Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/237

902–946]

Ere he returned to meet him,—out of sight

She hid herself, and fell at the altar’s foot,

And loudly cried that she was left forlorn;

And, taking in her touch each household thing

That formerly she used, poor lady, wept

O’er all; and then went ranging through the rooms,

Where, if there caught her eye the well-loved form

Of any of her household, she would gaze

And weep aloud, accusing her own fate

And her abandoned lot, childless henceforth!

When this was ended, suddenly I see her

Fly to the hero’s room of genial rest.

With unsuspected gaze o’ershadowed near,

I watched, and saw her casting on the bed

The finest sheets of all. When that was done,

She leapt upon the couch where they had lain

And sat there in the midst. And the hot flood

Burst from her eyes before she spake:—‘Farewell,

My bridal bed, for never more shalt thou

Give me the comfort I have known thee give.’

Then with tight fingers she undid her robe,

Where the brooch lay before the breast, and bared

All her left arm and side. I, with what speed

Strength ministered, ran forth to tell her son

The act she was preparing. But meanwhile,

Ere we could come again, the fatal blow

Fell, and we saw the wound. And he, her boy,

Seeing, wept aloud. For now the hapless youth

Knew that himself had done this in his wrath,

Told all too late i’ the house, how she had wrought

Most innocently, from the Centaur’s wit.

So now the unhappy one, with passionate words

And cries and wild embracings of the dead,

Groaned forth that he had slain her with false breath

Of evil accusation, and was left

Orphaned of both, his mother and his sire.

Such is the state within. What fool is he

That counts one day, or two, or more to come!

To-morrow is not, till the present day

In fair prosperity have passed away.