Collected Poems Volume II Part 74

This gift by my death I give!

XV

The Forest has conquered! The Forest has conquered!

The Forest has conquered!

The world awakes anew; And O, the scent of the hawthorn, And the drip of the healing dew!

[_The song ceases. t.i.tANIA and OBERON come out into the moon-lit glade._]

OBERON

Yet one night more the gates of fairyland Are opened by a mortal's kindly deed.

But Robin Hood and Marian now are driven As we shall soon be driven, from the world Of cruel mortals.

t.i.tANIA

Mortals call them dead; Oberon, what is death?

OBERON

Only a sleep.

But these may dream their happy dreams in death Before they wake to that new lovely life Beyond the shadows; for poor Shadow-of-a-Leaf Has given them this by love's eternal law Of sacrifice, and they shall enter in To dream their lover's dream in fairyland.

t.i.tANIA

And Shadow-of-a-Leaf?

OBERON

He cannot enter now.

The gates are closed against him.

t.i.tANIA

But is this For ever?

OBERON We fairies have not known or heard What waits for those who, like this wandering Fool, Throw all away for love. But I have heard There is a great King, out beyond the world, Not Richard, who is dead, nor yet King John; But a great King who one day will come home Clothed with the clouds of heaven from His Crusade.

t.i.tANIA

The great King!

OBERON

Hush, the poor dark mortals come!

[_The crowd of serfs, old men, poor women, and children, begin to enter as the fairy song swells up within the gates again.

ROBIN and MARIAN are led along by a crowd of fairies at the end of the procession._]

t.i.tANIA

And there, see, there come Robin and his bride.

And the fairies lead them on, strewing their path With ferns and moon-flowers. See, they have entered in!

[_The last fairy vanishes thro' the gates._]

OBERON

And we must follow, for the gates may close For ever now. Hundreds of years may pa.s.s Before another mortal gives his life To help the poor and needy.

[_OBERON and t.i.tANIA follow hand in hand thro' the gates. They begin to close. SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF steals wistfully and hesitatingly across, as if to enter. They close in his face. He goes up to them and leans against them sobbing, a small green figure, looking like a greenwood spray against their soft ivory glow. The fairy music dies. He sinks to his knees and holds up his hands. Immediately a voice is heard singing and drawing nearer thro' the forest._]

[_Song--drawing nearer._]

Knight on the narrow way, Where wouldst thou ride?

"Onward," I heard him say, "Love, to thy side!"

"Nay," sang a bird above, "Stay, for I see Death in the mask of love Waiting for thee."

[_Enter BLONDEL, leading a great white steed. He stops and looks at the kneeling figure._]

BLONDEL

Shadow-of-a-Leaf!

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF

[_Rising to his feet._]

Blondel!

BLONDEL

I go to seek My King!

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF

[_In pa.s.sionate grief._]

The King is dead!

BLONDEL

[_In yet more pa.s.sionate joy and triumph._]

The great King lives!

[_Then more tenderly._]