, the splendid goal: to-night
I am a woman and am with my child.
[A pause and she strains him to her.
Beautiful night that gently bringest back
Mother to son, and callest all thy stars
To watch it. Quiet sea that bringest peace
Between us two. Hast thou not thought how still
The air is as with silent pleasure? Child,
Is not the night then more than common calm?
NERO. A sparkling starlight and a windless deep.
AGRIPPINA. Never until to-night did I so feel
The lure of the sea that lures me to lie down
At last after such heat. Ah, but the stars
Are falling and I feel the unseen dawn.
Son, I must go at once. Where is my maid
To wrap me? Sweet and warm now is the night
And I am glad I had prepared to go
By water, not by land.