116
THE ARGONAUTS
The sense is riven, and the soul
Goes glimmering to the abode,
Where aeons in one moment roll,
And one thought shapes to its control
Body’s forgotten load.
Our lady sleeps! Our lady smiles
In far Elysian isles !
FIRST WOMAN.
Thrice have I crept towards the bed, and
thrice
An unseen hand has caught the uplifted knife,
A grinning face lurked out from the blank
air
Between me and that filthy sorceress.
SECOND WOMAN.
Daily I poison the she-devil’s drink,
And nothing harms her !
THIRD WOMAN.
I have a toad whose breath
Destroys all life
CHORUS.
Thou dealest in such arts?
‘THIRD WOMAN.
Ay ! for this hate’s sake.
Herein?
Are we sisters all
CHORUS.
_ True sisters !
THIRD WOMAN.
The familiar soul
Sucks at her mouth—She sickens not nor
dies ;
More poisonous than he.
FIRST WOMAN.
Ah! beast of hell !
What may avail us?
SECOND WOMAN.
Jason is quite lost
In her black sorceries.
FOURTH WOMAN.
Our chance gone !
FIRST WOMAN.
Our life
Degraded to her service.
SECOND WOMAN.
We, who are
Born nobly, are become her minions.
THIRD WOMAN.
Slaves, not handmaidens !
ALCESTIS.
Ototototoi !
Ai Ai! What misery !
FIRST WOMAN.
See! the lady weeps!
ALCESTIS.
Ai Ai! the black fiend, how he dogs my
feet !
The fatal day! Ai! Ai!
CHORUS.
What sorrow thus,
‘Maiden, removes the feet of fortitude?
ALCESTIS.
Who shall arouse him?
CHORUS.
Peace, our lady sleeps.
ALCESTIS.
Ah ine! but she must wake !
deed
Hangs on the house.
A black, black
MEDEA.
What meets my waking ear ?.
Alcestis !