Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 1).pdf/488

 And that same foolish fire you now are fain To light, that game of hazard you would dare. See, that is why I call to you—beware! The game is perilous! Pause, and think again!

No, to the whole tea-caucus I declared My fixed and unassailable belief—

[completing his sentence].

That heartfelt love can weather unimpaired Custom, and Poverty, and Age, and Grief. Well, say it be so; possibly you're right; But see the matter in another light. What love is, no man ever told us—whence It issues, that ecstatic confidence That one life may fulfil itself in two,— To this no mortal ever found the clue. But marriage is a practical concern, As also is betrothal, my good sir— And by experience easily we learn That we are fitted just for her, or her. But love, you know, goes blindly to its fate, Chooses a woman, not a wife, for mate; And what if now this chosen woman was No wife for you—?

[in suspense].

Well?

[shrugging his shoulders].

Then you've lost your cause. To make a happy bridegroom and a bride Demands not love alone, but much beside,