CUERVO - Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia

40
PARACELSUS
Michal. Aureole!
Paracelsus. Drop by drop I-she is weeping like a
child I
Not so I I am content-more than content­
Nay, Autumn wins you best by this its mute
Appeal to sympathy for its decay!
Look up, sweet Michal, nor esteem the less
Your stained and drooping vines their grapes bow down,
Nor blame those creaking trees bent with their fruit,
That apple-tree with a rare after-birth
Of peeping blooms sprinkled its wealth among!
Then for the winds-what wind that ever raved
Shall vex that ash that overlooks you both,
So proud it wears its berries? All I at length,
The old smile meet for her, the lady of this
Sequestered nest! This kingdom, limited
Alone by one old populous green wall,
Tenanted by the ever-busy flies,
Grey crickets, and shy lizards, and quick spiders,
Each family of the silver-threaded moss-
Which, look through, near, this way, and it appears
A stubble-field, or a cane-brake-a marsh
Of bulrush whitening in the sun : laugh now!
Fancy the crickets, each one in his house,
Looking out, wondering at the world-or best,
Yon painted snail, with his gay shell of dew,
Travelling to see the glossy balls high up
Hung by the caterpillar, like gold lamps!
Michal. In truth we have lived carelessly and weIll
Paracelsus. And shall, my perfect pair-each, trust
me, born
For the other; nay, your very hair, when mixed,
Is of one hue. For where save in this nook
Shall you two walk, when I am far away,
And wish me prosperous fortune? Stay I . . . Vihene'er
That plant shall wave its tangles lightly and softly,
As a queen's languid and imperial arm
Which scatters crowns among her lovers, you
Shall be reminded to predict Lo me
Some great success! Ah, see! the sun sinks broad
Behind St. Saviour's: wholly gone, at last!
Festus. Now, Aureole, stay those wandering eyes
awhile!
You are ours to-night at least; and while you spoke
Of Michal and her tears, the thought came back
That none could leave what he so seemed to love:
But that last look destroys my dream-that look!
As if, where'er you gazed, there stood a star I
How far was Wiirzburg, with its church and spire,
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