Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 3).djvu/105



Only through you two. By your hand That heavenly bridge of love was spann'd; No single soul can all contain Except it first have yearn'd for one. I had to long and yearn in vain, So my heart harden'd into stone.

And yet—your love is merciless; You chasten whom you would caress.

You, Agnes?

Me? O nay, dear, nay! On me a lightsome load you lay. But many falter at the call To offer Nothing or else all.

What the world calls by that name "Love, I know not and I reck not of. God's love I recognise alone, Which melts not at the piteous plaint, Which is not moved by dying groan, And its caress is chastisement. What answer'd through the olive-trees God, when the Son in anguish lay, Praying, "O take this cup away!" Did He then take it? Nay, child, nay: He made him drink it to the lees.

By such a measure meted, all The souls of earth are forfeited