Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/144

140 Of noisy human struggles; to be heard

Above man's babbling thunders, and to say

Their voice hath been most powerful.

II.—An apartment in house. lying on a couch— bending over him.

Enter and a Fisherman.

Fish. The vessel was wrecked off our coast; I found him lying on the rocks, sadly bruised. I think he will recover; so leaving him in your care, I must away.

Azlea. The stranger—oh, he lives! I feel his pulse

Flutter as quick, and soft, and varyingly

As a fine harp-string in the impatient wind.

Maz. Life struggles for the mastery with death;

The cordials you have given him will restore

The inanimate pulse, and bring the breath

Back to his death white lips. And yet perchance

Our kindness is a cruelty to him,

If he should wake to find his hopes all wrecked—

A wife or sister buried in the sea,

Or his wealth wasted. Human hopes are frail,

And one night may have blasted his for aye.

Azlea. We will be kind to him, as to a brother,

And heal his wounds, and soothe his broken spirit,

That he may not die grieving for his loss.

Maz. He will not, child; not many mourn so well.

Azlea. I'll bring him fruit and flowers to drive away

The loneliness of solitude; and sing

The softest airs I know; and tell him tales

Of magic and of love. Would it be wrong

To entertain him thus? It seems to me

It would be over-bold; and yet last night