![Transcription Center logo](/themes/custom/tc_theme/assets/image/logo.png)
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
176 LOUISA JANE HALL. Miriam! my pride is bow'd—my wrath subdued— My heart attuned e'en to thy slightest will,— So that thou yet wilt let me linger on, Hoping and dreaming that thou hat'st me not, Suffer'd to come at times, and sadly gaze Upon thy loveliness, as if thou wert A Dian shrined within her awful fane, Made to be look'd upon and idolized, But in whose presence passion's lightest pulse, Love's gentlest whisper, were a deadly sin. Cast me not from thee, love! send me not forth Blasted and wan into a heartless world, Amid its cold and glittering pageantry, To learn what utter loneliness of soul, What wordless, deep, and sick'ning misery, Is in the sense of unrequited love! MIRIAM. I cannot—must not hear thee. Even now A chord is touch'd within my soul.—Great God! Where is the strength thou didst vouchsafe of late? Anger—reproach—were better borne than this! PAULUS. Why should thy gentle nature be crush'd? Is not the voice within thee far more more just Than the harsh dictates of thy gloomy faith? Thy stern and unrelenting Deity— MIRIAM. Youth! thou remindest me—thou doust blaspheme The God of Mercy whom I serve; and now Courage and strength return at once to nerve My trembling limbs, my weak and yielding soul. What wouldst thou have? that I should yet drag on A life of dark and vile hypocrisy, Days full of fear and nights of vain remorse, And love, though sinless, yet not innocent? LOUISA JANE HALL. 177 For well I know that when thy sunny smiles Are on me, sternly frowning doth look down My Maker on our stolen interview! It is a crime of dye too deep and dark To be wash'd out but with a life of tears, And penitence, and utter abstinence. I never will behold thy face again! My soul shall be unlock'd and purified, And there the eyes of those that love me well Shall find no dark and sinful mystery, Shunning a tender father's scrutiny, And weighing down my spirit to dust.— Paulus!—again—farewell! yet—yet in peace We part! PAULUS. Maiden! by all my perish'd hopes, By the o'erwhelming passion of my soul, By the remembrance of that fatal hour When first I spake to thee of love—and thought That thou—Ay! by the sacred gods, I swear, I will not yield thee thus! In open day, Before my father's eyes—and bearing too Perchance his malediction on my head— Before the face of all assembled Rome, Bann'd though I be by all her priests and gods,— Thee—thee will I lead forth—my Christian bride! MIRIAM. Ay! sayst thou so, my Paulus? thou art bold, And generous. Meet bridal will it be— The stake—the slow red fire—perchance the den Of hungry lions, gnashing with white teeth In savage glee at the sight of thy young bride, Their destined prey! for thou know'st that these Are but the tend'rest mercies of thy sire To the scorn'd sect, whose lofty faith my soul M
Transcription Notes:
----------
Reopened for Editing 2023-06-28 17:49:54
----------
Reopened for Editing 2023-06-28 16:27:04
----------
Reopened for Editing 2023-06-29 00:11:05