Page:Poet Lore, volume 34, 1923.djvu/52

 Mahulena.—Curse them not! I was born there! O, canst thou too ever be cruel and feel hatred?

Radúz.—Forgive, forgive me! I bless them; thou camest forth, bright one, from them! But now drive from thee all clouds. Art thou rested? My home powerfully draws me to it, and impatiently I long to pass through the gates of the city. Come, Mahulena, let us go home! Dost thou hear? Home! It is a most sweet word.

Mahulena.—A most sweet word to thee—but in me what gloomy forebodings it awakens! Thy father, thy mother! Methinks I see them before me; see how their hands, trembling with joy, reach out for thee, how they draw thee to them, how they weep for happiness that they have found thee again! And then, then their glance will darken, and I shall read in it a silent question, a painful question: “Who is that strange girl and what seeks she here?” How happy are your swallows: them every one welcomes joyously, for they bring the spring with them—but I? I bring only my mother’s curse. (Covers her face.)

Radúz.—Thou breakest my heart, Mahulena! Thou art mistaken! In truth they will love thee dearly, dearly, my parents! For thou art bringing back a son to them, their only child! And what generous gifts hast thou bestowed upon me! Thou hast returned to me my lost liberty; thou hast preserved my life and by thy love hast consecrated that life and so hast given it a crown!

Mahulena.—My Radúz, I kiss thy dovelike eyes; they pour light into my cloudy soul! Thou gazest on me like the bright sky, but with thy glance they will not gaze upon me there in yonder city “Who gave that maiden to that man?” Thus thy father will ask himself, and thy mother in deep thought will say to herself: “We went not to ask her for our son.” And the people in the city, in the palace will whisper: “An unbidden guest has come to them!” Ah, Radúz, my soul trembles with fright: how shall I lift mine eyes? I perish from shame!

Radúz.—Thou too art burdening me with threats! No such thing as thou hast said has ever happened to me Were it possible, Mahulena, that that should occur whereof thou speakest now—then I should love them no longer—those parents of mine!

Mahulena.—O, speak not so! So am I stealing away from them thy heart? I was foolish! Radúz, forget what I have said to thee. No longer do I fear aught, dread aught. Come, come: