Legend of the Brown Rosarie, The - Part First
PART FIRST
" Lenora, Lenora, " her mother is calling.
She sits at the door and hears the dew falling
Drop after drop, from the sycamores laden
With dew as with blossom, and calls home the maiden:
" Night cometh, Lenora. "
She looked down the garden walk covered with trees,
To the limes at the end where the green arbor is —
Some sweet thought or other may keep where it found her,
While forgot or unseen is the dream light around her.
Earth darkens before her. " Lenora! "
She looks up the forest, whose alleys shoot on
Like the mute minster aisles when the anthem is done,
And the choristers sitting with faces aslant
Feel the silence to consecrate more than the chaunt.
" Lenora, Lenora! "
And forward she looketh across the brown heath —
" Lenora, art coming? " What is it she seeth?
Nought, nought but the grey border stone that is wist
To take a wild shape and dilate in the mist.
" My daughter. " Then over
The casement she leaneth, and as she does so
She is ware of her little son playing below.
" Now where is Lenora? " He hung down his head
And spake not, then answering blushed scarlet red:
" At the tryst with her lover. "
But his mother was wroth, in a sternness quoth she,
" As thou play'st at the ball art thou playing with me? —
" When we know that her lover to battle is gone,
" And the saints know above, that she loveth but one ,
" And will ne'er wed another. "
Then the boy wept aloud. 'Twas a fair sight but sad
To see tears run down o'er the sweet blooms he had.
He stamp'd with his foot, said " The saints know I lied,
" The wicked strange sooth not to utter , but hide .
" Shall I utter it, mother? "
In his vehement childhood he hurried within
And knelt at her feet as in prayer against sin.
But a child at a prayer never sobbeth as he:
" Oh! she sits with the nun of the Brown Rosarie
" At night in the Ruin.
" The old convent ruin the ivy rots off,
" Where the owl hoots by day, and the toad is sun proof,
" Where no singing birds build, the trees gaunt and grey
" As in stormy sea coasts, appear blasted one way;
" But is this the wind's doing?
" I thought once to pass it myself, but my hound
" As if fearing the lash, down he shivered to ground.
" A brave hound, my mother, a brave hound I wot —
" The wolf guesseth so with his fangs at her throat
" By that very same token.
" A nun in the east wall was buried alive
" Who cursed the priest when he called her to shrive,
" And outshrieked such words, when the stone took her breath
" That the abbess fell backward, and swooned to death
" With an Ave half spoken.
" At night and at eve, mother, who sitteth there
" With the Brown Rosarie, never used for prayer?
" Stoop low, mother! low! Blessed saints, could we see
" What an ugly great hole in the east wall must be
" At night and at even!
Who meet there, my mother, at night and at even?
Who meet by that wall never looking to heaven?
Oh sweetest, my sister! and what doeth with thee
The ghost of a nun, with a Brown Rosarie
" And a face turned from Heaven?
St. Agnes o'erwatcheth my dreams, and ere while
I have felt through my eyelids the warmth of her smile
But last night, as a sadness like pity came o'er me,
She whispered, " Say two prayers at dawn; for Lenora ,
" " The tempted , is sinning! " "
Lenora, Lenora! " They heard not her coming —
Not a step on the grass, not a voice through the gloaming;
But her mother looked up, and she stood on the floor
Fair and still as the moonlight that cometh before,
And a smile just beginning!
It touched her lips , but it dared not arise
To be passed by the mystical spell of her eyes ,
And the large musing eyes neither joyous nor sorry,
Like angels, sing on in a separate glory
Between clouds of amber!
For the hair falls in clouds amber colored, till stirred
Into gold, by the gesture that came with the word
While, oh soft! her speaking is so interwound
With the dim, and the sweet, 'tis a twilight of sound
And floats through the chamber.
" Since gravely and priestly, my mother," said she,
" Thou shrivest, my lover will soon marry me!
" For I know by the hills that the battle is o'er,
" That thou comest, beloved one, to wed Lenore,
" That her eyes shall behold thee! "
Her mother sat silent, too tender I wis
Of the smile her dead father had smiled to kiss.
But the boy started up, pale with tears passion wrought,
" Oh wicked fair sister! The hills utter nought;
" If he cometh, — who told thee? "
" I know by the hills, " she resumeth, calm, clear,
" By the beauty upon them that he is anear.
" Did they ever look so since he bade me adieu?
" Oh love in the waking, fair brother, is true,
" As St. Agnes in sleeping! "
Half shamed, half softened, the boy did not speak
And the blush met the lashes which sunk on his cheek.
She bowed down to kiss them. Ye saints, did he see
Or feel on his bosom the Brown Rosarie
That he turned away weeping?
*****
Lenora sleeping. Angels around, but not near her. First Angel:
Must we stand off so far,
And she so very fair? Second Angel:
As bodies be. First Angel:
And she so mild? Second Angel:
As spirits, when
They meeken not to God , but men . First Angel:
And she so young, that I who bring
Good dreams for saintly children, might
Mistake that small soft face tonight,
And bring her such a blessed thing,
That at her waking, she would weep
For childhood lost anear in sleep.
How hath she sinned? Second Angel:
In bartering God's love for man's . First Angel:
We may reprove the world for that
Not only her!
Let one approach and breathe away
This dust o' the heart with holy air. Second Angel:
Stand off, she sleeps, and did not pray. First Angel:
Did none pray for her? Second Angel:
Aye, a child, who never praying
Wept before. While in a mother undefiled
Prayer goeth on in sleep as true
And pauseless, as the pulses do. First Angel:
Then I approach. Second Angel:
It is not willed . First Angel:
Is she redeemed? Second Angel:
No more! the place is filled. Evil Spirit in a Nun's Garb:
Forbear that dream! Forbear that dream!
Too near to Heaven it leaned. Lenora (in sleep):
Nay leave me this, but only this,
'Tis but a dream, sweet friend. Evil Spirit:
It is a thought . Lenora:
A sleeping thought most innocent of good.
I say it in no holy hymn. I do no holy work.
I scarcely hear the sabbath bell, which chimeth for the Kirk. Evil Spirit:
Forbear that dream! Forbear that dream! Lenora:
Nay let me dream at least.
That far off bell, it may be took for viol at a feast,
I only walk among the fields beneath the summer sun
With my dead father, hand in hand, as I have often done. Evil Spirit:
Forbear that dream! Forbear that dream! Lenora:
Nay sweet Fiend, let me go,
I never more can walk with him
Oh! never more below!
For they have tied my father's feet beneath the kirk yard stone.
Oh deep and straight, oh very straight they move at night alone,
And then he calleth through my dreams, he calleth tenderly:
" Come forth, my daughter, to the fields! Beloved, walk with me. " Evil Spirit:
Forbear that dream, or else its good
Disproving dare to stand
Among the fields it showeth, with thy father hand in hand,
And say what vow doth bind the[e] now, and wherefore such was made. Lenora:
Because God willed me to Death
And I shrank back afraid.
Be patient, oh! dead father mine,
I did not shrink to die , —
Only to think what I might see
In leaning from the sky!
Alas! how could I bear to see some lovely lady brave
With cheeks that blushed as red as rose, with mine white in the grave,
Pass haply by in wedding pomp, with my betrothed one,
What time he saith to her, to her , that else he loveth none,
That hers forsooth are heavenly eyes! Ah me! while very dim
Some heavenly eyes (indeed of heaven) would sadden down on him. Evil Spirit:
Who told thee thou wert willed to Death? Lenora:
Didst thou not say to me?
" I number here thy numbered years
" Upon my rosarie.
" Yet God grants to us evil ones , to put by his decree,
" For if thou hast no need of Him, He has no need of thee ,
" And if thou wilt forego the sight of angels fair and free,
" Thy true love gazing on thy face shall guess what angels be,
" Nor bride shall pass save thee. " Alas!
My father's hands a-cold the meadows seem. Evil Spirit:
Forbear the dream, or let the vow be told.
Say by what vow assumedst thou, before the powers of ill
Thou had'st indeed too little need of God, to bear his will. Lenora:
I vowed upon thy rosarie brown,
And till such vow shall break
A pledge always of living days
Thou hang'st it round my neck.
I vowed to thee on Rosarie
(Dead father look not so)
I would not feel God's love in weal
Nor seek his help in woe. Evil Spirit:
And wilt thou prove — Lenora:
Mine own true Love, I felt him near again.
I saw his steed on mountain head,
I heard it on the plain.
Was this no weal for me to feel?
Is greater weal than this?
And when he came, I wept his name,
And angels heard but his . Evil Spirit:
Well done! Well done! Lenora:
Ah me! the sun! the dream light gins to pine.
Ah me! how dread can look the dead! aroint thee, father mine!
*****
She starteth from slumber, she sitteth upright
And her breath comes in sobs, while she stares through the night.
There is nought. The great alder her lattice before
Large drawn in the moonlight lies calm on the floor
But her hands tremble fast as their pulses, and free
From the death clasp, close over the Brown Rosarie.
" Lenora, Lenora, " her mother is calling.
She sits at the door and hears the dew falling
Drop after drop, from the sycamores laden
With dew as with blossom, and calls home the maiden:
" Night cometh, Lenora. "
She looked down the garden walk covered with trees,
To the limes at the end where the green arbor is —
Some sweet thought or other may keep where it found her,
While forgot or unseen is the dream light around her.
Earth darkens before her. " Lenora! "
She looks up the forest, whose alleys shoot on
Like the mute minster aisles when the anthem is done,
And the choristers sitting with faces aslant
Feel the silence to consecrate more than the chaunt.
" Lenora, Lenora! "
And forward she looketh across the brown heath —
" Lenora, art coming? " What is it she seeth?
Nought, nought but the grey border stone that is wist
To take a wild shape and dilate in the mist.
" My daughter. " Then over
The casement she leaneth, and as she does so
She is ware of her little son playing below.
" Now where is Lenora? " He hung down his head
And spake not, then answering blushed scarlet red:
" At the tryst with her lover. "
But his mother was wroth, in a sternness quoth she,
" As thou play'st at the ball art thou playing with me? —
" When we know that her lover to battle is gone,
" And the saints know above, that she loveth but one ,
" And will ne'er wed another. "
Then the boy wept aloud. 'Twas a fair sight but sad
To see tears run down o'er the sweet blooms he had.
He stamp'd with his foot, said " The saints know I lied,
" The wicked strange sooth not to utter , but hide .
" Shall I utter it, mother? "
In his vehement childhood he hurried within
And knelt at her feet as in prayer against sin.
But a child at a prayer never sobbeth as he:
" Oh! she sits with the nun of the Brown Rosarie
" At night in the Ruin.
" The old convent ruin the ivy rots off,
" Where the owl hoots by day, and the toad is sun proof,
" Where no singing birds build, the trees gaunt and grey
" As in stormy sea coasts, appear blasted one way;
" But is this the wind's doing?
" I thought once to pass it myself, but my hound
" As if fearing the lash, down he shivered to ground.
" A brave hound, my mother, a brave hound I wot —
" The wolf guesseth so with his fangs at her throat
" By that very same token.
" A nun in the east wall was buried alive
" Who cursed the priest when he called her to shrive,
" And outshrieked such words, when the stone took her breath
" That the abbess fell backward, and swooned to death
" With an Ave half spoken.
" At night and at eve, mother, who sitteth there
" With the Brown Rosarie, never used for prayer?
" Stoop low, mother! low! Blessed saints, could we see
" What an ugly great hole in the east wall must be
" At night and at even!
Who meet there, my mother, at night and at even?
Who meet by that wall never looking to heaven?
Oh sweetest, my sister! and what doeth with thee
The ghost of a nun, with a Brown Rosarie
" And a face turned from Heaven?
St. Agnes o'erwatcheth my dreams, and ere while
I have felt through my eyelids the warmth of her smile
But last night, as a sadness like pity came o'er me,
She whispered, " Say two prayers at dawn; for Lenora ,
" " The tempted , is sinning! " "
Lenora, Lenora! " They heard not her coming —
Not a step on the grass, not a voice through the gloaming;
But her mother looked up, and she stood on the floor
Fair and still as the moonlight that cometh before,
And a smile just beginning!
It touched her lips , but it dared not arise
To be passed by the mystical spell of her eyes ,
And the large musing eyes neither joyous nor sorry,
Like angels, sing on in a separate glory
Between clouds of amber!
For the hair falls in clouds amber colored, till stirred
Into gold, by the gesture that came with the word
While, oh soft! her speaking is so interwound
With the dim, and the sweet, 'tis a twilight of sound
And floats through the chamber.
" Since gravely and priestly, my mother," said she,
" Thou shrivest, my lover will soon marry me!
" For I know by the hills that the battle is o'er,
" That thou comest, beloved one, to wed Lenore,
" That her eyes shall behold thee! "
Her mother sat silent, too tender I wis
Of the smile her dead father had smiled to kiss.
But the boy started up, pale with tears passion wrought,
" Oh wicked fair sister! The hills utter nought;
" If he cometh, — who told thee? "
" I know by the hills, " she resumeth, calm, clear,
" By the beauty upon them that he is anear.
" Did they ever look so since he bade me adieu?
" Oh love in the waking, fair brother, is true,
" As St. Agnes in sleeping! "
Half shamed, half softened, the boy did not speak
And the blush met the lashes which sunk on his cheek.
She bowed down to kiss them. Ye saints, did he see
Or feel on his bosom the Brown Rosarie
That he turned away weeping?
*****
Lenora sleeping. Angels around, but not near her. First Angel:
Must we stand off so far,
And she so very fair? Second Angel:
As bodies be. First Angel:
And she so mild? Second Angel:
As spirits, when
They meeken not to God , but men . First Angel:
And she so young, that I who bring
Good dreams for saintly children, might
Mistake that small soft face tonight,
And bring her such a blessed thing,
That at her waking, she would weep
For childhood lost anear in sleep.
How hath she sinned? Second Angel:
In bartering God's love for man's . First Angel:
We may reprove the world for that
Not only her!
Let one approach and breathe away
This dust o' the heart with holy air. Second Angel:
Stand off, she sleeps, and did not pray. First Angel:
Did none pray for her? Second Angel:
Aye, a child, who never praying
Wept before. While in a mother undefiled
Prayer goeth on in sleep as true
And pauseless, as the pulses do. First Angel:
Then I approach. Second Angel:
It is not willed . First Angel:
Is she redeemed? Second Angel:
No more! the place is filled. Evil Spirit in a Nun's Garb:
Forbear that dream! Forbear that dream!
Too near to Heaven it leaned. Lenora (in sleep):
Nay leave me this, but only this,
'Tis but a dream, sweet friend. Evil Spirit:
It is a thought . Lenora:
A sleeping thought most innocent of good.
I say it in no holy hymn. I do no holy work.
I scarcely hear the sabbath bell, which chimeth for the Kirk. Evil Spirit:
Forbear that dream! Forbear that dream! Lenora:
Nay let me dream at least.
That far off bell, it may be took for viol at a feast,
I only walk among the fields beneath the summer sun
With my dead father, hand in hand, as I have often done. Evil Spirit:
Forbear that dream! Forbear that dream! Lenora:
Nay sweet Fiend, let me go,
I never more can walk with him
Oh! never more below!
For they have tied my father's feet beneath the kirk yard stone.
Oh deep and straight, oh very straight they move at night alone,
And then he calleth through my dreams, he calleth tenderly:
" Come forth, my daughter, to the fields! Beloved, walk with me. " Evil Spirit:
Forbear that dream, or else its good
Disproving dare to stand
Among the fields it showeth, with thy father hand in hand,
And say what vow doth bind the[e] now, and wherefore such was made. Lenora:
Because God willed me to Death
And I shrank back afraid.
Be patient, oh! dead father mine,
I did not shrink to die , —
Only to think what I might see
In leaning from the sky!
Alas! how could I bear to see some lovely lady brave
With cheeks that blushed as red as rose, with mine white in the grave,
Pass haply by in wedding pomp, with my betrothed one,
What time he saith to her, to her , that else he loveth none,
That hers forsooth are heavenly eyes! Ah me! while very dim
Some heavenly eyes (indeed of heaven) would sadden down on him. Evil Spirit:
Who told thee thou wert willed to Death? Lenora:
Didst thou not say to me?
" I number here thy numbered years
" Upon my rosarie.
" Yet God grants to us evil ones , to put by his decree,
" For if thou hast no need of Him, He has no need of thee ,
" And if thou wilt forego the sight of angels fair and free,
" Thy true love gazing on thy face shall guess what angels be,
" Nor bride shall pass save thee. " Alas!
My father's hands a-cold the meadows seem. Evil Spirit:
Forbear the dream, or let the vow be told.
Say by what vow assumedst thou, before the powers of ill
Thou had'st indeed too little need of God, to bear his will. Lenora:
I vowed upon thy rosarie brown,
And till such vow shall break
A pledge always of living days
Thou hang'st it round my neck.
I vowed to thee on Rosarie
(Dead father look not so)
I would not feel God's love in weal
Nor seek his help in woe. Evil Spirit:
And wilt thou prove — Lenora:
Mine own true Love, I felt him near again.
I saw his steed on mountain head,
I heard it on the plain.
Was this no weal for me to feel?
Is greater weal than this?
And when he came, I wept his name,
And angels heard but his . Evil Spirit:
Well done! Well done! Lenora:
Ah me! the sun! the dream light gins to pine.
Ah me! how dread can look the dead! aroint thee, father mine!
*****
She starteth from slumber, she sitteth upright
And her breath comes in sobs, while she stares through the night.
There is nought. The great alder her lattice before
Large drawn in the moonlight lies calm on the floor
But her hands tremble fast as their pulses, and free
From the death clasp, close over the Brown Rosarie.
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