Classic Poem

THE CURTAIN-BEARER , during the unfolding of the curtain.
Towie Castle, Towie Castle,
Towie Castle by Deskry Water
Once was lighted in every window,
Once was living in every stone:
Wild hearts rode to Towie Castle,
Fire was in them, fire and slaughter;
Wild fire waved from every window — —
And Towie's walls stand empty and lone. FIRST FOLDER

By all the waters of the North
A tale of Towie has gone forth.
Deskry Water told it to Don,
Gadie heard under Bennachie:
In flame-filled nightfall Deskry shone
Bright and bloody and flowing on
To Don — Don — Don, Don, Deveron;
Don, Don, Deveron; Don, Don, Dee. SECOND FOLDER

It is given over to raven and rat.
A man of the wicked Queen's did that. CURTAIN-BEARER

Speak no word against The Queen:
There was nothing base in her to be seen.
When I was young and passionate
I loved exactingly, I was sharp
To see a fault where my love was given:
I was chosen among her Marys,
I served her jealously early and late,
She had me tuned like a high-pitched harp,
And I thought " If ever I come to Heaven
I shall be still where her burning hair is."
She was like nobody else anywhere:
By being herself she purged her faults.
She was a harmless girl with us:
Evil ringed us, and, though its glow
Was mirrored in her vivid and fair,
It struck in nor shone outward there
No more than the flashing fire that halts
Upon the surface marvellous
Of a crystal heart unflawed below,
Translucent, untransparent, clean.
You must not speak against The Queen. SECOND FOLDER

The land was riven because of her.
Things were done still hard to bear.
Adam Gordon and his men
From Huntly came, and they rode again
Leaving Lady Forbes here
Burning alive in her tower and wearing
Burning clothes, and watching flames
Reach and wind about her dear
Children, helplessly saying their names;
While the girl Jean Forbes fell upon spears
Far below, far below.
Laughing, riding, nobody sparing
They left them to death that was hot and slow;
And were gone.
And this was done at Towie Castle;
And the burnt stones are there to see;
And the tale went out by Don and Deveron,
By Don, by Don, by Don and Deveron;
Don, Don, Deveron; Don, Don, Dee. CURTAIN-BEARER

He came to Towie a desperate man.
The things seen and the things unseen
That make life fair he had lost for The Queen.
The first snow drove him from the hill,
Don and Deskry slower ran
Like dying blood, and were dark with frost:
He would look among his enemies
With a furious heart that, beating, could kill,
For shelter and comfort in his unease.
Another woman might pay the cost
Of his Queen wronged, his Queen lost. FIRST FOLDER

It is all long ago over and done.
The burning wife remembers no more
The pain of burning; the girl falling
Has forgotten how the tearing spears
Went overhead in her flesh. In years
There is healing, and have they not all won
Beyond years, beyond places, an enthralling
Peace, a passionate mercy for poor
Impotent hates that must end and be
Nothing, as fire burns out and is gone? — —
As the tale that Deveron heard from Don;
Deskry and Don; and Don, Don, Deveron;
Don, Don, Deveron; Don, Don, Dee.
When the curtain is refolded, the CURTAIN-BEARER and the FIRST FOLDER go to the right front and stand there; the SECOND FOLDER stands opposite them at the left front .
In the space there is now an angle of ruined wall, with a low arched portal at the back. Through this portal enter an OLD MAN and a GIRL ; both wear the riding dress of the end of the Sixteenth Century . THE GIRL

Is this the place, father, where you would be?
What have we to do here, where no one is? ADAM GORDON

It is the place, although it seems too still
To my unceasing thoughts. THE GIRL

Why are we here? Why will you sit and wait
Upon this ruined wall? There is no one comes.
The afternoon is chill: let us go home:
You have seen all that is now left to see
In this lone vacant garth. ADAM GORDON

The trees were bare. I had to come again
At last, and I would see the trees still bare;
And the hour passes. Soon the tips of greenness
Will stream among the boughs like long wavering
Wisps of smoke. . . . Why do I think of smoke? . . .
The ride was cold for you, the way long
Under this iron sky of sullen Spring . . .
How bright the grass is. It was greyer then — —
But that was Martinmas. . . . THE GIRL

Shall we be home by dark?
This place seems darker already. Perhaps it is
These piled stones that are darker than other stones.
Was the tower burnt?
Were these walls licked by fire and stained by smoke? ADAM GORDON

Yes, there was fire here. THE GIRL

And no one cared enough for this fair home
To build it up again? ADAM GORDON
No one was left.
THE GIRL , suddenly.

Is this the tower that ballad-singers tell of,
Where Lady Forbes and her children burned?
Or some sing " Lady Campbell" . . .
Never have I heard the truth of it.
My nurse forbade, the house-women forbid it:
I never heard the beginning or the end.
Is it half forgotten? Was it long ago?
Dear, dear father, I can see you know.
O, poor father, they were your friends that burned. ADAM GORDON

Things of long ago to an old man's child
May still be near and new to an old man.
Those who were burned I knew. I saw the flames. THE GIRL

How raging and unbearable and lofty
That fire must have been if Huntly knew
Its red reverberations on the night.
FIRST FOLDER , quietly.

By Don; by Don; by Don and Deveron.
SECOND FOLDER , quietly.

By Don and Deveron, Don and Dee. ADAM GORDON

There is a place here I must see alone.
Not far. At the other side.
Wait here for me: I will soon come for you.
I cannot be here long. Then we will ride.
He goes out by the portal . THE GIRL

The song goes to and fro in my mind
As though I followed a looked-for friend
Where dark streets into each other wind;
But ever she turns ere I reach the end.
FIRST FOLDER , singing softly.

" Come down to me, ye lady gay,
Come down, come down to me. . . " THE GIRL

Something is here I cannot say,
Words turn to sounds and falter away — —
FIRST FOLDER , as before.

" Give over your house to me;
Or I shall burn yoursel therein,
But and your babies three. . . "
" I will not come down, ye false " m — — m. . . THE GIRL

Again
Broken words faint and flee . . .
FIRST FOLDER , as before.

" I would give all my gold, my bairn. . .
To blow the reek from thee. "
" O then be-spake her daughter dear. . .
They row'd her in a pair of sheets,
And tow'd her over the wall;
But she got a deadly fall. " THE GIRL

The song comes and the song goes, in gusts,
As though a wind of my mind lifts it and sways it,
Or a door opens and shuts in an unknown house.
During the snatches of singing , JEAN FORBES has entered from behind her. She wears a dress the colour of THE GIRL'S : her bright yellow hair hangs long and loose, and there is a red stain on it . THE GIRL does not see her until she is standing by her . JEAN FORBES

I heard you calling: were you calling me? THE GIRL

I did not call: I thought that no one was here. JEAN FORBES

Did you not say my name? THE GIRL

A tune ran in my mind: I said nothing.
Who are you? Why are you here? JEAN FORBES

I am Jean Forbes. I live here. THE GIRL

Here?
Can anyone live here? Is it not all ruin? JEAN FORBES

It is all ruin: but these were always the lands
And places of my people, and I return
Sometimes day after day
Because the feeling of them can give me life
And stir the intensity of concentration
That makes existence. Sight for ever remains;
And I can see no other place so clearly,
For I see no other place with so much passion. THE GIRL

You are my age, you will not remember the burning;
You cannot have known the girl who fell upon spears;
So will you let me speak of it to you?
Who did that cruel thing? JEAN FORBES

I do not say his name. THE GIRL

Forgive me. I knew I ought not to speak of it;
But when I think of the dead girl I seem
To be more near than I can understand
To her and to her fate. JEAN FORBES

Do you mean you see her?
THE GIRL , shaking her head.

I feel that if I could only part the veils
Between life and death, I should see her the first. JEAN FORBES

If you can feel that, she will feel it too.
She will believe that longing and tenderness
Reach out from you like two unbodied hands — —
Even as these my hands. ( Taking THE GIRL'S hands .) Is it not so? THE GIRL

Longing and tenderness — and something still
I do not recognize. JEAN FORBES

There needs no more.
Remember, there is no pain in it now:
The dead girl could have blessed the burning-man
For loving The Queen, even to such an end.
But never ask that name. THE GIRL

How cold your hands are. It is cold for my father too:
He has wandered perhaps to the water; he is old and feeble.
We have far to ride; pardon me if I seek him,
We should have started homeward before sundown.
If he returns first, I pray you tell him
I shall come back for him.
She goes out by the ruined portal .
JEAN FORBES , seating herself where ADAM GORDON sat, and speaking to the notes .

O row me in a pair of sheets,
And tow me over the wall!
SECOND FOLDER , singing as softly as an echo.

" They row'd her in a pair of sheets,
And tow'd her over the wall;
But on the point of Gordon's spear
She got a deadly fall. " JEAN FORBES

To-night I feel the spear-heads in my side. SECOND FOLDER

Although she has died. JEAN FORBES

It is not over yet, although I could move her. SECOND FOLDER

It is not over. JEAN FORBES

I am purged of fear: yet I remember my fear. SECOND FOLDER

Because he is near. JEAN FORBES

I trusted him: I believed that daring would shake him. SECOND FOLDER

Nothing could slake him. JEAN FORBES

Sharp, sharp the anguish: and greatest in my mind. SECOND FOLDER

Yet he was blind. JEAN FORBES

Four spears in my side: as I died I saw a tear
Run down each side of his face. That only was clear.
It is why I am here. SECOND FOLDER

He is here.
ADAM GORDON returns through the ruined portal, and seats himself by the side of JEAN FORBES , without noticing or touching her . JEAN FORBES

You have been to the place? ADAM GORDON

I have been there. I have been.
In sudden surprise .

What place do you mean? JEAN FORBES
What feeling in your breast made you hold up
Your spear so firmly when you saw my body
Come down upon it? As the blades went in,
One of them was pushed against as well:
And that was your spear-blade. ADAM GORDON

What are you saying? How have you heard the tale?
I know there is a song: it is forbidden
Among my servants and the Huntly servants.
Daughter, tell me you do not know the song.
JEAN FORBES , rising.

Adam Gordon, you have a daughter now.
Would you not have held up arms to catch me,
As poignantly as pointed iron entered me,
If you had had a daughter then? ADAM GORDON

Who are you? JEAN FORBES

Am I not she, in truth? Then why are you here? ADAM GORDON

Jean Forbes, I never heard your voice before. JEAN FORBES

We never saw each other but on that night —
With a red light to see by.
But I had reverenced you. I lived in a house
Bitter against The Queen until my heart
Opened to the wild tales that were told of her:
So when you came to Towie here against us,
To burn us with a flame that began in your heart,
I thought " If I could be slung in long sheets,
And lowered down the wall, I could get to him
And tell him I love his Queen and will well serve him
For loving her so well, and he will not burn me."
I trusted you; and yet you could not see
I came to trust you, and you pushed your spear
Further in than the others,
Sideways into my heart.
A silence . ADAM GORDON

The Queen is dead, and you are long dead now:
And wrong cannot be righted any where.
What do you ask of me?
I never thought of you while my heart was hot
And I ravened life for justice for myself:
But now, when all is over and all is lost,
And I am weak and old, I think of you — —
And often of your face,
And oftenest in the firelight. JEAN FORBES

That is why I am here: not to ask . . .
Ah, yes, to ask; but also to give.
Before I died you turned me on my back
With your spear butt, and said " Ye are the first
That ever I wished alive again." The spear butt hurt,
But I was happy then.
And after I was dead for a little while
I could hear you still, and you said " I might have spared
That bonny face to have been some man's delight:"
And I was happy then: you were my delight. ADAM GORDON

What would you have me do? JEAN FORBES

I would have you go;
I would have you come no more. I would have peace.
You trouble me with life as a tree troubles the earth
In Spring when the sap stirs and takes from the earth
Its quietness, its gravity, its rest.
All is astir within me again, again;
If to a purpose, I do not know the purpose
And cannot bear the strange experience.
You were forgiven then, and you did not know . . .
He makes a gesture .

O, do not speak: I hear you as it is.
But feel you are forgiven, and let me be.
Men and women are born to hurt each other:
Then it is over and the quiet hearts
Know pity and tenderness, pity and peace
Know then it is over and do not hurt me anew,
Haunting me by your grief.
Go you, and let me go.
She disappears round the corner of the ruin . ADAM GORDON

" But feel you are forgiven, and let me be."
Then I too shall have peace.
Where did she go? Where is she?
THE GIRL appears in the ruined portal .

Ah, but you come again; you know something
That keeps you yet, that will not let you go.
What will you tell me still? O, I would hear you . . . THE GIRL

I have sought you everywhere. ADAM GORDON

Why should you seek me? Have you forgot already? THE GIRL

Did not the woman with the stain on her hair . . . ADAM GORDON

Yes, yes, I saw it: I remember only now. THE GIRL

Did not the woman tell you that I sought you?
Come, father, it is time that we were riding:
The horses stamp and shiver. ADAM GORDON

Is it my daughter? Daughter, I did not know you. THE GIRL

Father, was it you who did this ruin? ADAM GORDON

I was its only cause. THE GIRL

And did you spear the girl? ADAM GORDON

She fell upon my spear. THE GIRL

Father; father. . . . You are not such a man.
And yet I knew you had done it, as I know
I too could do such things for such wild reasons.
And, father, that girl, with her thin wounded body,
Had something in her which could make her feel
Not strange to your fierce part.
By that which I myself have seen and heard
I know she pardons you now. Come home. Come home. ADAM GORDON

Whatever is seen and heard, she does not need
Regret or anything that I can give:
So there's no joy in pardon. Even this ruin
Rejects me: I did what I would with it
Briefly, and now I have not any part
In this its still completion. Let us go.
They go out through the portal .
The CURTAIN-BEARER and the FOLDERS come forward, and unfold and fold the curtain again. When it is folded the ruin and the two people have disappeared and the space is empty .
THE CURTAIN-BEARER , during the unfolding.
Long and long and long ago,
Between the Deveron and the Don
Men lived eagerly, men lived fiercely,
And the world went on no worse for them.
Life was everywhere, life at the flow,
Life like a fire that leapt up and shone,
Life that could hurt, that could break us harshly — —
Stripping the blossom, leaving the stem.
O, happy time when the desolations
That man would make were swiftly healed,
As the old year's ruin the year renews
Abundantly, indifferently:
For now are made barren his ancient stations,
County by county, mountain and field;
Strangers forbid to their sons their use,
They are civilised by vacancy.
'Twere better that Towie should burn again
With its old reverberations of pain,
And century by century
Pity arise, deep life flow on
By Dee, by Deveron, and by Don — —
By Don; by Don; by Don, Don, Deveron;
Don, Don, Deveron; Don, Don, Dee.
The three bow and retire .