Never have I beheld thy face!”
The heart of the Monk Felix fell:
And he answered, with submissive tone, 80
“This morning, after the hour of Prime,
I left my cell,
And wandered forth alone,
Listening all the time
To the melodious singing 85
Of a beautiful white bird,
Until I heard
The bells of the convent ringing
Noon from their noisy towers.
It was as if I dreamed; 90
For what to me had seemed
Moments only, had been hours!”
“Years!” said a voice close by.
It was an aged monk who spoke,
From a bench of oak 95
Fastened against the wall; —
He was the oldest monk of all.
For a whole century
Had he been there,
Serving God in prayer, 100
The meekest and humblest of his creatures
He remembered well the features
Of Felix, and he said,
Speaking distinct and slow:
“One hundred years ago, 105
When I was a novice in this place,
There was here a monk, full of God’s grace,
Who bore the name
Of Felix, and this man must be the same.”
And straightway 110
They brought forth to the light of day
A volume old and brown,
A huge tome, bound
In brass and wild-boar’s hide,
Wherein were written down 115
The names of all who had died
In the convent, since it was edified.
And there they found,
Just as the old monk said,
That on a certain day and date, 120
One hundred years before,
Had gone forth from the convent gate
The Monk Felix, and never more
Had entered that sacred door.
He had been counted among the dead! 125
And they knew, at last,
That, such had been the power
Of that celestial and immortal song,
A hundred years had passed,
And had not seemed so long 130
As a single hour!
ELSIE comes in with flowers.
ELSIE.
Here are flowers for you,
But they are not all for you.
Some of them are for the Virgin
And for Saint Cecilia. 135
PRINCE HENRY.
As thou standest there,
Thou seemest to me like the angel
That brought the immortal roses
To Saint Cecilia’s bridal chamber.
ELSIE.
But these will fade. 140
PRINCE HENRY.
Themselves will fade,
But not their memory,
And memory has the power
To re-create them from the dust.
They remind me, too, 145
Of martyred Dorothea,
Who from celestial gardens sent
Flowers as her witnesses
To him who scoffed and doubted.
ELSIE.
Do you know the story 150
Of Christ and the Sultan’s daughter?
That is the prettiest legend of them all.
PRINCE HENRY.
Then tell it to me.
But first come hither.
Lay the flowers down beside me, 155
And put both thy hands in mine.
Now tell me the story.
ELSIE.
Early in the morning
The Sultan’s daughter
Walked in her father’s garden, 160
Gathering the bright flowers,
All full of dew.
PRINCE HENRY.
Just as thou hast been doing
This morning, dearest Elsie.
ELSIE.
And as she gathered them 165
She wondered more and more
Who was the Master of the Flowers,
And made them grow
Out of the cold, dark earth.
“In my heart,” she said, 170
“I love him; and for him
Would leave my father’s palace,
To labor in his garden.”
PRINCE HENRY.
Dear, innocent child!
How sweetly thou recallest 175
The long-forgotten legend,
That in my early childhood
My mother told me!
Upon my brain
It reappears once more, 180
As a birth-mark on the forehead
When a hand suddenly
Is laid upon it, and removed!
ELSIE.
And at midnight,
As she lay upon her bed, 185
She heard a voice
Call to her from the garden,
And, looking forth from her window,
She saw a beautiful youth
Standing among the flowers. 190
It was the Lord Jesus;
And she went down to Him,
And opened the door for Him;
And He said to her, “O maiden!
Thou hast thought of me with love, 195
And for thy sake
Out of my Father’s kingdom
Have I come hither:
I am the Master of the Flowers.
My garden is in Paradise, 200
And if thou wilt go with me,
Thy bridal garland
Shall be of bright red flowers.”
And then He took from his finger
A golden ring, 205
And asked the Sultan’s daughter
If she would be his bride.
And when she answered Him with love.
His wounds began to bleed,
And she said to him, 210
“O Love! how red thy heart is,
And thy hands are full of roses.”
“For thy sake,” answered He,
“For thy sake is my heart so red,
For thee I bring these roses; 215
I gathered them at the cross
Whereon I died for thee!
Come, for my Father calls.
Thou art my elected bride!”
And the Sultan’s daughter 220
Followed Him to his Father’s garden.
PRINCE HENRY.
Wouldst thou have done so, Elsie?
ELSIE.
Yes, very gladly.
PRINCE HENRY.
Then the Celestial Bridegroom
Will come for thee also. 225
Upon thy forehead He will place
Not his crown of thorns,
But a crown of roses.
In thy bridal chamber,
Like Saint Cecilia, 230
Thou shalt hear sweet music,
And breathe the fragrance
Of flowers immortal!
Go now and place these flowers
Before her picture. 235
II.
II. A Room in the Farm-House
Twilight. URSULA spinning. GOTTLIEB asleep in his chair.
URSULA.
DARKER and darker! Hardly a glimmer
Of light comes in at the window-pane;
Or is it my eyes are growing dimmer?
I cannot disentangle this skein,
Nor wind it rightly upon the reel. 5
Elsie!
GOTTLIEB, starting.
The stopping of thy wheel
Has awakened me out of a pleasant dream.
I thought I was sitting beside a stream,
And heard the grinding of a mill,
When suddenly the wheels stood still, 10
And a voice cried “Elsie” in my ear!
It startled me, it seemed so near.
URSULA.
I was calling her: I want a light.
I cannot see
to spin my flax.
Bring the lamp, Elsie. Dost thou hear? 15
ELSIE, within.
In a moment!
GOTTLIEB.
Where are Bertha and Max?
URSULA.
They are sitting with Elsie at the door.
She is telling them stories of the wood,
And the Wolf, and little Red Ridinghood.
GOTTLIEB.
And where is the Prince?
URSULA
In his room overhead; 20
I heard him walking across the floor,
As he always does, with a heavy tread.
ELSIE comes in with a lamp. MAX and BERTHA follow her; and they all sing the Evening Song on the lighting of the lamps.
EVENING SONG.
O gladsome light
Of the Father Immortal,
And of the celestial 25
Sacred and blessed
Jesus, our Saviour!
Now to the sunset
Again hast thou brought us;
And, seeing the evening 30
Twilight, we bless thee,
Praise thee, adore thee!
Father omnipotent!
Son, the Life-giver!
Spirit, the Comforter! 35
Worthy at all times
Of worship and wonder!
PRINCE HENRY, at the door.
Amen!
URSULA.
Who was it said Amen?
ELSIE
It was the Prince: he stood at the door,
And listened a moment, as we chanted 40
The evening song. He is gone again.
I have often seen him there before.
URSULA.
Poor Prince!
GOTTLIEB.
I thought the house was haunted
Poor Prince, alas! and yet as mild
And patient as the gentlest child! 45
MAX.
I love him because he is so good,
And makes me such fine bows and arrows,
To shoot at the robins and the sparrows.
And the red squirrels in the wood!
BERTHA.
I love him, too!
GOTTLIEB.
Ah, yes! we all 50
Love him, from the bottom of our hearts;
He gave us the farm, the house, and the grange,
He gave us the horses and the carts,
And the great oxen in the stall,
The vineyard, and the forest range! 55
We have nothing to give him but our love!
BERTHA.
Did he give us the beautiful stork above
On the chimney-top, with its large, round nest?
GOTTLIEB.
No, not the stork; by God in heaven,
As a blessing, the dear white stork was given, 60
But the Prince has given us all the rest.
God bless him, and make him well again.
ELSIE.
Would I could do something for his sake,
Something to cure his sorrow and pain!
GOTTLIEB.
That no one can; neither thou nor I, 65
Nor any one else.
ELSIE.
And must he die?
URSULA.
Yes; if the dear God does not take
Pity upon him, in his distress,
And work a miracle!
GOTTLIEB.
Or unless
Some maiden, of her own accord, 70
Offers her life for that of her lord,
And is willing to die in his stead.
ELSIE.
I will!
URSULA.
Prithee, thou foolish child, be still!
Thou shouldst not say what thou dost not mean!
ELSIE.
I mean it truly!
MAX.
O father! this morning, 75
Down by the mill, in the ravine,
Hans killed a wolf, the very same
That in the night to the sheepfold came,
And ate up my lamb, that was left outside.
GOTTLIEB.
I am glad he is dead. It will be a warning 80
To the wolves in the forest, far and wide.
MAX.
And I am going to have his hide!
BERTHA.
I wonder if this is the wolf that ate
Little Red Ridinghood!
URSULA.
Oh, no!
That wolf was killed a long while ago. 85
Come, children, it is growing late.
MAX.
Ah, how I wish I were a man,
As stout as Hans is, and as strong!
I would do nothing else, the whole day long,
But just kill wolves.
GOTTLIEB.
Then go to bed, 90
And grow as fast as a little boy can.
Bertha is half asleep already.
See how she nods her heavy head,
And her sleepy feet are so unsteady
She will hardly be able to creep upstairs. 95
URSULA.
Good night, my children. Here ‘s the light.
And do not forget to say your prayers
Before you sleep.
GOTTLIEB.
Good night!
MAX and BERTHA.
Good night!
They go out with ELSIE.
URSULA, spinning.
She is a strange and wayward child,
That Elsie of ours. She looks so old, 100
And thoughts and fancies weird and wild
Seem of late to have taken hold
Of her heart, that was once so docile and mild!
GOTTLIEB.
She is like all girls.
URSULA.
Ah no, forsooth!
Unlike all I have ever seen. 105
For she has visions and strange dreams,
And in all her words and ways, she seems
Much older than she is in truth.
Who would think her but fifteen?
And there has been of late such a change! 110
My heart is heavy with fear and doubt
That she may not live till the year is out.
She is so strange, — so strange, — so strange!
GOTTLIEB.
I am not troubled with any such fear;
She will live and thrive for many a year. 115
II.
III. Elsie’s Chamber
Night. ELSIE praying.
ELSIE.
MY Redeemer and my Lord,
I beseech thee, I entreat thee,
Guide me in each act and word,
That hereafter I may meet thee,
Watching, waiting, hoping, yearning, 5
With my lamp well trimmed and burning!
Interceding
With these bleeding
Wounds upon thy hands and side,
For all who have lived and errèd 10
Thou hast suffered, thou hast died,
Scourged, and mocked, and crucified,
And in the grave hast thou been buried!
If my feeble prayer can reach thee,
O my Saviour, I beseech thee, 15
Even as thou hast died for me,
More sincerely
Let me follow where thou leadest,
Let me, bleeding as thou bleedest,
Die, if dying I may give 20
Life to one who asks to live,
And more nearly,
Dying thus, resemble thee!
II.
IV. The Chamber of Gottlieb and Ursula
Midnight. ELSIE standing by their bedside, weeping.
GOTTLIEB.
THE WIND is roaring; the rushing rain
Is loud upon roof and window-pane,
As if the Wild Huntsman of Rodenstein,
Boding evil to me and mine,
Were abroad to-night with his ghostly train! 5
In the brief lulls of the tempest wild,
The dogs howl in
the yard; and hark!
Some one is sobbing in the dark,
Here in the chamber!
ELSIE.
It is I.
URSULA.
Elsie! what ails thee, my poor child? 10
ELSIE.
I am disturbed and much distressed,
In thinking our dear Prince must die;
I cannot close mine eyes, nor rest.
GOTTLIEB.
What wouldst thou? In the Power Divine
His healing lies, not in our own; 15
It is in the hand of God alone.
ELSIE.
Nay, He has put it into mine,
And into my heart!
GOTTLIEB.
Thy words are wild!
URSULA.
What dost thou mean? my child! my child!
ELSIE.
That for our dear Prince Henry’s sake 20
I will myself the offering make,
And give my life to purchase his.
URSULA.
Am I still dreaming, or awake?
Thou speakest carelessly of death,
And yet thou knowest not what it is. 25
ELSIE.
‘T is the cessation of our breath.
Silent and motionless we lie;
And no one knoweth more than this.
I saw our little Gertrude die;
She left off breathing, and no more 30
I smoothed the pillow beneath her head.
She was more beautiful than before.
Like violets faded were her eyes;
By this we knew that she was dead.
Through the open window looked the skies 35
Into the chamber where she lay,
And the wind was like the sound of wings,
As if angels came to bear her away.
Ah! when I saw and felt these things,
I found it difficult to stay; 40
I longed to die, as she had died,
And go forth with her, side by side.
The Saints are dead, the Martyrs dead,
And Mary, and our Lord; and I
Delphi Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Delphi Poets Series Book 13) Page 99
