Ralph Adams Cram - Excalibur - Act II, Scene III lyrics

SCENE III. Camelot. The ramparts of Merlin's tower. Merlin is seated in the midst of the platform. Midnight. Merlin. How silent lie the purple fields of God Above the troubled earth. Since time began, When, by the fiat of Omnipotence, The howling chaos, without form, and void, Swelled to this awful vault, the hollow dome That prisons us upon this little world Has hung inexorable. Like a bird That beats with futile wing against the roof, The soul soars through the cavernous abyss To smite impatient pinions 'gainst the sky And falls back, vanquished. On the farther side Of that impenetrable firmament Lies Wisdom absolute, wherein the saints And shining angels have a part with God. Yet we that need so grievously the light Of knowledge, were it but a slender ray No larger than should filter through the chink Of any little star, must live our lives Unholpen, undirected. What is this That I have won of wisdom but the blind And devious gropings of a creeping worm Hid in the heavy earth? The world of men He knows not, as I know not what is hid Forever by that roof of adamant. And yet, such learning as I win must serve To make me master of these little men Whereof I build a kingdom. Oh, how frail The stones that I must work withal, how small The craft that aids me, and when all is done How unenduring is the fabric raised. I may not think of this, but for the time As other men, see that which lies to hand, For wisdom works inaction in the blood By showing forth the dread futility Of that we do. How darkness chills the will And halts the hand. Come, disenchanting flame, Dispel my langour! (He kindles the brazier. Enter: Nimue.) Nimue. Prythee, chide me not That I have clomb with unfamiliar feet Unto thy rocky fastness. Let me rest Above the world with thee, a little space, I will not hamper thee. Merlin. Were I a boy All flushed with ardours, I would think a dream Encountered with me in some dusky pa** Of unsubstantial sleep. Nimue. Why stare ye, sir, And bend your solemn brows upon my face? Is it so strange a thing to meet a maid Within thy frowning stronghold? Merlin. Wit ye well You are the only lady of the court That would forgather with the sorcerer Upon his tower. Streightway give me word Of that thou needest, for the night is old And thou must lightly go. Nimue. Dismiss me not! The boon I crave leaves thee no poorer, lord, Yet may it make me rich. Merlin. Ye lack the spell To win unwilling love? Nimue. 'Tis soothly said; My love returns to me with empty hands. Merlin. I may not aid thee. Potions like me not, Nor silly spells. Go thou to Morgan, girl, That she may ease thee. Nimue. Out upon the witch That deals with pagan demons in the Mere! I will not speak with her. Merlin. Then thou art wise, Yet shalt thou lack thy philtre. Nimue. Better so Than that I peril mine immortal soul In most unchristian commerce with a witch. I am content to couch me at thy feet The while with potent hand thou dost control The straying stars, compel the elements That with unkindly malice hinder us And let us from our goal. Deny me not, But suffer me to crouch against thy feet Most mighty master. Merlin. Nay, thou silly child, Thy vigil gains scant comfort. What have I To give thee, that am but a surly seer, While thou art -- Nimue. But a woman! Say ye so? Nay, Merlin, I am more, for perfect love Ennobles e'en a woman. Merlin. What a thing Is woman, then, without the gift of love, That with it is but hell's amba**ador. Nimue. I cannot hear thee, Merlin, let thine eyes, Aweary of their scanning of the stars, Look less unkindly on me. Read my heart And learn what I would tell thee. Merlin. Mock me not! I am no lusty knight. Love's apples grow In other fields, not on the barren crest Of Merlin's Tower. Lightly get ye hence, I am aweary. Nimue. Nay, I leave thee not. Art thou forspent? I'll pillow thee in sleep Upon my bosom. Art thou sad withal? Then shall I make thee laugh for joy of life, And cradle thee in dreams that shall dispel The lurking visions of adversity. My lord, my love, look deep into mine eyes And see my secret! (Soft music.) Merlin. Dreams a**ail me, dreams Of days that are not: dreams of laughing love, And dreams of love that wept for very joy. Why should I dream? Nimue. I love thee, Merlin! Merlin. Stay! I heard a voice that spake an unknown tongue, The which did say "I love thee." Nimue. Lift thine eyes And look upon my face! (The night slowly flushes with rosy light, and all the sky turns to a flowery pleasaunce.) Merlin. Who art thou? Nimue. She That loved thee long ago. Merlin. I know thee not And yet, -- I love thee! -- Nimue. Crush me to thy breast, Thou lord of all the world. Give me thy lips And drink the wine of life that brimming high Shall quench thine anguish! Merlin. Dreams a**ail me, dreams Of days that may be nevermore. Nimue. My lord, See how the forest opens for our feet This day of June. It is the Land of Love, Come follow, follow -- (She mounts the battlements. Merlin follows slowly.) Merlin. Dreams a**ail me, dreams That baffle me -- Nimue. Give my thy groping hand! We two will lie beneath the little leaves The while they whisper sleepy songs of love, And noon melts into night. Merlin. A mocking spell Is over me: my heart has ceased to beat: My brain is in disorder. Help me, God! My craft is broken! (He makes the sign of the cross: the vision vanishes.) Damn thee, witch of hell! I know thee now! Nimue. Have mercy, master! Merlin. Go! (He hurls her down from the battlements, then slowly descends and seats himself by the table.) How better am I than the least of these Ignoble creatures that I make my pawns Upon the board where I do play at chess With destiny. Am I no more than they That I should be beguiled of sorcery? Merlin, thou art a wittol! Mend thy wits Or England crumbles. (Enter: King Arthur.) Thou art welcome, king; So like a cloud I find thee, changing form With every little wind, unstable, frail, I durst not count upon thee. Being come I crave thy patience. I'll have speech with thee. King Arthur. Meseems thou art ungentle in thy words And scant of courtesy. I am thy king While thou art -- Merlin. Merlin. Merlin am I still When thou art crownless and a naked soul Abashed before the Lord, an' thou dost flout The aid I offer thee. King Arthur. Say on. Merlin. Sir king, I am thy servant if thou dost obey, Thy master else. Before thee, face to face I tell thee this. Exalt thy feeble will, Cry scorn upon the burrowing sorcerer And magnify thy royal majesty, Thou shalt not balk me. I will make thee king Despite thee. King Arthur. Do I let thee from thy goal? If thou hast any ground for chiding me, If any way I fail of my devoir, Name me the deed, nor stretch authority Until it snap, with arrogant reproach. Merlin. So be it. Arthur, look upon this scroll Wherein is traced the circle of the skies At thy nativity. In each its place Are posited the planets and stars, The sun, the moon, the constellations, all The fortunes and infortunes as they held When thou didst see the light. Now mark them well. For never stood the stars in this array For any man before. So marvellous And all unwonted is their strange design, A word, a breath, a thought may tip the scale, Make thee immortal, make thee infamous. And dost thou marvel that I watch thee well When thou art walking on the dizzy rim Of fortune, that is like a naked sword Set edgewise over hell? King Arthur. Act thou thy part As guardian of the State, if so thou art; Oppose me not in mine. I am the king, And royalty strikes deeper than the crown. Give me thy council, aid me with thy lore, But hold in mind I am no puppet king Content with empty majesty. I reign! And while the crown is mine I shame it not By playing pupil to thy mastership. Merlin. I hear Pendragon speaking through thy mouth And am content, but only with thy words. Act as thou speakest, king, and I am dumb, But while thy words are grave thy deeds are wild And wanton. Ruin crouches close at hand Where thou dost walk, and for a paltry whim Thou'dst barter England. King Arthur. Name thy grievance, sir! Merlin. Did I not hold thee from thy doltishness Thou'dst lightly make a queen of Guenever. King Arthur. By God, I make her queen despite thy will! This leaps the bounds of reason. Must I crawl On supplicating belly to thy feet And crave thy grace to wed with her I love? I will not! Merlin. Listen: in the seventh house, Yea, in the cusp thereof, in square of Mars, The Great Malefic, grim, implacable, Frowned on thy birth, and therefore shalt thou swear To have no part in love forevermore; For if thou takest to thy throne a queen, Were she as pure as flame, thou shalt descend Into thy grave a cuckold, and I read, Alas, too clearly, in thine evil stars, That England is entangled in thy fall. King Arthur. I know not why I do abide thy speech, Thou foul-mouthed slanderer, nor hurl thee down Incontinently from the battlements For speaking thus of Lady Guenever. I give my life in hostage for her faith, Content thyself with that. Merlin. Thou art o'er bold. Dost thou not know that with a whispered word I could weave round her such a subtle spell That thou shouldst see her not forevermore? No man wins aught of me by haughty words, For as the sword leaps baffled from my breast So threats fall from me. King Arthur. Thou dost daunt me not. Lay by thy magic for the quaking girls That throng the Court. I marry Guenever! Merlin. Not while I live. King Arthur. Then shalt thou shortly die, For, by God's wounds, I will! Merlin. Wait for the proof; I have a hand in this. I made thee king, And king I'll keep thee 'til the doleful day When England totters, and Pendragon's seed Shall slay Pendragon for Pendragon's lust. King Arthur. Mock me not, Merlin, with an idle rune, For magic is no medecine for love. Within the ordered limits of thy sphere Be thou my guide, but look ye leave them not, For there is yet another province, meet For other councillors, and there I bar thee, sir. Molest me not, for love brooks no control Of wisdom or of magic or of fear. Merlin. Swear on thy knighthood and the holy Cross That thou wilt cast away all love and lust. King Arthur. Lust will I cast away, but never love; Who mocks thereat is damned for blasphemy. Merlin. Who plays with either perils all things else. I tell thee, boy, this kingdom is not won Save by him only that shall thrust away All thought of love. The brand Excalibur Carves not a kingdom if the wielding hand Is tethered to a maiden's silly heart, And therefore I forbid thee. King Arthur. Save thy words, For here I act alone. Withhold thine aid Since so it pleases thee. I call on God, And He who gave me leave to live and love Shall guard me. Merlin. Go thy ways, thou silly fool! I builded on a false and shifting sand When I did build on thee. The hour is gone, And once again shall England split with strife Until the wrath of God comes hurling forth To strike thee by the hand of thine own son, For so the doom shall fall. King Arthur. I know the rune And heed it not, my life I leave with God, And He shall take it when and how He will. But if He call me not before the spring Come burgeoning o'er England, once again Pendragon's seed shall sprout in virgin fields, To reign when God shall cast me from the throne. So, thou art answered. Merlin. In such dolorous wise That I am fain of d**h. I pray thee, go! Nor seek me ever when thou art bested. So splits the golden dream! King Arthur. I will not go With wrath and malice. Merlin, I must live, My life, not thine, and even as my soul That I revere as God's amba**ador Commands me. Thou art withered with thy years And may not know the majesty of love, Therefore, my heart must be a sealèd book, Clasped, clamped, and locked before thy failing sight, Yet I may read it well, and in the words I see the tracing of the hand of God. By this I walk. I can no other thing. (Exit.) Merlin. How like my life is this forlorn abyss Of empty air that rings me with a wall Of unrelenting iron. All alone, Unaided, unbefriended, I abide In solemn isolation, toiling on To build a nation of the headstrong boys That feign man's grave estate. Why should I strive To wrench incompetence to dignity Against its will? Fool! for that thou art wise With lofty learning men know nothing of: Thou art of them that rule the childish world. Thou art the king. Ye silent, baffling stars, Give me your aid! How shall I win the cast, Despite the headlong folly of the boy I crowned with England's crown? From sore defeat Shall I not win abundant victory? That thing I do, but by what subtle means? King Arthur weds with Guenever. I heard Pendragon speaking, and I know the blood. What follows after? King Leodegrance Henceforth is England's va**al. Small reward I find the fact, but -- King Leodegrance! Merlin, thou art a**oted! Rouse thy wits That art not used to such base treachery. Queen Guenever? Aye, let her wear the crown, And let the king be lapped in dalliance If so he please. Out of Cameliard The daughter of Leodegrance shall bring A dowry that will disenthrall the State, Release it from dependence on the king, And guard it with invincible defence. So cometh victory from overthrow, So wisdom matches folly. So I win Dominion absolute. Leodegrance Yields the Round Table into Arthur's hand! Curtain.