Collected Poems Volume II Part 29

Yet one night more Dear Robin Hood has opened the gates wide And their poor weary souls can enter in.

OBERON

Yet one night more we woodland elves may steal Out thro' the gates. I fear the time will come When they must close for ever; and we no more Shall hold our Sherwood revels.

t.i.tANIA

Only love And love's kind sacrifice can open them.

For when a mortal hurts himself to help Another, then he thrusts the gates wide open Between his world and ours.

OBERON

Ay, but that's rare, That kind of love, t.i.tania, for the gates Are almost always closed.

t.i.tANIA

Yet one night more!

Hark, how the fairy host begins to sing Within the gates. Wait here and we shall see What weary souls by grace of Robin Hood This night shall enter Dreamland. See, they come!

[_The soft light deepens in the hollow among the ferns and the ivory gates of Dreamland are seen swinging open. The fairy host is heard, singing to invite the mortals to enter._]

[_Song of the fairies._]

The Forest shall conquer! The Forest shall conquer!

The Forest shall conquer!

Your world is growing old; But a Princess sleeps in the greenwood, Whose hair is brighter than gold.

The Forest shall conquer! The Forest shall conquer!

The Forest shall conquer!

O hearts that bleed and burn, Her lips are redder than roses, Who sleeps in the faery fern.

The Forest shall conquer! The Forest shall conquer!

The Forest shall conquer!

By the Beauty that wakes anew Milk-white with the fragrant hawthorn In the drip of the dawn-red dew.

The Forest shall conquer! The Forest shall conquer!

The Forest shall conquer!

O hearts that are weary of pain, Come back to your home in Faerie And wait till she wakes again.

[_The victims of the forest-laws steal out of the thicket once more--dark, distorted, lame, blind, serfs with iron collars round their necks, old men, women and children; and as the fairy song breaks into chorus they pa.s.s in procession thro' the beautiful gates. The gates slowly close. The fairy song is heard as dying away in the distance._]

t.i.tANIA

[_Coming out into the glade and holding up her hands to the evening star beyond the tree-tops._]

s.h.i.+ne, s.h.i.+ne, dear star of Love, yet one night more.

SCENE II. _A banqueting hall in FITZWALTER'S castle. The guests are a.s.sembling for the betrothal feast of ROBIN and MARIAN. Some of ROBIN HOOD'S men, clad in Lincoln green, are just arriving at the doors.

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF runs forward to greet them._

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF

Come in, my sc.r.a.ps of Lincoln green; come in, My slips of greenwood. You're much wanted here!

Head, heart and eyes, we are all pent up in walls Of stone--nothing but walls on every side-- And not a rose to break them--big blind walls, Neat smooth stone walls! Come in, my ragged robins; Come in, my jolly minions of the moon, My straggling hazel-boughs! Hey, bully friar, Come in, my knotted oak! Ho, little Much, Come in, my sweet green linnet. Come, my cushats, Larks, yellow-hammers, fern-owls, Oh, come in, Come in, my Dian's foresters, and drown us With may, with blossoming may!

FITZWALTER

Out, Shadow-of-a-Leaf!

Welcome, welcome, good friends of Huntingdon, Or Robin Hood, by whatsoever name You best may love him.

CRIES

Robin! Robin! Robin!

[_Enter ROBIN HOOD._]

FITZWALTER

Robin, so be it! Myself I am right glad To call him at this bright betrothal feast My son.

[_Lays a hand on ROBIN'S shoulder._]

Yet, though I would not cast a cloud Across our happy gathering, you'll forgive An old man and a father if he sees All your glad faces thro' a summer mist Of sadness.

ROBIN

Sadness? Yes, I understand.

FITZWALTER

No, Robin, no, you cannot understand.

ROBIN

Where's Marian?

FITZWALTER

Ay, that's all you think of, boy.

But I must say a word to all of you Before she comes.

ROBIN

Why--what?...

FITZWALTER

No need to look So startled; but it is no secret here; For many of you are sharers of his wild Adventures. Now I hoped an end had come To these, until another rumour reached me, This very day, of yet another prank.