The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Vi Part 31

JASON. Ah, thou art good! Would I could learn this peace Of thee!

CREUSA. To all that choose, the G.o.ds will give it.

Thou hadst it once, and canst have yet again.

JASON. Dost thou think often on our happy youth?

CREUSA. Ay, many a time, and gladly.

JASON. How we were One heart, one soul?

CREUSA. I made thee gentler, thou Didst give me courage.--Dost remember how I set thy helm upon my head?

JASON. And how Because it was too large, thy tiny hands Did hold it up, the while it rested soft Upon thy golden curls? Creusa, those Were happy days!

CREUSA. Dost mind thee how my father Was filled with joy to see it, and, in jest, Did name us bride and bridegroom?

JASON. Ay--but that Was not to be.

CREUSA. Like many another hope That disappoints us.--Still, what matters it?

We mean to be no less good friends, I trust!

[MEDEA _reenters._]

MEDEA. I've seen the children. They are safe.

JASON (_absently_).

'Tis well.

(_Continuing his revery._)

All those fair spots our happy youth once knew, Linked to my memory with slender threads, All these I sought once more, when first I came Again to Corinth, and I cooled my breast And dipped my burning lips in that bright spring Of my lost childhood. Once again, methought, I drove my chariot through the market-place, Guiding my fiery steeds where'er I would, Or, wrestling with some fellow of the crowd, Gave blow for blow, while thou didst stand to watch, Struck dumb with terror, filled with angry fears, Hating, for my sake, all who raised a hand Against me. Or again I seemed to be Within the solemn temple, where we knelt Together, there, and there alone, forgetful Each of the other, our soft-moving lips Up-sending to the G.o.ds from our two b.r.e.a.s.t.s A single heart, made one by bonds of love.

CREUSA. Dost thou remember all these things so well?

JASON. They are the cup from which, in greedy draughts, I drink the only comfort left me now.

MEDEA (_who has gone silently up-stage and taken up again the discarded lyre_).

Jason, I know a song!

JASON (_not noticing her_).

And then the tower!

Know'st thou that tower upon the sea-strand there, Where by thy father thou didst stand and weep, What time I climbed the Argo's side, to sail On that far journey? For thy falling tears I had no eyes, my heart but thirsted deep For deeds of prowess. Lo, there came a breeze That loosed the wimple bound about thy locks And dropped it on the waves. Straightway I sprang Into the sea, and caught it up, to keep In memory of thee when far away.

CREUSA. Hast thou it still?

JASON. Nay, think how many years Are gone since then, and with them this, thy token, Blown far by some stray breeze.

MEDEA. I know a song!

JASON (_ignoring her_).

Then didst thou cry to me, "Farewell, my brother!"

CREUSA. And now my cry is, "Brother, welcome home!"

MEDEA (_plaintively_).

Jason, I know a song.

CREUSA. She knows a song That thou wert wont to sing. I pray thee, listen, And she will sing it thee.

JASON. A song? Well, well!

Where was I, then?--From childhood I was wont To dream and dream, and babble foolishly Of things that were not and could never be.

That habit clung to me, and mocks me now.

For, as the youth lives ever in the future, So the grown man looks alway to the past, And, young or old, we know not how to live Within the present. In my dreams I was A mighty hero, girded for great deeds, And had a loving wife, and gold, and much Goodly possessions, and a peaceful home Wherein slept babes of mine.

(_To_ MEDEA.)

What is it thou Wouldst have with me?

CREUSA. She asks to sing a song That thou in youth wert wont to sing to us.

JASON (_to_ MEDEA).

And _thou_ hast learned it?

MEDEA. I have done my best.

JASON. Go to! Dost think to give me back my youth, Or happiness to win again for me, By singing me some paltry, childish tune?

Give o'er! We will not part, but live together; That is our fate, it seems, as things have chanced; But let me bear no word of foolish songs Or suchlike nonsense!

CREUSA. Let her sing, I pray.

She hath conned it o'er and o'er, to know it well, Indeed she hath!

JASON. Well, sing it, sing it then!

CREUSA (_to _MEDEA).

So, pluck the second string. Thou know'st it still?

MEDEA (_drawing her hand across her brow as if in pain_).

I have forgotten!

JASON. Ay, said I not so?