The Poems of Emma Lazarus - LightNovelsOnl.com
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Yes, I will have mercy-- The mercy of the tiger or the wolf, Athirst for blood.
MARIA (terror-struck, rises upon her knees in an att.i.tude of supplication. RIBERA averts his face).
Oh, father, kill me not!
Turn not away--I am not changed for thee!
In G.o.d's name, look at me--thy child, thine own!
Spare me, oh, spare me, till I win of Heaven Some sign of promise! I am lost forever If I die now.
RIBERA (looks at her in silence, then pus.h.i.+ng her from him laughs bitterly).
Nay, have no fear of me.
I would not do thee that much grace to ease thee Of the gross burden of the flesh. Behold, Thou shalt be cursed with weary length of days; And when thou seek'st to purge thy guilty heart, Thou shalt find there a sin no prayer may shrive-- The murder of thy father. To all dreams That haunt thee of past anguish, shall be added The vision of this horror!
[He draws from his girdle a dagger and stabs himself to the heart; he falls and dies, and MARIA flings herself, swooning upon his body.]
