Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/159

Rh Azlea. O fear not Azlea can e'er be won

From her obedience; or ever bring

Her father's hoar head sorrowing to the tomb.

O no, no, no! She would not e'en forsake

For all earth's love, her father's dearer love,

Or leave him ever for another's smiles.

Maz. Did I not think this youth most virtuous,

Lofty, and good, I should indeed be curst;

But a few years, and this consuming frame

Shall have returned to earth, and thou wilt be

A lonely orphan, helpless on the sea

Of human toil and striving. It may be well,

And thou and I must pray that it be so.

Azlea. do not talk of dying; ere that time

May Azlea have slept her final sleep.

II.—A recess in a forest.

Enter.

Her. I have wept, have prayed, have humbled my stern soul

In most abject entreaty before Heaven;

Have vowed, and fasted, and done penances

Enough to save a soul already cursed;

But all is weak and vain before the power

Of this o'ermastering passion. And now

I give the struggle over! If I may

But win the love of Azlea, all earth,

All hell, shall strive in vain to fright me

From my fixed purpose. Heaven refuses

Longer to oppose my wishes, and the fear

Of earthly torments can not now restrain

The passions of my nature. How my soul,

No longer bound by vows of holiness,